Life is Strange: Before the Storm
Our favourite high-school melodrama is back – and judging by episode one, this three-part prequel is as compelling as ever
The problem with most prequels? You already know how they’re going to end before you’ve started.
So by the time the final part of Before the Storm wraps up, we’d bet our pitiful life-savings on Chloe Price having a new blue haircut, Rachel Amber going missing and the time-travelling Max Caulfield making one final appearance. Because all those pieces were in place at the start of 2015’s role-playing soap opera Life Is Strange.
And yet Before the Storm is shaping up to be every bit as winsome as the cult classic that inspired it. With a slew of memorable characters, painful teenage dialogue and intriguing moral quandaries, this first instalment in a three-episode arc follows broadly the same setup as the original game. Once again, you’ll spend most of your time wandering around, chatting with your fellow high-school slackers and interacting with a few choice objects. The only barbs that get thrown around are the quips that lead character Chloe uses to retreat out of trouble using the new Backtalk mechanic.
While that might not sound like much to be getting on with, such is the strength of Chloe and Rachel’s combustible new friendship that you can’t help but hang off their every interaction. This is a story you’ll want to get lost in, even if events do occasionally lead towards an angst-ridden cliché.
But it’s Before the Storm’s moments of idle distraction that endear it as a story worth seeing through: a Dungeons & Dragons game before class, a delinquent quest to nick a bottle of wine… you know, the same juvenile nonsense you got up to before knowing better.
Whether this low-key charm holds true as Before the Storm ratchets up its stakes ahead of an inevitable conclusion remains to be seen. For now, our return to Arcadia Bay has us itching for the next instalment, and that can only be a good thing. Rob Leedham
STUFF SAYS Not perfect, but it’s more Godfather Part II than Phantom Menace