Leaving on a rather big cliffhanger where Max’s messing with past events has created a horrific butterfly effect for her friend Chloe, we re-join her as she pieces together what happened to her friend. It’s the first heart wrenching moment in an episode full of them.
Indeed, this is a tough episode to get through. Unlike previous episodes it’s not because choices are difficult (they’re a lot more standard than they have been in the past), it’s because the story takes some rather dark turns, especially as you reach the stunning conclusion.
And as great as this episode is, it’s slightly worrying that maybe the developers won’t be able to tie everything together. Maybe this is the pessimist inside talking, but when it comes to choice driven games, sometimes the choices don’t have as much a meaningful outcome as you may want. Instead everything comes crashing together as you discover you were on a straight line all along with choice being nothing more than an illusion.
And then there’s the impending apocalypse. The tornado, beached whales and eclipse of previous episodes are now joined by another sign that something’s not quite right. While it’s an intriguing mystery, it doesn’t seem like anyone cares as much about this strange phenomena as our two main cast members. There is an “end of the world” style party featured, but you’d think there’d be more chaos in the streets. Maybe even a few more news stories?
As has always been something I’ve praised with this series are the use of puzzles, and this episode doesn’t disappoint either. There is a tedious moment about halfway through where you’re forced to rewind the same conversation over and over again because you chose the wrong option, but that’s all really. The rest are great, with some that have a couple of ways of reaching the same outcome. Usually involving either using your brain or smashing something with a large object. I mostly chose the latter.
The same problems are present however, particularly when it comes to the, at times, cringe inducing dialogue. Chloe again dropping ridiculously outdated pop culture references that elicited a grown from myself. It’s a major strength of the story that I was able to forgive her annoyances when the real huge moments in the story occurred. The episode is titled “Dark Room”, yet even I was surprised at quite how dark it went. The actress behind Chloe really being able to showcase some acting chops here.
Life is Strange continues rolling to what I hope will be an epic conclusion. The pieces are certainly in place, whether Dontnod are able to fit them together is still up in the air. As it stands though, this has been one of the biggest surprises of the year and I can’t wait to see how it all ends.
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