Life is Strange: Reunion

When it comes to a Life is Strange game, there are a handful of areas where you expect excellence. This series has been built on a collection of pillars, be this diverse and authentic-feeling characters, an emotional and conflicting narrative, or huge and story-defining choices and twists. These are elements that we expect from a Life is Strange game, elements that can often outclass the competition at the cost of more middling gameplay features and creative decisions elsewhere. I bring this up because Life is Strange: Reunion is another case of precisely this structuring.

Regarded as the final chapter in the saga of Max Caulfield and Chloe Price, Reunion explores how Max's actions from Life is Strange: Double Exposure inadvertently brought Chloe back into Max's life (in a way dependant on how you experienced prior instalments) and how her meddling with timelines has set her friends and her current home of Caledon University on a path to oblivion. Every choice has a consequence at the end of the day and this game is all about dealing with these consequences in a way that perhaps shows a complete disregard to learn from our cataclysmic mistakes. I say this as the aim of Reunion is to stop a devastating fire that will burn Caledon to ashes, all while attempting to save the lives of those who will be killed in the blaze. Despite all of this happening because of Max's actions, the immediate response is to meddle with time again and attempt to 'correct' the timeline and sculpt the perfect ending, a narrative premise shrouded in all manner of moral ambiguity.

Admittedly, it's an entertaining and interesting story that developer Deck Nine has cooked up, one that is better paced, has more memorable twists and reveals, a deeper layer of intrigue and mystery baked into the centre, and all while hitting that core Life is Strange tenet of choices and consequences. From a narrative perspective, it's another triumph from Deck Nine and another fine example that Life is Strange games can compete with the best when judging them from a pure story angle.

Similarly, the way the choices are utilised makes each and every one of them stand out and feel impactful and crucial to the wider narrative. It doesn't matter whether you're choosing to confess adoration for another character or actively accusing another of being a potential arsonist, each choice has its purpose and will lead you down a path to either getting a happy or absolutely ruthless ending. And it's this journey of seeing where your choices take you that makes Reunion such a fulfilling experience, a game that you can substitute for a movie or a couple of episodes of a TV series each night by kicking back and watching as the story unfolds thanks to your involvement. Again, it's one of the key strengths that this series has always delivered upon and it doesn't miss a beat this time.

What I will say, and this does somewhat contradict with the better pacing of the plot, is that Reunion doesn't quite deliver on the same level with its characters and your connection with them. Most of these individuals are people you already know through-and-through thanks to Double Exposure, so there's less of a necessity to get to know them better and see how their individual arcs fit into your wider tale. In fact, this seems to be a more conscious decision from Deck Nine, who has traded a collection of fresh wider characters for the return of Chloe and seeing how the two Life is Strange icons, of her and Max, navigate each other years and years after the events of the first game. There's plenty to unpack and appreciate here, but I do miss having a wider cast who feel completely alien to me and then getting to learn tiny details about them morsel-by-morsel.

Perhaps I'm being a tad picky but you do start to notice these more intricate elements when the wider gameplay experience is as rudimentary as it is in Reunion. Sure, Deck Nine made the excellent decision of letting Max use her Rewind power more freely, allowing for more creative solutions to get around narrative-geared problems and conversations, but most of these do feel highly motivated and plotted out, leaving the feature to feel less like a player tool and more so just the next step in reaching the credits. Similarly, when Deck Nine removes the barriers and opens Reunion up to more gameplay-focused moments, you do find that this is where it struggles the most. On one hand, Caledon is a stunning setting, but we've navigated most of these areas and locations before, meaning the wonder isn't the same as it was when playing Double Exposure the first time. Also, slowly jogging around a courtyard or walking around the Snapping Turtle to simply interact with items and get a pre-programmed dialogue line or to find a handful of collectibles is simply a tad boring. At times, you can't help but feel as though Reunion would be better without having these infrequent open gameplay sections, instead offering a more focussed and sculpted linear tale from start-to-finish, like a Telltale story.

Again, Reunion is a truly beautiful game where you can take advantage of the Resolution-centric mode due to a simple lack-of-necessity to have tight and fluid 60 FPS action. The art direction, the environment design, the use of colour, it all comes together to make this game stand out like an artist's dream. But when we're talking about interactive video games, there needs to be better substance to the actual gameplay, and adding Chloe as a second protagonist isn't enough on this front. For the most part, she plays exactly the same as Max, and her signature Backtalk ability is barely used and has very little place in the wider whole. It feels like an oversight at times.

Life is Strange: Reunion stands out as a game that you will look more or less favourably on depending on how much time and energy you are willing to give it. Do you have the commitment to replay the story several times, re-experiencing certain moments and chapters under the caveat that it will eventually lead to a different scene or ending? If that's your jam, then you will likely connect with Reunion much better than those who are happy to conclude Max and Chloe's journey after one attempt. I stand somewhere in the middle. There's quality and genuine brilliance in this game, but at the same time I can't help but feel as though it'd benefit from either having more interactivity and player-geared gameplay or rather a complete focus on narrative and letting a hand-crafted and highly refined story flow of its own accord. Perhaps we'll see a change in the future of the series, but whatever ends up happening, one thing is clear and that is Reunion once again nails the core elements of what makes a Life is Strange game special, so credit to Deck Nine on that front once more.