Life is Strange: Before the Storm

Who cares if the stars are dead? As long as we can still see them, that means they're real...to us.

don't be surprised, chloe, if one day, i'm just out of here

虽然时长是正篇的一半，但是后劲太大了，比之更甚。(有剧透) 通过三章的刻画，让我从正面认识了一个优秀、聪明、勇敢、冲动、敏感的瑞秋。 她是每个人口中都会提到并且称赞的人，她身上就是有一股致命的吸引力，吸引你去抛开现实，去疯狂去逃跑，去做些“坏”事。 她也并不完美，有着野兽的那一面。特别是当自己的信任崩塌时，她散发的绝望和崩溃就像是一枚炸弹，把自己的心摧毁彻底。情绪汹涌而来时，就像那场山火，愤怒地燃烧着，久久不息。 每个人都爱她，可不是每个人都懂她。 就像她对克洛伊说过，我可能有一天会离开这个地方，离开你，不要惊讶。 她其实不属于任何人，在每个人的生命里留下痕迹之后，又会去追求自由，去追星星。 越知道她这么好，就越不敢把故事进行下去，因为你知道结局。根本不应该是这样的结局。 写到这里突然也就明白了，不管是瑞秋还是克洛伊，她们都不应该经历这样那样的事。 也正因为是两个都需要疗伤的人，如此相似，才会彼此吸引。 愿瑞秋自由。 啊 不得不说，彩蛋章节结尾放克洛伊爸爸的事，我真的是，故事好，就是想给编剧两锤。

The game explores loss, grief, anger, uncertainty, love, friendship, and more. I really enjoyed learning more about Chloe's life and getting some context about what happened before the first game, especially about the whole Rachel thing. If you don't like Chloe as a character in LiS1, I'd still recommend you to play this one. You'll get to walk in her shoes for a bit and you might understand why she is the way she is. Her "superpower" is to talk back and try to win arguments to get what she wants, and a lot of the dialogue options are confrontational, even when you pick the nicest ones. I wish I could've been nicer or to de-escalate some situations, but she doesn't know how to do that, and in a way, that made me sad. She's just a kid who lost some of the most important people in her life. Her house doesn't feel like home anymore, school isn't going great, and Rachel's going through a lot as well, putting more on Chloe's plate. She's tired, in pain, lonely, and angry. You know you could turn her life around if you made better choices, but those choices are never given to you because she doesn't see them as options. You can't protect her from all the sh!t and pain she's going through. It sucks to know none of your choices really matter. They matter within the confines of the prequel, but no matter how you choose to handle this story, we can't change how LiS 1 starts. It's kind of a bummer, because you definitely run into some problematic people that make you wish you could do something more. As always, the music is awesome, the vibes are immaculate and they do an amazing job at portraying teenage angst, heightened emotions and feeling like every day is the end of the f*cking world. You can finish it pretty fast, it's shorter than the first one and it has a bonus episode that's a prequel to the prequel, when Max and Chloe were little kids.

В это неимоверно скучно играть, а я ещё думала что первая часть редкостное говно..

Nice to have context for how Amber used to be, but the story felt uninspired and forced. Familiar faces reappear but there isn't a lot of development. They act pretty much how you'd expect them to if you've played LiS, and then the story quickly moves on to the next scene like nothing that just happened mattered. Except the protagonists, I guess. Gameplay wasn't interesting or innovative either.

Before the Storm é o tipo de jogo que te faz sentir — não por explosões ou ação, mas por momentos simples, silenciosos e intensos. Aqui, não jogamos com Max, mas com Chloe Price, antes dos eventos do Life is Strange original. É uma história sobre perda, rebeldia, e principalmente, sobre a amizade (e amor) entre Chloe e Rachel Amber. O roteiro é profundo e humano. Ele mostra uma Chloe mais vulnerável, tentando lidar com o caos interno e o mundo que parece desabar ao redor. Rachel, por outro lado, é a faísca que acende algo dentro dela — e ver essa relação se desenvolver é tão bonito quanto doloroso. Mesmo sem o poder de voltar no tempo, o jogo continua intenso. As escolhas têm peso real, e as consequências emocionais são ainda mais fortes, justamente porque aqui não há como “corrigir” os erros. A trilha sonora continua impecável, com músicas que encaixam perfeitamente no tom melancólico e adolescente da história. A arte, o clima e os diálogos criam uma imersão que te prende do início ao fim. Before the Storm mostra que nem todo poder está em mudar o tempo — às vezes, está em enfrentar o que não podemos mudar.

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.