Following the surprise success of 2015's Life Is Strange—Dontnod's episodic tale of teenage rebellion—we expected publisher Square Enix to return with a sequel. Less expected, though, was the E3 2017 reveal of Life Is Strange: Before the Storm, a prequel that tells the story of series star Chloe Price during her formative years. Dontnod isn't behind the prequel, with development duties instead handed off to Deck Nine Games. While the cynics out there may call this a cash-in, Before the Storm has its moments—at least if the E3 demo is anything to go by.

The biggest change—aside from a range of new locations alongside familiar ones—is that Before the Storm ditches the time travel mechanic of the original and lays the teenage melodrama on thick. The strength of Life Is Strange was always in its writing, where it masterfully touched on complex topics like addiction, cyberbullying, and suicide. Before the Storm deals with its own difficult themes: Chloe Price, now 16 years old, coming to terms with the death of her father three years prior and the loss of her best friend Max, who moved out of town.

Chloe's life takes a turn for the better when she meets Rachel Amber, the most popular girl in school. In an early scene, Chloe—having talked her way into a concert at an abandoned lumber mill—meets Rachel for the first time, but not before being faced with a dilemma: steal a T-shirt featuring her favourite band, or do the right thing and walk away. Naturally, the choice is up to you, although here at E3 Chloe's actions are dictated via a committee of journalists in an E3 demo room. Naturally, they choose to steal the shirt.

Chloe lets loose the handbrake of the vendor's car—the boot of which he's using as a makeshift shop—causing it to plough into the back of a nearby truck. In the confusion, Chloe is free to grab a shirt, but she is soon faced with another dilemma: steal the wad of cash left behind by the T-shirt dealer, or walk away. Naturally, the committee opts to steal the cash. Decisions like these, which are highlighted via a series of animations, can have drastic consequences that spread across multiple episodes.















Before the Storm is all about those choices. There's no action, or quick-time events, or convoluted character customisation to distract from the act of telling a story. Dontnod did a marvellous job of telling one in Life Is Strange—and, going by the E3 demo at least, Deck Nine Games is doing a similarly good job in Before the Storm. Chloe is an intelligent, moody, deeply conflicted person. Instead of showing us the best of her, Before the Storm invites you to explore her most difficult moments.

Rachel, too, is complex. In a later scene, overlooking the mountains, Chloe and Rachel use a pair of binoculars to spy on unsuspecting passers-by, creating caricatures of their personalities by acting out what they're saying and thinking. "No matter how fast I go, I'll never out-walk this wedgie," says Chloe of a nearby runner. It's the sort of relationship building that made Life Is Strange so endearing, one that Before the Storm cleverly mimics.

It would be disingenuous to say that I found everything about Chloe and Rachel relatable. But as they sat in a junk yard, Rachel sulking and Chloe unsure whether to offer help or to back away, I hoped they would see their relationship through. That Before the Storm can be so compelling after such a brief showing leaves me upbeat that despite the loss of Dontnod, this is far from cash-in.

Life Is Strange: Before the Storm will be released on August 31, for Windows (pre-order here), Xbox One, and PS4.