Life is Strange Reunion Hands-on Preview

The original Life is Strange is beloved by many for the relationship between its two protagonists, nailing a feeling of what it’s like to be a teenager and the endearingly corny dialogue (who says hella that much?). Eleven years after the first game, Deck Nine is gearing up to release Life is Strange Reunion as the definitive conclusion to Max and Chloe’s story… and I had the pleasure of diving into a small section of the game for a hands-on preview.

The section of the game is fairly early on and occurs at a student bar where Max is trying to get information on a potential fire that will engulf the University where she works. Anyone who has played any of the Life is Strange franchise will be right at home here. You investigate the area, talk to various NPCs, and use your time rewind power to solve fairly rudimentary puzzles.

One thing that Life is Strange often excels at is the vibe of school life, and Reunion is no different. The student bar feels lived in, from the half-full capacity of the open mic night, the drunk townies, and obnoxious intellectuals who have retreated to podcasting as the last bastion of free speech for white guys.

Interacting with everybody at the bar is a pleasure, and you fall into Life is Strange’s relaxed pacing. Dialogue cannot be skipped, and those with itchy trigger fingers may find themselves frustrated, but once it washes over you, it makes sense that Deck Nine wants to let the dialogue breathe. Like previous games, you can also just sit on a chair and listen to indie music while nothing happens. Gameplay-wise it adds very little, but it absolutely captures the atmosphere of University life.

Another thing that helps add to the mood and fleshes out the characters is the menu screen, which contains Max’s phone and her journal. The phone contains several text message conversations with side characters. Some are important to the plot, and some just serve to add additional shading to Max and the world around her. The journal serves as a recap of the plot so far, but also contains Max’s commentary on the events that are unfolding and her thoughts about her relationships with other characters.

This time around, both Max and Chloe serve as playable characters, and each has their own unique ability for progressing. As stated previously, Max can rewind time, which means you can learn something about an NPC, then rewind to the beginning of the conversation and use that knowledge to open up new avenues of dialogue. It’s a nifty way of solving problems and also undoing parts where you feel you may have made the wrong decision.

Chloe’s ability is ‘backtalk’, which was introduced in the Before the Storm prequel. Unfortunately, dropping a well-timed zinger is not quite as interesting as the ability to rewind time, but Reunion incorporates the ability well. It makes you pay attention to previous dialogue choices and attitudes towards Chloe to get the preferred outcome.

One notable aspect of the demo may be just how deep into the lore Reunion starts. Almost every single person encountered in this short demo is from one of the past games in the franchise. For fans, the game is teeming with lore and backstory, but first-time players might have a hard time keeping up with the sheer amount of backstory and familiarity these characters all have. As a conclusion to a decade-long series this is to be somewhat expected, but prospective players might want to check out the other games in the series first or spend some time on the wikis.

Life is Strange Reunion is shaping up to be a fitting conclusion. The main mystery is intriguing, and the lynchpin relationship of Max and Chloe looks to be getting a thorough exploration and send-off.

For more information please visit https://lifeisstrange.square-enix-games.com/en-us/games/life-is-strange-reunion

Gallery