1 week ago
5
Reuinted and it feels so... complicated
A new Life is Strange game doesn't always feel particularly odd given its sort of steady turn into a franchise. The last one was only in 2024 with Life Is Strange: Double Exposure, bringing back the original game's Max Caulfield. This wasn't necessarily a welcome return for all, and ended up being somewhat of a mixed bag. And now we come to now with a potentially odd entry, Life is Strange: Reunion, which is out today. As the subtitle suggests, and where the oddness comes in, Reunion reunites Max with the surprising return of Chloe Price. Big spoilers ahead for Double Exposure, by the way!
For those of you who don't give a hoot about spoilers that are wondering how Max and Chloe can be in the same timeline, you have Double Exposure to thank for that. At the end of that game, Max fuses the separate timelines together, allowing Chloe to return in this game. In Reunion, Max is now working as a photography teacher at Caledon University, but, uh oh! After a cheeky little weekend holiday, she returns to discover the university on fire, killing all her friends. And so once again she rewinds time, finding Chloe in her life once again, who needs some help.
The time rewind mechanic is at the centre of things like in the original game, with Max having to undo and redo various decisions you make on behalf of her to solve puzzles. As Chloe, you can Backtalk, which is not some magical power, it's just talking cleverly or sarcastically. Better than nothing!
I'm sure that Reunion, much like Double Exposure before it, will be a tad divisive too. The launch trailer certainly suggests that Max and Chloe will be working to stick together this time around, but that feels like it undercuts the entire point of the original game's ending. I worry it leans a tad too much towards the fanservice side of the spectrum. That's not for me to decide, however! I shall leave that to experts.
You can pick up Life is Strange: Reunion on Steam right here and now.
English (US) ·