Life is Strange: Before the Storm

I was pleasantly surprised by this game. It's clearly inferior to Life is Strange, but in my eyes, it's more than just extended lore for unsatiated fans.
Yes, the ending feels rushed, some dialogues sound forced, and the new “back talk” mechanic is clunky and unrewarding.
But I was drawn in by how the game explores intimacy. Everyone violates others' private spaces — bedrooms, personal files, or deep secrets. Chloe Price, our protagonist, is a prime victim. She is methodically stripped of every personal landmark. Yet as players, we do the same to other characters — whether to satisfy curiosity or progress the story. Exploration becomes intrusion; our actions, interference.
Meanwhile, we constantly feel watched. Messages urge us to reveal our location and activities. We're threatened with exposure on social media. Everywhere, signals insist our presence is unwelcome. As a primitive reaction, we mark our presence with graffiti — not to show off, but to preserve a sense of self.
In that light, the story unfolds as a quest for personal space and authenticity, where every other character seems to have already failed. Every other character except Rachel, our freshly met accomplice and, if you want to, lover. I found their relationship convincing, supported by strong voice acting. I liked how the game lets intimacy grow between them in impersonal spaces, charged with collective memory: a national park, a junkyard, or an improvised scene from Shakespeare's The Tempest. The gentle pacing, graphics, and music are on par with Life is Strange and truly shine here.
If you've played the original story, you know these moments merely stall the impending tragedy. The game doesn't explain how Rachel disappears, but it does give insight into why. In her painful quest, Chloe comes to question her most personal space: her imagination, haunted by the idealized dead dad. As much as it hurts, it makes her stronger. Rachel, on the other hand, has been protected from intrusion for too long. She's easy prey for a voyeuristic maniac.

Life is Strange: Before the Storm isn’t as groundbreaking as its predecessor, but it is a refinement of those ideas. Chloe and Rachel’s relationship is heartwarming, and a solid core for the rest to wrap itself around. Excellent character writing makes up for the moments when the overarching story drags, or when it gets too ham-fisted. That’s really the lesson, here: Write good characters, and the stakes can be as small as you’d like. Before the Storm maybe doesn’t take this to heart enough, with its more melodramatic plot beats actually 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 shine bright.
8/10

it has become tradition to ruin my life by playing life is strange games every summer

I played this game years ago, and I just replayed it recently... and wow. That’s the only word that keeps echoing in my head. This game is beautifully written. It is such an emotionally rich experience that adds so much weight and depth to the original Life is Strange in ways I didn’t think were possible originally.

If you loved the original game, this one is essential. It brings new life to familiar faces and sheds light on characters you thought you already understood. Chloe Price becomes more than just the rebellious best friend because now you actually feel her pain, her longing, her confusion, and everything through her eyes. And Rachel Amber? She’s no longer just a name whispered through the halls of Blackwell. This game makes her real. Vivid, charismatic, broken, bright. You understand why people were drawn to her, why her absence mattered so much in the first game. She is not just a plot device anymore, she’s an actual person you grow to love. And Nathan... oh, Nathan. I won’t spoil a thing, but replaying this made me see everything in a different light. His portrayal here adds so much nuance to who he is and how he got there. It’s subtle, it’s heartbreaking, and it honestly made me feel things I didn’t expect.

Now, the writing is poetic without trying too hard, the soundtrack is perfect (as usual); raw, indie, moody, and unforgettable. And the visuals, while stylized, are deeply atmospheric. Every scene OOZES emotion. Every line of dialogue feels like it means something. This game hurts in all the right ways. And somehow, through all the chaos and aching emotion, there’s this quiet beauty that sticks with you long after the credits roll.

I can’t recommend this game enough. Whether you’re returning to Arcadia Bay or visiting it for the first time, this story WILL wrap around your heart and stay there for many, MANY years. Play it. You won’t regret it.

Much better than the remaster. Don't be tempted by the discounts,
it's definitely worth spending money on the original.
I have a separate review of the remastered version.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☑ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☑ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☑ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☑ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☑ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10
---{ Author }---
☑
I'll go ahead and say it up front, I think you will like this game far more if you're a fan of Chloe Price in general or if you have genuine interest in what her life was like without Max in it. I played Life is Strange: Before the Storm on release on PlayStation but have replayed it numerous time since and now on PC as well. It's definitely difficult to pinpoint which Life is Strange game is the "best" one since everyone have different opinions and experiences which each game and will relate to some characters or stories more than others. At the time of release Life is Strange: Before the Storm felt like an immediate upgrade from Life is Strange (2015) for me. The things that bothered me in the first game felt non-existent this time around. It felt like the visuals had improved, granted it wasn't by a lot but it felt like it was a step in the right direction. The music felt pretty much perfect, I've caught myself listening to majority of the songs from the game in my spare time and even discovered new artists that I still listen to to this day. The story felt engaging and raw with emotions as you get to experience the pain and turmoil within Chloe as she's dealing with the loss of her father and the absence of her best friend, two key people in her life.
We get to see Chloe spiral down a bad circle of doing drugs, drinking alcohol, sneaking out, skipping school and overall being a rebellious teenager who's trying to find herself and her path in life. When she meets one of my favorite characters in the Life is Strange franchise all together Rachel Amber on a complete whim. The two of them quickly form a strong bond and a relationship that's difficult to explain in words but for you as the player get to witness throughout a handful of emotional cutscenes.
The new feature of "battling" your way through conversation felt like a massive upgrade gameplay-wise compared to the previous rewind and select the "real answer" that I had felt repetitive and slightly boring in the first game. The puzzles felt too easy this time around-if there even were any puzzles at all, something I had also critiqued Life is Strange for. It seems like finding the balance between tedious and childsplay got a little lost.
Overall it quickly grew to be my favorite Life is Strange game at the time of release though a bit shorter story it definitely had many key moments and memorable scenes that I think back on with joy. There is a "secret" ending to the game which I feel is the best outcome of the story though I feel like no matter how your playthrough ends, I'm sure you'll feel like your money was well spent in the end.
If you're looking for a game with captivating story, an excellent cast of characters combined with a playlist that'll send chills down your spine as you play or just a continuation after playing the first Life is Strange then it's a no brainer to play Life is Strange: Before the Storm next. I hope you enjoy this game just as much as I do.

i want to run an experiment on someone and make them start with this game before playing life is strange. its a pretty good prequel and i love the farewell episode as well. the ending is kinda whatever burger tho