Developer: Deck Nine
Publisher: Square Enix
Platform: PS4, Xbox One and PC (Steam)
Tested on: PC (Steam)
Life is Strange: Before the Storm: Episode 2 – Review
After almost 2 months and a fiery cliff-hanger, Life is Strange: Before the Storm has finally returned with episode 2! Life is Strange: Before the Storm is an action adventure game where your choices influence the game’s story. In episode one we got to see how Chloe and Rachel met. We also got some more backstory from Chloe and other characters we know from the first Life is Strange game. The second episode is just as exciting and gives an even closer look at Chloe and Rachel’s stories.
This Review focuses on the story from the second episode. To read a more in-depth review from Life is Strange: Before the Storm check our Review of the first episode here.
Story
Life is Strange: Before the Storm takes place before the events of the first Life is Strange game. You get to play as Chloe and get to know what she went through before Max came back. Chloe is an hella awesome girl that has extremely good discussion skills and isn’t afraid to use them. The main focus of Before the Storm is the relationship development between Chloe and Rachel. Since this game has choices that affect the storyline our storyline might differ from yours depending on the options you chose.
From here on out there might be spoilers so be warned!
In the first episode, we saw how Rachel and Chloe met and became friends. While skipping school together Rachel discovers something awful about her father. This flips a switch in Rachel and makes her furious. After Chloe fails to calm her down on the junkyard. She goes to the park where they saw her father. Chloe finds her again and they make up but Rachel still has a lot of anger cropped up. She decides to out her anger in a fire and lights basically the entire park on fire while screaming her heart out.
The second Episode continues the day after Rachel started the fire. Rachel, Chloe and their parents are called to the principal’s office because they skipped school. The principal tries to blame the rebellious Chloe but Rachel takes the blame on her. This causes the principal to suspend both Chloe and Rachel and kick her out of the Tempest play. Rachel is the lead for the Tempest so this comes as a complete shock. Chloe, of course, doesn’t accept that and takes all the blame again on only her. This causes the principal to kick her out of school because she was warned that that would happen. The fire that Rachel started has turned into a giant forest fire because of drought. This fire and a huge smoke cloud can be seen everywhere in Arcadia Bay in the game.
Together Chloe and Rachel make each other stronger because of their differences. They make plans to run away together from their problems, but Leaving Arcadia Bay isn’t as easy as it sounds. Other problems pop up and emotions run high as you discover that every family has skeletons in their closet.
The story of episode 2 is even more exciting than episode 1. You learn more of the problems Chloe, Rachel, and the others go through. As you learn more about the characters in Before the Storm you start to understand them more and further understand their actions in the first game as well. Since episode 2 ended in an intriguing cliff-hanger it makes episode 3 seem already very exciting. Hopefully, the story will stay just as intriguing till the end.
Graphics
The graphics are still the same as in the first episode. Almost everywhere in episode 2, you can see the dangerously pretty wildfire in the background. This just makes the atmosphere even more dramatic. The player gets to rediscover some places from the first game and see them in a totally different light as they are differently decorated or made look “younger” in a way.
Sound
Daughter’s songs are still pretty awesome and just totally fit with the emotions in the game. The other tracks used are also pretty good. Music in this game just really lifts the story up more and episode’s 2 music was no different.
Sadly, the sound bug that also appeared in the first episode got even worse. Now in almost every conversation, there are at least 2 sentences that get cut off at the end. This is extremely annoying since the game is story based and the conversations are really important.
Gameplay
Episode 2’s controls are no different from episode 1. You get to use the discussion feature a bit more than before. Of course, you can’t forget to get achievements by letting Chloe draw graffiti every chance she has. Sometimes you even have to do something first before you can draw graffiti as Chloe can’t work her magic with someone watching her. There were a lot more important choices in episode 2 than episode 1 making this episode a lot more intense. In the first game, you could just rewind when you made a bad decision since Max had special powers. Chloe only has her arguing skills so you have to make the right decision from the start.
Conclusion
Episode 2 is just as an emotional rollercoaster as episode 1 but this time it has some extra dangerous loops. This episode you got more choices that affected the storyline more greatly. As you learn more about Chloe and Rachel’s bond you really start to bond with the characters. The tension in the game rises and with episode 2 ending in a serious cliff-hanger, making the wait for episode 3 rather devastating. Hopefully, it will be released soon with the sound bug fixed as well.
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[…] to everyone that liked/played the first game. You can check out my reviews here: episode 1, 2 and […]