Life is Strange: Before the Storm

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.

Imma be that person and say Chloe is literally me because she actually is.
Everything Chloe experienced I experienced at least once or twice. I found myself
extremely attached to this character replaying the game multiple multiple times.
The soundtrack (Daughter) completely outdid themselves on this game.
The music actually captures everything Chloe is going through perfectly.

No matter how many games becomes apart of the life is strange universe nothing,
can capture the sting this one has, nobody is like Chloe no other character .

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 believe Before the Storm is nowhere near as good as the original Life is Strange, 'cause if you've played the original, you already know what is going to happen and it takes away the weight of your decisions in this game. Still, this is a very much worthwhile prequel with a smaller scale story and a very touching dlc episode.
Having finished both games now, my suggested playthrough order would be:
BtS ep1-3, LiS1 ep1-5, BtS farewell (dlc)
★★★½ out of 5

Before the Storm is a good piece of cake—but if you’ve built a deep mental bond with the original Life is Strange and the unparalleled relationship between Max and Chloe, the taste can feel a little bland. That’s not really this game’s fault; it’s just overshadowed by what came before.
Still, the story itself is far from bad. It gives us a glimpse into Chloe’s life after losing Max and William, and how she forged a dreamlike bond with Rachel. It makes sense to some extent narratively, and the recurring flame motif for Rachel is a strong choice—beautiful, impossible to grasp fully, dangerous, yet sometimes fragile. The Tempest play scene was especially powerful for me: when Rachel deviated from the script, refusing to grant Ariel freedom but instead promising a future together, I felt that old LiS pull of emotional involvement. I couldn’t have said no to her, even if there had been a choice. The three dream sequences across the episodes, showing Chloe’s instability and inner struggle, also stand out as some of the best crafted parts of the game. And perhaps my favorite touch: Chloe’s diary, written like letters to Max. It’s genuinely special and so fitting for her character—harsh and outspoken on the outside, but in her heart still desperate to talk to the one person she cherishes most.
Of course, there are flaws. The pacing stumbles at times, and when the plot itself isn’t particularly gripping, the slower tempo drags. Inconsistencies with original stories in Before the Storm can be frustrating if you care about canon accuracy. Some voice performances feel slightly off, pulling me out of the moment now and then. And the “backtalk” mechanic never fully clicks; compared to how naturally choices and conversations flowed in LiS1, it feels forced around the edges.
So maybe the best way to treat Before the Storm is as a lovingly crafted “almost-canon” fan creation—a touching look into Chloe’s 2010, filling in the spaces the original left blank.
That said, Farewell is the real jewel. Short, bittersweet, but heavy with warmth, it captures Chloe’s sentimentality, her love for her family, and her devotion to Max. The way she arranges “coincidences” and a sequence of events to spark their childhood memories as a farewell is heartbreaking. It shows just how much she treasures the past, and how much the world has robbed her of. And in that context, the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending feels more justified—it’s not just Max’s desperate love, but Chloe’s lifetime of unfair tragedy that demands a counterbalance. After everything she’s endured, she deserves a Max who will finally give up the world to save her.