REVIEW: LIFE IS STRANGE: REUNION
The finale to one of the most influential queer games in modern times.
By Mel
Publishing by Mel
Credits: SquareEnix & Deck Nine Games
There are two different kinds of queers in this world: those who played or at least heard of Life Is Strange and those who didn’t.
The latter being a 1 in 10 situation. Released in 2015 and being considered by many to be their first “gay game”. The story of two friends (Max & Chloe) breaking time and space while solving a disappearance in a small town became so iconic that now the franchise has expanded to over six games (including prequel Before the Storm).
The latest instalment, announced in late January and released in March, Life is Strange: Reunion sees to bring back Max and Chloe, a duo not seen since the first game and bring a ‘true end’ to their story.
However, is this ‘true ending’ really worth it? Afterall, the first game’s end (one decided by the player!) seemed very definite. So, is this an attempt to use the fans’ nostalgia or does it have what it needs for it to be a welcomed new conclusion and finale?
We at Dirty Dyke Magazine played the game to bring you the answer.
Dirty Dyke Magazine recommends playing Life is Strange (2015) or its 2023 remaster before reading the review. Spoilers for the 11 year old game will be said!
The settings & visuals
If your last Life is Strange game was the first one, then you will be happy to know that the franchise has fully adapted modern expectations of visual work.
Life is Strange: Reunion has no faults in its background, character, animation, and design department, the game’s ‘sit down’ (that has you just listening to Max’s narration as the game overlays its landscapes) features just to highlight this.
The games have always pushed for a realistic style and look to their worlds, even when dealing with the supernatural everything is still based in real American inspirations. It’s a shame that with this new modernity it means that the doodles and handwriting in the journals seem more like a typeface rather than actual scratchy and imperfect writing but for accessibility reasons we will let it slide.
However, even if the visuals of the game went through a development, the story still remains the same as previous instalments as she needs to solve a mystery while saving lives in a small town.
Now a hired professor at Caledon University, Max this time needs to prevent a catastrophic fire from breaking out while solving the mystery of how and why Chloe has returned to her life.
We believe that the narrative handles these two points to an acceptable and understanding degree. There is complexity in Chloe’s return – she did either left you or died depending on your choice in LiS 1 – but this is handled and explained extensively on the plot and like any Life is Strange game there are supernatural reasonings.
This is where some people do tell you to play the previous instalment Life is Strange: Double Exposure to understand what happened and how could a Chloe that died be alive again, however, Reunion does a good job at explaining what occurred in Double Exposure, so there is no need to play it if you are only here for Chloe.
The characters
This is where the game, in my opinion, divides fans. Deck Nine really wants you to believe that there are a lot of characters in this game, Safi, Moses, Reggie, Vinh, Amanda amongst 5/7 others make the cast for secondary characters, and apart from Safi and sometimes Moses we can’t tell you one thing the other characters did. Even with some secondary characters playing major roles in plot twists the set up to their spotlight is nowhere to be seen.
It’s like the team took the “Reunion” aspect and made it the whole point of the game. This game is wholly and only about Max and Chloe.
There is little mention to characters from Double Exposure and their fates by our decisions in said game (a plus for those wishing to skip that game entirely) but a negative to those who liked the side stories explored then. This is very much the #pricefield game some fans wanted after 2015, but those who are massive fans of exploring the towns, the lore, and uncovering the mysteries the game sets, you will not get a lot from Life is Strange: Reunion.
Onto the main, and by the way only, couple in Life is Strange (yes, you are only kissing Chloe in this game or remain kind of connected to previous Double Exposure love interests), Max and Chloe.
To all of those queers who played LiS and saw just how toxic our punk girl Chloe was, I have big news for you: you will probably like her more now.
Even if she is playable, so therefore you decide what she says, all of her scripted dialogue, and the dialogue options, give Chloe a more mature and respectable presence. There is more thinking in her decisions (no more shooting at herself like an idiot), and she gives Max the respect and care that was sometimes questionable in the first game.
There is also a layer of tragedy to her, as she is a character who is both dead and alive at the same time.
But, this never changes her treatment towards others and that is something that made her probably the best character in Reunion for us.
Still, we can assure you, she is still the charismatic, even if sometimes impulsive, punk girl a bunch of us had their first gay crushes on.
Max, on the other hand, remains very similar to her first game’s personality. After all, she was always supposed to be the player’s character. She remains a slate you can decide to modify into being kind or more manipulative for “a bigger and better cause”.
There is however one aspect that we really liked which this game explores and that is Max’s unwillingness to let go of the past. Afterall, why would she? She can fix it. And that dilemma is one which shapes the ending and writes either the most gut-wrenching or satisfying ending you decide to make.
The game
You may have noticed that we said you play as Chloe and Max, yes, for the first time in the franchise you get to control two characters through the game. This means that you have access to both the rewind time mechanic from Max and the talk-back mechanic from Chloe. The latter is a very enjoyable return from the last time it was used in Before the Storm and one of our favourite “powers” in the franchise, as it uses more clue spotting and thinking.
These elements help to solve puzzles and discover more information that you need to discover who or what causes the Caledon fire, and at one moment the game very bluntly tells you “to make sure you discover everything” as every clue helps to further theorise the culprit. For us pausing the game just to begin throwing our theories and reasons at the screen made this game, oh so much better.
Apart from that there are some lacking features in this game that don’t make it fully whole.
The game lacks chapters to divide the beginning, middle, and end. With our experience in previous games, we were constantly asking ourselves “Are we still in chapter 1?”, but it wasn’t until the 5th hour that we clocked the game doesn’t have this. Rather, it’s a continuous unpaused experience. This means that major decisions percentages (aka how did you chose against other players worldwide) is only available at the end of the game! A big disappointment! Looking at those stats were always a funny and revealing experience.
Furthermore, the game lacks any small side quests, so there is no extra cutscenes for seeing that you could have helped a girl from being hit with a ball by rewinding, or helping a teacher with a student using talk back. There is no reward for being very attentive to your surroundings and we think that’s a shame.
There is the reward of having more information for the main mysteries but apart from that, the game does not take you to explore different stories and side quests, and we found that underwhelming.
Overall
This game has been anticipated by a lot of young queers who wanted and needed so badly to see their main girls as adults. It’s the dream from any #pricefield fan, or even just a fan of their story as friends breaking destiny for each other. This game is a must if you liked Life is Strange 1 and really want to see a new continuation and end to their story.
However, I would not recommend it to any newcomers of Life is Strange as a franchise, or to fans of narrative based games. This game is made with an audience in mind and sadly that cuts it short of being enjoyable for general queer gamers.
This is to say, it is notable when a game was made by its original developers and when it wasn’t.
In this case DontNod (the minds behind the first & second games) wasn’t involved in the game, instead being fully developed by publisher Deck Nine.
So if you want to act like Life is Strange: Reunion is not a canon ending, you wouldn’t be so wrong.
It is still a nice experience for known players of the franchise, and for that reason:
Dirty Dyke Magazine gives Life is Strange: Reunion: 6.5/10
This game was played using a PlayStation 5 – gameplay quality may differ in other systems.
