Life Is Strange Before the Storm Review Egm

At a Glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

• Conceivable interpersonal relationships
• Probably the best production of The Storm I've ever seen
• All the graphics options become to "Hella High"

Cons

• Since it's a prequel, it's locked into the catechism in some odd ways
• The larger story beats don't work likewise equally the smaller ones

Our Verdict

Life is Strange: Earlier the Tempest isn't as groundbreaking as its predecessor, simply information technology's an excellent refinement of those ideas and a solid prequel.

Life is Foreign: Before the Tempest should be a non-starter. It'due south a prequel, for one, and similar all prequels it'southward stuck trying to surprise players fifty-fifty though cheers to 2015'south Life is Foreign we already know where events are headed. Information technology'due south likewise forced to get by without its predecessor's primary gimmick—Max's ability to rewind time is tied innately to the events of Life is Strange proper, and Before the Storm has to exercise without that supernatural element.

Take the supernatural out of Life is Strange and what's left is a quiet teenage drama set in smalltown Oregon—a boondocks where a big scandal is a straight-A pupil skipping class at the local prep school. I wouldn't say it was set up to fail, just the burden was certainly on developer Deck Ix to prove such pocket-size stakes could carry an entire game.

[SPOILER Alert: I'thousand going to talk around events in Before the Storm as much as possible, simply I feel no such compunction with the original Life is Strange. Information technology's two years old, it's excellent, and if you lot haven't played information technology y'all probably should. Don't want to? So await its key moments to be spoiled below.]

Back to school

Small stakes are what made the original Life is Strange and then memorable though. Sure, the overarching apocalypse threatening Arcadia Bay made for a great backdrop, merely it was primarily the relationship between Max and Chloe—the small moments, hanging out in a junkyard or visiting the diner where Chloe'due south mom worked—that tugged on people's emotions.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

And every bit such, Life is Strange: Before the Storm actually feels less different than I expected. Max isn't around, this taking place during the period where she'd moved abroad from Arcadia Bay. Before the Storm picks up with Chloe though, which puts us in familiar territory.

The Chloe nosotros run across when Before the Storm opens is familiar—loud, combative, on her mode to a rock concert in the wood. Merely she'south also decidedly younger, her loudness a mask she puts on more than than the disaffected swagger of Chloe-to-come. That Chloe'southward been dragged through the mud. This i'due south still on the green side of the fence.

Before the Storm too covers ground nosotros've at least heard most previously, introducing us to Rachel Amber, 1 of the central mysteries of the original. Or a mystery and then not a mystery. This is where Before the Storm is hampered by its status as a prequel. Nosotros know of form where it'south somewhen headed. Rachel Amber is kidnapped by Arcadia Bay's photography teacher, Chloe spends nigh of Life is Strange looking for her, and she and Max eventually notice Rachel's expressionless. It makes the prospect of watching Chloe and Rachel's relationship develop tragic to say the least. Ghoulish, too.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Deck Nine makes a assuming move though, divorcing Before the Storm well-nigh entirely from its predecessor. There'southward one quick postal service-credits scene to tie the Rachel we've come to know to the Rachel nosotros'd heard almost, simply that's it. Before the Storm is otherwise content to tell its own self-contained story.

What ensues is a bit of Romeo and Juliet, with star student and district attorney's daughter Rachel Amber falling in with Chloe, the troublemaker. And it'south sugariness. At that place are all the same some cringeworthy lines, only the performances for Rachel and Chloe (even without the render of Ashly Burch due to the SAG strike) carry information technology. We get to see how they meet, how their meeting grows into a friendship, how that friendship grows into something more.

Like the original, these moments are what you walk away with afterward it'south all said and done. I played Earlier the Storm equally each episode released, and so I already have some distance from its first two capacity. The parts I remember, the parts that stand out, are small when described—two teenage girls arguing in a junkyard, ii teenage girls skipping school and sitting in a park, ii teenage girls in a school production of The Tempest. The emotions tied to those moments are so fierce though, larger than life in that uniquely teenage way.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

And that's what makes this serial special. Beneath the bamboozlement, the weird "Is this how teens talk?" moments, there's a core that resonates with something existent. Like Night in the Forest, Life is Strange taps into some sort of shared retention-space a large number of people can identify with. There, it was returning home equally a young adult and finding everything'due south moved on without you. Hither, it'southward the usual coming-of-age stuff most falling in love for the first time, rebelling against your parents, and so on.

None of this is new per se, but it's new-ish when discussing biggish-upkeep video games. We don't even have a "Slice of Life" genre actually, allow lone a "Coming of Age" subgenre. If nothing else, Earlier the Storm proves that maybe we should.

Once again, I was skeptical coming into information technology—as much as I loved the original, I didn't know if it'd all the same work once the stakes were reduced even further.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Information technology does, though. It admittedly does. Stumbling through Rachel and Chloe's relationship, coming to terms with Chloe's dad's death, navigating her complicated human relationship with her stepdad—if annihilation these are better stakes, because they're relatable. They may be minor on the universal stage, just they loom large on a personal level, and they all-but-invite the player to empathize.

All that said, it's the residue of Before the Tempest I could do without. Before the Tempest may be content with smaller stakes than its predecessor, merely someone withal decided information technology needed stakes of some kind and the stakes information technology settled on are absurd.

Most of information technology doesn't come up into focus until the third episode, then I'm loathe to spoil it. Suffice it to say, the first ii episodes focus more often than not on Chloe and Rachel'south human relationship, with a bit of small-boondocks weirdness as prepare-dressing. The tertiary episode turns that background weirdness into a full-diddled mystery and loses itself in the process, veering at times into soap opera and so rushing to an ending at breakneck speed. It's not irredeemable, as the third episode yet takes occasional fourth dimension out for character development and features probably some of my favorite Chloe/Rachel scenes. The larger plot beats are silly though, and often tonally inconsistent with what came before.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Which makes you lot wonder: Why? It'due south similar nobody believes a game most a high-school aged girl navigating pocket-sized-town life tin be interesting without some outlandish plot around it—and maybe they're right. But after looking back at Life is Strange and now Before the Storm though, it'southward precisely the moments where there are no stakes at all that those games pull off their masterstrokes, be information technology two old friends reminiscing over Vivid Eyes, or some other pair lying in bed looking at fake stars splayed across the ceiling.

Bottom line

Life is Strange: Earlier the Storm isn't equally groundbreaking as its predecessor, merely information technology is a refinement of those ideas. Chloe and Rachel's human relationship is heartwarming, and a solid core for the residuum to wrap itself effectually. Splendid character writing makes up for the moments when the overarching story drags, or when it gets too hamfisted.

That'southward actually the lesson, here: Write expert characters, and the stakes tin can be as modest equally y'all'd like. Before the Tempest peradventure doesn't take this to centre enough, with its more melodramatic plot beats really detracting from the parts I enjoyed—and yet I'm inclined to forgive those sins, because the moments where it does stumble on some seemingly universal truth? They polish bright.

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Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/407769/life-is-strange-before-the-storm-review.html

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