Life Is Strange: Reunion Review (PS5) – Just two years after the previous release, Life is Strange: Double Exposure, Deck Nine and Square Enix are already releasing a follow up with Life is Strange: Reunion.
As a longtime fan of the series, and reviewer of the previous Life is Strange title, I was very keen to get going on this game. If I’m being honest, I am always at a minimum; happy to be in the cosy world of Life is Strange. So where are we at with the latest entry?
Life Is Strange: Reunion Review (PS5) – Course Correction
Over Time
Life Is Strange: Reunion marks the sixth full release in the franchise, so don’t go expecting any crazy twists when it comes to gameplay. This is still a narrative focused adventure game, that mostly has you choosing conversation options to move the game forward.
While the franchise has historically also focused on making narrative choices that take the plot in diverging paths, Reunion almost bucks that trend by feeling noticeably more on rails than previous games in the series. Don’t get me wrong, you still make choices, but it doesn’t feel especially divergent.
In fact, it goes as far as to retroactively correct the decisions you might have made in previous games, in order to deliver a game to a part of its audience that was very vocal in their dislike for Double Exposure. Through the entirety of Reunion it was difficult to really get away from that.
Beyond bringing back a character that I had already let go of in my version of events throughout the Life is Strange games, they also relegate side characters I had built relationships with in Double Exposure to little more than background noise.
On top of that, I’d go as far to say the game actively pressures you into making certain choices with the way certain scenes play out. It really goes to some length, to appear as though there is only one romance option in this title, as characters from its predecessors are sent to the sidelines. Regardless, so much of it just feels unearned.
Right down to the name of the game, it feels like course correction, to focus back on Max and Chloe. It makes it abundantly clear that it’s doing away with unpopular arcs from Double Exposure, making the experience feel as though it is written by a committee, voting on the most popular aspects of the franchise up until this point.
By the end of the game, I didn’t put too much thought into my decisions, because if in the future they’re going to be canonized and potentially deemed incorrect, then why sweat it? The cornerstone of the entire series falls apart once you start down this path.
Harsh Reality
At the heart of Life is Strange: Reunion is a mystery that has to be solved, and over the course of its fairly short run time, (It’s about three episodes long by comparison to the previous standard) you’ll essentially gather evidence in order to solve that mystery.
You will be visiting very familiar areas from Double Exposure, and talking to most of the same cast, with only a couple additions to both. Of course, this time you play as two characters, Max and Chloe.
Max has her usual time manipulating, albeit now reality bending power that allows you to rewind and approach conversations differently. Her powers, however, are inconsistent in Reunion, in order to serve the plot.
Chloe has the much more interesting “Backtalk” ability, making its return from Before The Storm, which allows her to apply pressure in conversations with quick wit to open up new conversational avenues and thus further evidence.
Theoretically, while it is unlikely, you could miss all evidence throughout Life is Strange: Reunion, or like me; have certain gaps that in doing so, will require you to make judgement calls based on what you do have. I thought that was interesting, even though the inevitability of the entire affair, means you will be only really making a difference when it comes to the supporting cast.
Even then, its not guaranteed, given the nature of Max’s now reality altering power, anything could be changed at any point, making the playthrough feel rather inconsequential.
What with Chloe’s backtalk ability, I was once again reminded that Life is Strange doesn’t necessarily need superpowers at all to be interesting, when its strength has always been in its characters, locations, and that cosy, comfortable feeling that comes with its young adult type drama.
Reunion takes on some more heady themes with the convergence of realties in order to bring Chloe back at all, and unfortunately it causes some glaring plot holes, especially towards the end of the game. It also makes it feel very disjointed to its prequel, Double Exposure.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Despite everything, there are still things I love about Reunion. The charm is still there. The soundtrack is absolute spot on as it always is, and I always appreciate hearing Daughter on the OST, as they consistently capture the sound of the series.
I also really like how they reused the areas from Double Exposure to tell us more stories at all, which I’m sure helped with its quick turnaround. I enjoy Caledon and Vermont as a location choice, and just hanging around the Snapping Turtle is an excellent example of the series’ strengths in a microcosm.
Not only that, but the performances are well realized with its further improved facial animation capture, and the voice acting always brings those characters to life wonderfully. While this may feel like the slimmest cast, the likes of the returning Moses and Amanda are two of the best from the series as a whole.
Visually, it is a very good-looking and warm game, that when it isn’t actively course correcting you, feels like comfort food. Furthermore, the story isn’t a complete bust, it certainly has its moments.
Chloe and Max’s interactions can be genuinely heartwarming in no small part due to the performances, and there is a really sweet montage towards the end that will hit any fan in the gut with nostalgia.
It’s just the game as a whole feels like they’ve caved too much to a subsection of the fanbase, and thus railroaded those of us who made the opposite decisions, and it also negatively impacts the previous games – which begs the question, where do we go from here?
If all choices, in a choice based narrative game are subject to being upended for the sake of fan service, then you may as well just remove that part entirely, and tell a story that is more straightforward and linear. I’m just not sure it would feel much like Life is Strange at that point, but we’re halfway there already.
Review code kindly provided by publisher
Life Is Strange: Reunion is available right now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC