Developer Dontnod has a lot to answer for with Life Is Strange: Episode 4 -- Dark Room. It begins and ends with emotionally charged scenes that remind me why I like main character Max Caulfield so much. She’s a compassionate, believable protagonist stuck in an ugly sequence of events that’s resistant to change, no matter how hard she tries. That said, this up-and-down three-hour episode betrays a lot of what makes her special.

Click for all episode reviews of the game Life is Strange.

Dark Room is the most inconsistent episode in Life Is Strange so far. The two hours between the excellent prologue and the finale advances the story slowly, and spends most of its time rehashing of what Life Is Strange has already done better before. The story and choices swing wildly from believable lucid to incomprehensible and gross. At times, Dark Room is just plain cheap. Max’s major choices here don’t suit her behavior, or are shocking for the sake of shock value, and that’s really disappointing.It’s a serious tone problem. The fallout from Episode 3, while grim, paves the way for a beautiful look at a friendship Max might have had if things had been different. The new timeline is quickly wiped away and forgotten in a cowardly and convenient cop-out. Life Is Strange quickly ditches its somber best buddies and Blade Runner references theme for a dirtier, scarier Girl With the Dragon Tattoo vibe. I enjoy these things, but they fit together like Thomas Harris writing Nancy Drew.I appreciate the dark, violent underworld Max starts exploring in Dark Room, but it comes at a price. Max and Chloe’s investigation dives deep into her school’s drug problem, the missing Rachel Amber, and how a corrupt local family is connected to it all. It’s a cool string of connected events but it comes together by way of a complicated, poorly explained puzzle. Connecting evidence is tedious, and because Life Is Strange has such low-res textures, it’s even more difficult to piece the right information together.It pays off well, at least. I’m glad the meandering main-plot mystery finally unravels, but that comes at a cost as well. I’m left as intrigued as I am confused as events come to a head in Life Is Strange’s upcoming finale. I have a lot of “Why?” questions, but they’re the kind that result from poor storytelling, not good mystery setup. Some of them make me want to learn more, but most of them make me wish Dark Room was more sophisticated than its sloppy story was.