Life Is Strange Before the Storm Episode 1 Review
Life Is Foreign: Before The Tempest Episode 1 Review
Three years prior to the events of Life Is Strange, players are placed in the shoes of xvi-year-old Chloe Cost. Nobody would envy the hand that the daughter has been dealt in life. Two years agone, her begetter was killed in a car crash. Soon after, her best friend Max Caulfield moved abroad to Seattle subsequently her father got a new task. Chloe'southward mother, Joyce, has found herself a new swain in the form of ex-military man David, but Chloe despises him with every fibre of her beingness.
Chloe has been through a lot and has struggled to come to terms with the events that have had such an impact on her life. The result is a deep hatred that she has cultivated for virtually everything around her — school, Arcadia Bay, authority and but life in full general. She embodies a torn graphic symbol, defenseless in betwixt a deep urge to rebel, raise a middle finger to everything and exit the Bay, and the impossible wish to return to the peaceful and comforting normality of the by. She'due south divisive and some may fifty-fifty find her to exist a scrap of a dislikeable character, at least initially. Many of her observations are tinged with snark and it's sometimes hard to understand her reasoning, something that effects the decisions that you'll make as Chloe.
Like the first title, players are faced with unmissable moral dilemmas where players are given choices to make that change the story. Whereas Max was a new character without any personal baggage and was a clean slate for players to blueprint as they wish, this isn't the case with Chloe. Her agenda ways that her options are usually either to exist a complete bowwow or to awkwardly try and understand with the situation at hand. Indeed, attempting to play Chloe equally a grapheme that can exist molded any way you delight can lead to some jarring moments that don't quite fit in equally they should. If you try to fill her shoes and think as she would, you'll have a far smoother experience.
Do yous tell Joyce what you lot call up or are y'all more diplomatic?
As before, you have as much fourth dimension every bit you need to brand these decisions and there are times when you lot'll be really grateful for this. The determination making process carries far more weight without Max and her time-rewinding mechanic on the scene; there'south no dorsum tracking to selection another choice and y'all're stuck with your initial choices. The impact of these decisions may or may non be of import in the future — only time will tell. At to the lowest degree zero was evident in the showtime episode with the exception of some small-scale graphic symbol interactions. In the meantime, you tin at least compare your decisions with those of other players after the stop credits to see how they played out the first chapter.
The lack of time mechanic doesn't mean that players are relegated to exploring, talking to other NPCs and making occasional decisions. Instead, Chloe has a much more conforming BackTalk mechanic, something to which players are introduced early in the game. Given at least two choices and a countdown timer, players quickly take to decide which dialogue to pick to brand Chloe sound smart-mouthed and convincing. Voluntary interactions with other characters and surrounding objects tin can requite more than dialogue options to make things easier and more personal. Some players may not appreciate the added force per unit area of the timer but information technology makes the conversations seem more genuine. In the real-earth, replies accept to be made on the cuff and not ten minutes subsequently later all.
Non only is Chloe surrounded past the familiar faces of her family, some of Max's school colleagues also return. Of course, it isn't necessary to have played through Life Is Strange before taking on Before The Tempest and players tin can appreciate the title for what information technology is without that knowledge, peculiarly as this familiarity can exist both a blessing and a boon. On the positive side, it's nice to flesh out those supporting characters fifty-fifty further and see how unlike they were three years previously. On the other hand, your prior experience with these characters is likely to touch your conclusion making in Episode 1. For instance, one character is caught in a situation where he is the victim. Do you step in and help, or do you remember just how repulsive he is three years into the hereafter and leave him to his fate? Information technology'south an extra dimension to add to your already complicated decisions.
A mix of new and familiar faces
This doesn't mean that everybody and everywhere is familiar, though; there is a fair spread of new characters and locations for players to experience. The nearly interesting of these is Chloe's growing human relationship with Rachel Amber, someone with whom LIS players will be familiar only who we get to run into taking a major role in the prequel. Rachel is the ideal foil to Chloe. Whereas Chloe never holds back, you lot always know what she is thinking and she's somewhat predictable, Rachel is a mysterious girl who seemingly has dark secrets of her ain. She brings out the best in Chloe and both characters become more than developed as the episode progresses. LIS players will know the fate of both of them in the hereafter, only for at present it will be fascinating to see where the next ii episodes take the states in their story.
The last bonus is that similar LIS, Before the Storm's Episode 1 achievements aren't affected by the decisions players make throughout the game. In that location's the obligatory achievement for completing the episode, but the remaining ten are linked to completing optional graffiti spots in Arcadia Bay, the game's course of collectibles. Some are really easy to find while others require a specific sequence of events that can be easily missed. There are plenty of guides out there to help you to find them, but if you do miss whatsoever of the spots, the game'south Collectibles Mode allows players to return to specific scenes in order to complete them. The episode volition award players an easy 300 Gamerscore for completion.
Summary
Life Is Foreign: Earlier The Tempest may well take place earlier the literal storm but that doesn't mean that events run smoothly. Chloe is struggling to come to terms with the events of the concluding couple of years, only her burgeoning relationship with Rachel Amber looks prepare to change all that. When it comes to moral decisions, the options may non e'er make sense with Chloe and some clumsiness can ensue, simply this is a minor issue in an otherwise solid episode, especially when the new BackTalk mechanic is very plumbing equipment and adds some realism to conversations. Depending on how much y'all like surprises, familiarity and prior knowledge from Life Is Foreign can be either a blessing or a benefaction, but regardless of this, Chloe'southward new (old?) run a risk looks to be a fascinating storyline to follow into the remaining two episodes.
Positives
- Engaging story
- Fitting Backtalk mechanic adds some realism to conversations
- Plenty of fourth dimension to brand decisions
Negatives
- Some clumsiness to Chloe's conversations
Ethics
Written past Rebecca Smith
Rebecca is the Newshound Manager at TrueGaming Network. She has been contributing articles since 2010, specially those that involve intimidatingly long lists. When not writing news, she works in an independent game store and so that she tin spend all day talking about games too. She'll occasionally become exterior.
Source: https://www.trueachievements.com/n29720/life-is-strange-before-the-storm-episode-1-review
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