Life is Strange: Before the Storm arrives two years after the release of the original game, thus filling the void that separates us from the release of its elusive sequel currently in progress in the studios of Dontnod Entertainment. This time, however, the task of narrating the new adventure, starring the irreverent Chloe Price, will fall into the hands of the developers of Deck Nine Games. The title turned out to be a prequel set three years before the events that saw as the main character Max Caulfield struggling with the storm that threatened life in the quiet port town of Arcadia Bay.
Wake up
In this debut episode we will find ourselves in the shoes of a sixteen year old Chloe at the dawn of her acquaintance with the famous Rachel Amber. In this cross-section of their relationship we will find out how the two first met and we will shed some light on one fundamental period of the protagonist's life which unfortunately never found space in the main series. Similar to its predecessor the narrative method used will remain practically unchanged, if not for some difference due to the change of role between the two girls. At this juncture we will not have the power to retrace our choices thanks to the temporal rewind but our rebellious attitude will open many other doors for us in its own way. The first thing we will notice will in fact be the possibility of being able to advance in the dialogue options that will be submitted to us by starting some insolence challenges.
Using this new approach we will be able to convince the counterparts by checking it out in some rather animated dialogues, proving our character and intimidating them in their intentions thanks to any information collected previously. We will also discover that if Max had photography as a peculiar pastime, we will instead have that of graffiti. By carefully checking the settings we will discover scraps of space where we can leave our indelible signature with hilarious writings to leave imprinted in the most unlikely places. Apart from this new type of collectibles introduced we will notice that they will be there many more interactive elements in the various places that we will visit wandering around the city.
To conclude
This first episode is really well done in that perfectly faithful and consistent with previous work. The graphic design used on this occasion remains unchanged thanks to that particular artistic style that has always distinguished the series. The same can be said of the soundtrack that coincides perfectly in style, contributing in turn to making the settings more immersive and the dialogue scenes more emotional. Also here the narrative remains as sublime as ever, telling this new chronicle in a particular way. The characters present will be much deeper and will show a new and unprecedented side of their character that offers us the opportunity to get to know them better and, above all, from another point of view. As always the choices we will make will be fundamental most of the time in regards to the evolutions of our relationships and history itself.
Certainly we will not have the heaviness of themes present from the beginning in Life is Strange but although this tale is relatively static in comparison to it, we will be faced with something much more introspective and profound on this occasion. All of course because we are essentially talking about a long prologue which, despite dealing with subjects already seen, must reintroduce everything practically from scratch. Having said that we are sure that the experience will not leave the supporters of the saga impassive, who will certainly not miss this important spinoff waiting for the official sequel. Now we just have to wait anxiously for the publication of the next episode that will undoubtedly move things with its release.
Modus Operandi: the review you just read was written based on the version PlayStation 4 of the game, after completing the entire episode.
