French Dontnod Entertainment had a surprising success with Life is Strange. An episodic adventure that told a story about friendship between two estranged girls, Max and Chloe, with a pinch of supernatural elements. There was a storm coming; a girl was missing; conspiracies; and your typical teen problems together made for a memorable, different and engaging game.
The announcement on the E3 last year of a prequel was therefore accompanied by the necessary doubts. A prequel that was only three 'episodes' long and was not developed by Dontnod, but instead by the American Deck Nine. To make matters worse, the prequel told the story of how Chloe and the missing girl from the first game, Rachel, got to know each other and by a strike the voice actress who played Chloe, Ashly Burch, could not be brought back (she would be instead help the writing team). Could Deck Nine do justice to the first game and create something that could stand on its own feet? The answer, after playing the three episodes from which Before the Storm is made, is yes, they certainly can.
It is a more subdued, less imaginative, and in many ways a more grounded game. It will not necessarily be remembered for its plottwists, important scenes or eccentric characters, but rather because it dares to tell a story that is closer to home. It takes an aspect of Life is Strange and builds on it, instead of trying to copy the complete formula. It is a more concise and purer experience, for good and for worse.
The first episode brought us a slow start, but in the second episode we realized that this was not just a slow start. The whole game offers a rather pleasant ride with only a handful of dramatic scenes here and there. Most of the characters are miraculously deepened and made human, complete with their flaws and not as superficial as you might think.
That is exactly where Before the Storm excels most. The small, seemingly incidental scenes, such as in episode one where Chloe plays a board game with Mikey and Steph or Chloe's atypical addition at the last moment during the drama rendition of Shakespeare's The Storm in the second episode. We also enjoyed the end, maybe not the big choice you make (as you expect), but the fact that the developer was brave enough to leave some things vague. We are not going to give away what that is, but this has been dealt with very well. There was a scene in the last episode that we thought was a bit weird: a character who was out of the whole added himself to a scene, and maybe this is because of the way we played, but it felt a little forced. Again, we do not want to give anything away.
It is a story about people and a story about Arcadia Bay. And to be honest, that's enough too. It seems somewhat limited on the surface, but it also provides a better focus. The season helps Chloe to work out and unveils the mysteries around Rachel Amber. It also adds depth to the important characters from Life is Strange, especially Frank and Nathan. In a sense, we feel that we would make other choices in Life is Strange if we had played Before the Storm. Perhaps that is also the calling card of a well-made prequel. It builds on things that already existed, but also adds new perspectives to certain things.
Something that we think the game does better than the original are the extras: the diary reports; the graffiti tags that Chloe can leave behind (to earn Achievements and Trophies, of course). A lot of love has been stopped to provide players with these extras and to connect players to the one person who is missing here (Max). We have also greatly enjoyed the scenes between Chloe and her father, these dreams or whatever they are, provide an effective way to illustrate Chloe's thoughts and emotions without pressing too much on the main adventure.
Maybe Telltale Games is to blame for being seasoned with five episodes and maybe that's why Before the Storm feels a bit on the short side. The story told, however, would not benefit from being smeared over more episodes. We also feel that our choices had little influence on the elaboration of the story, but only added some flavor. It felt like a very linear experience and maybe Deck Nine did not use the player's choices enough. There are also some small missed opportunities, such as when we put on a shirt that Rachel had thrown away and did not get the expected comment about it. Another area that felt unsatisfactory was the relationship between Chloe, her mother and stepfather. With the knowledge of the tip (inLife is Strange ) felt making these choices pretty useless. Chloe's new skill to be "brutal" was ultimately disappointing, disappointing in gameplay and misplaced in many moments.
It is not the milestone that Life is Strange , but it is not without merit and succeeds in forming its own identity alongside the original game. A great achievement in itself. It was hard to match and although it does not appeal to all fans of Life Strange, it certainly caught us.
ā Offers something different than the original; great characters and music; some fantastic moments; strong themes.
ā Little influence from the player; some scenes disappointing; "brutal" reaction disappoints.
Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it!
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