I will do my best to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible. If you’re someone who hasn’t had a chance to play Life is Strange, or have not yet heard about it, this review is for you. If you’re someone who loves the game and has consumed every bit of media surrounding the experience, from fan art to the prequel game, and ultimately the recently released “Farewell” episode, this review is also for you.

Loving a video game is something many gamers probably claim to do regularly. “I love that game” is something you could say in passing conversation regarding the latest shooter, platformer, horror, etc. game gracing your preferred delivery device. But being in love with a game is probably not something people would broadcast. You’re not in love with Detective Pikachu. You’re not in love with Call of Duty or PUBG.

I’m here to assure you that you will absolutely fall in love with Life is Strange. Joining this fandom is like entering a support group. Only it’s not just a group, it’s a colony. A nation. Filled with people who have felt the twists and turns of this story, with these characters, as powerfully as you have.

That’s a lot to take in. But it’s appropriate for setting the stage. Most people cannot fathom what they’re getting into when they pick up Life is Strange. This game functions more like an interactive novel, that allows the reader to project themselves onto the protagonist and into the lives of everyone you interact with. The weight of your choices are felt. The lives of the characters feel real. This game imprints itself on you. Re-writes your DNA. It’s a love-letter to coming of age, in a world that feels not that different from our own.

Let me back up one more time. Life is Strange is an endearing story that pulls back the curtain on the life of Max Caulfield, High School Senior at the Prestigious Blackwell Academy in Arcadia Bay Oregon. Max is infatuated with photography, and she’s very much the expected teenage ball of angst and over-thinking. She immediately connects with the player, your instinct is to guide Max as though you were steering your own life. This connection happens instantly in the opening seconds of the game through the incredibly realized voice acting of Hannah Telle bringing the correct amount of realism to Max’s inner-dialogue. But more on that soon.

Within a few short minutes (or several long minutes depending on how long you spend exploring the halls of Blackwell Academy) you discover you have the ability to manipulate time, rewind moments, and you reconnect with your childhood best friend Chloe Price, voiced by the amazing Ashly Burch. The adventure takes off from there.

If you’re thinking I promised no spoilers and that sounds like a spoiler, the joke’s on you — that all happens in the trailer for the game, which any reasonable person would watch before committing to a play through!

The events of the first game follow the very normal act of reconnecting with a friend from long ago, and mix in the somewhat supernatural element of controlling time. The biggest selling point is that at it’s very base layer, Life is Strange never loses sight of the characters at the heart of everything. You make your decisions and craft the story in your image as a player, sure; but you feel the ramifications of your actions even as things unspool around you. Your time spent re-connecting with Chloe is natural because it’s immediately clear that she’s not the person Max remembers, so as a character and a player, you’re discovering this blue-haired wild-child together. Meanwhile, all of the secondary characters feel real to the point where you’re wondering through each free-roam scene, devouring every morsel of information about these people. That’s the operative word; people. They are all fully realized individuals and there are entire interactions that happen very differently or don’t happen at all depending on how involved you choose to be as a player.

The first game ends with an emotionally explosive choice and it defines the relationship you’ve built with Chloe through the events of the week. Your time with her transcends Max and imbues meaning onto you as a player. It feels so very final. But then Square Enix announced the release of Life is Strange: Before the Storm as a prequel about Chloe, devoid of Max and without her time powers, to be developed not by breakthrough studio DONTNOD, but instead by Deck Nine. As a fan of the game, I was reluctant to get excited about this development, but at the same time I told myself that if they stayed true to the elements that made Life is Strange so relatable in the first place, the shift in focus and gameplay mechanics wouldn’t matter.

That turned out to be true. Life is Strange: Before the Storm shows the player a different Chloe Price. No longer voiced by Ashly Burch due to the voice actors strike, this younger, less intense version of a familiar character becomes your vessel through Arcadia Bay. She’s still defined by the distant history that gets spelled out for you in the first game, but you connect with her during the next biggest defining moment in her world — meeting Rachel Amber. Life is Strange: Before the Storm drops you in at the origin of the relationship between Chloe and Rachel using only the context clues given in the first game, and draws out an entirely character-defining story that managed to re-contextualize the whole of Chloe Price’s characterization from Life is Strange and shift my entire in-game worldview regarding Max.

ORDER: Life is Strange is available at Amazon now

To call the game a triumph would be underselling it. This collective Life is Strange story is a masterpiece. Using Chloe’s story as the keystone to the entire narrative, Before the Storm bridges the gap between the games deftly — allowing players who thought they were going to miss Max still feel her influence, and also connecting us to Rachel, whose presence in the first game looms over you the whole time. None of the methods felt cheap. There seemed to be a reason for everything the studio presented to you. Before the Storm wasn’t just a money grab, it served a purpose, and developed the feelings and emotions you poured into Life is Strange.

With the release of the Farewell episode, you’re taken back to Arcadia Bay as Max one last time. Hannah and Ashly return to their defining characters and drive the story of innocence and friendship. There’s no time manipulation. No school. No storm. The cross section of the day feels like it could be any day. Between any friends. Max’s inner dialogue starts to reveal context clues about her struggle; this day takes place before she leaves Arcadia Bay, but as a player you’re experiencing this afternoon for a reason. But you lose yourself in their game. The future that you’ve already witnessed hasn’t happened — none of your choices have unraveled. It’s just you and Chloe. You play through this innocent encounter, homage to the simpler things in life, only to have the biggest defining moment in Chloe’s life creep into view as it ends.

You know it’s coming. The entire series is rooted in crucial events that define the characters. But the care that has gone into crafting the experience means that no matter ready you are for the future, you’re never truly prepared.

ORDER: Life is Strange: Before the Storm – Limited Edition

Despite all that, Deck Nine has created the perfect coda to the Max and Chloe story, delivering everything you need to say goodbye, except tissues.

You’re more than a spectator; it’s become your story, your choices, your friends, your love. Your Life is Strange.

Life is Strange was one of the single most surprising experiences I’ve ever had with a video game. I stumbled into the game because I enjoy the “choose your own adventure” style of Telltale Games and wanted to see another studio’s take on the mechanic. The events that unfolded before me took me to places I never thought I’d venture to while holding a controller. The critical reception of the game is entirely justified. The fandom is as endearing as the characters. The studios that delivered this game have put their vision onto the canvas and the rest of us are left breathless. Life is Strange and Life is Strange: Before the Storm are two experiences that any empathetic person can ingest, process, and feel. And they should, because mankind could always stand to appreciate more art.

Things to love about Life Is Strange

+Satisfying, meaningful gameplay

+Accessible to gamers of all skill levels

+Powerful story

+Incredible voice acting

+Replay value up the wazoo

+Emotionally supportive fandom

Nick Palermo is still new to The Geekiverse, but has been a geek all his life. He is an active gamer, a big fan of most things in space or the 616 continuity, and spends time with his wife, 3 step-kids and 2 year-old daughter when he’s not keeping up his farm in Stardew Valley. Follow him on Twitter if you want.

Life is Strange was played and reviewed entirely on an Xbox One. All photos taken using the Xbox’s screenshot functionality.

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