Life is Strange’s penultimate episode is a rollercoaster of emotions. Not only does it present players with some truly gut-wrenching decisions, but its narrative is punctuated by touching moments of character development, beautiful imagery, and easily one of the most shocking endings of any episodic adventure that I’ve played to date. Quite how the final chapter will wrap things up is anyone’s guess at this point, but at the moment, Life is Strange is building to a gripping climax, and those of you who have been invested in Max Caulfield’s time-travelling escapades up to this point will be hard pressed to find anything to complain about in Dark Room, which is easily (forgive the pun) the darkest chapter in the saga yet.
Episode 4 kicks off right after that shock ending, which, without spoiling anything too much, sees teenage heroine Max find herself in an alternate reality—a reality where one of the game’s starring characters has had her life turned upside down after a freak accident. Conversely, one of the game’s deceased characters now lives, but is struggling with the financial burden of caring for his daughter’s precarious condition. This segment is pretty much all story-focused, with poignant scenes between Max and her friend hitting you like a punch to the gut; even more so when the topic of euthanasia rears its head, resulting in some of the game’s strongest scenes to date.
Interestingly, Life is Strange doesn’t linger in this new setting for long, instead transitioning back into the main reality where Chloe and Max resume their quest to find the missing Rachel Amber. While I would have liked to have seen this reality explored more—if nothing else, just to see the repercussions that have befallen other characters in Arcadia Bay—it was a nice deviation offering a ‘what if’ scenario, and perhaps is best left that way given the strength of the core narrative already built in place.
Back in the ‘real’ world however, and it’s business as usual. Dark Room places a huge emphasis on narrative this time around, and though there’s still a few interesting puzzles thrown into the mix, the game makes a concerted effort to pick up the pace in the hunt for Rachel. One of the best elements of Episode Four is the fact your various choices from past chapters come into fruition here, particularly during a confrontation with drug dealer Frank. Depending on previous actions, such as whether Chloe has a firearm in her possession or if you inadvertently killed Frank’s beloved pet pooch, there’s a chance that you may walk away from the chat either unscathed or with one character meeting their maker.
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Once more, your dialogue choices play an important part in the proceedings, and you’ll have to rewind if you muck things up. It’s extremely captivating stuff, as you never know quite how Frank will react, and even more satisfying when you realise you made the ‘right’ choice a few episodes ago, resulting in things working in your favor. Other scenes like this also play out like down the line at the End of the World party at the notorious Vortex Club, again based on how you went about things as far back as Episode One. It’s great to see your choices pay off this far down the line, as some of them seemed innocuous or even arbitrary at the time.
One particular highlight of Dark Room is the evidence puzzle towards the end of the episode. Having amassed a huge amount of clues from David, Frank and Nathan, our wannabe detectives much use the clues to extrapolate the exact details surrounding the drugging of Kate Marsh by Nathan, specifically where the high school bully took her after the Vortex Club party in early October. It’s a compelling little headscratcher, and requires you to examine clues carefully, checking dates, matching up events and knowing your characters, times and places. Some of it had me stumped for a while, although the satisfaction upon cracking things Sherlock Holmes style is hard to beat.
Regardless of how long it takes, the end result sees Chloe and Max travelling to the location and ultimately uncovering the eponymous Dark Room. There’s also a few basic time-manipulation puzzles dotted throughout the rest of the episode, which is pretty standard stuff by now, although helps break up the exposition. Yes, the game is still bogged down by some dodgy lip-syncing and iffy character models, but more than makes up with it thanks to some gorgeous art direction and killer soundtrack, which complements the on-screen antics perfectly.
Anchoring Life is Strange’s comprehensive narrative is friendship, specifically the one between Chloe and Max, and the warmth and believability that Miss Caulfield brings as a protagonist. That’s no different here in Episode Four, providing some of the game’s standout, emotive sequences yet. As such, when the shock ending does transpire, you’re left wanting more and more importantly feeling genuine concern for the lovable pair—even if their use of colloquial teen banter can sometimes get on your nerves.
As I look forward to Episode Five and the conclusion to this compelling teen drama, there’s no doubt in my mind that Dontnod has in many ways surpassed its contemporaries such as The Walking Dead by weaving a brilliant, engaging episode packed with great storytelling, emotion and shock value.