Let’s start by saying that this time, in the shoes of Chloe, we will not have any kind of superpower from ours. Life is Strange , therefore, remains the same game we have dealt with for the first time, but I have no chance of rewinding the time: all the decisions taken become even more intense because it will not give you an opportunity to think back and retract the road cue.
It goes without saying that Before the Stormthus assuming a different connotation, it becomes a pure and simple graphic adventure that beyond gameplay decides to concentrate exclusively on what it has to say.
That’s why Chloe’s story becomes the hub of the story, on the one hand, several characters who will squeeze the nostalgic eye of the first chapter, like Frank, and others that will allow us to deepen the knowledge of Arcadia Bay.
In the demonstration we found ourselves in a completely new location, but developers assure us that we will return to the places we have already visited, such as the famous landfill, where Chloe in the first chapter began to wonder what the end of his friend Rachael : places are clearly different from how we remember them, because we are three years before the affair that hit the bay and Max’s arrival, and it seems almost absurd as we say it, but returning to limestone the same farmer of the first Life is Strange can resurface all the memories related to that ‘ unique and unrepeatable experience, despite the fact that little time has passed since then.
So we spoke of an unusual place that allowed us, in Chloe’s eyes, to deepen that which is the psyche of the girl, still without dyed hair and with a single hint of misanthropy that will strike her down there: we are in a local to mo ‘, where a band is entertaining most of the boys in Arcadia Bay. Many of them have fallen to the ground because of alcohol, who takes the first victims, but also Frank, with his usual way of making arrogant and powerful, sure that in that place the only one who can sell the grass is he.
The Events of Before the Storm also pass by this, from the relationship with the newspaper, from what happens in this world a bit hipster but also a lot of life from the street. The shift from finding music to stunts with the little boys at the venue is very short and Chloe finds himself having to make the first major decisions of our evening and demo, to insult the one who faces or runs away.
To save her, in the end, she will be Rachel, who will allow her to flee, while Frank, rediscovering Samaritan, will support her in flight. The butterfly effect in these cases has come to light in some sporadic situations, nothing that is incredibly conditioning, but it has been able to immediately show off its wings to confirm the narrative intricacies created for Life is Strange.
Is it a friendship?
What most, however, will affect the whole affair concerns the relationship between Chloe and Rachel. Of the latter we know very little because he was the missing girl in the first chapter, what everyone tried to know the real situation: three years before Max arrived at Arcadia Bay, Chloe was different and he really needed a person next to him, that it was friendship or something more. And this is precisely the focus on which the new development is strongly emphasized and always from here pass the most important of the choices to be made in Before the Storm: being friends only or something more will depend solely on you, that you are called to find the bandola of the matassa.
That said, in any case, there are many doubts, because a gameplay losing its main mechanics, ie rewinding the time, opens up to a simple interactive narrative, which completely flattens the gameplay: it will serve a great writing job to succeed to make Before the Storm pleasant and pleasing as his predecessor, with the risk that the sequel that will come later, with Max likely to be the protagonist, can triumph in low hands while keeping the same style as the original chapter. As a last change we would point out that if Max could take pictures of the surrounding environment to keep it in memory, Chloe will be given the chance to put his signature with graffiti on the items that the game will feel appropriate.
Not least the soundtrack, with the first indie music that we were made to hear during our visit to the above-mentioned venue: so chased by the protagonist, the band expresses the best and manages to deliver to the spectator / player the multimedia of the title, able to embrace everyone in their own vice to tell a touching and passionate story.
