Life Is Strange: Before the Storm is an episodic graphic adventure video game developed by Deck Nine and published by Square Enix. The three episodes were released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in late 2017, and for Linux, macOS, Android, and iOS in late 2018. It is the second entry in the Life Is Strange series, set as a prequel to the first game, focusing on sixteen-year-old Chloe Price and her relationship with schoolmate Rachel Amber. Gameplay concerns itself mostly with the use of branching dialogues and interacting with the environment.
Deck Nine began developing the game in 2016, using the Unity game engine. Ashly Burch from the original game did not voice Chloe Price in Before the Storm because of the SAG-AFTRA strike, but reprised her role in a bonus episode once the strike was resolved. British indie band Daughter wrote and performed the score. Life Is Strange: Before the Storm received generally favourable reviews, praising the characters, themes, and story, while criticising aspects like plotholes, the main relationship, and the impact of player decisions near the end of the game.
Gameplay
Life Is Strange: Before the Storm is a graphic adventure played from a third-person view. The player assumes control of sixteen-year-old Chloe Price, three years before Life Is Strange. Unlike its predecessor, the game does not include time travel. Instead, Before the Storm features the ability "Backtalk", which the player can use to call upon Chloe to get out of certain precarious situations; "Backtalk" may also make a situation worse. A dialogue tree is used when a conversation or commentary is prompted. Occasional decisions will temporarily or permanently change outcomes. The environment can be interacted with and altered, including marking walls with graffiti.
Plot
In her Oregon hometown of Arcadia Bay, sixteen-year-old Chloe Price sneaks into a house concert at an old mill. Conflict arises with two men inside, but she evades them when schoolmate Rachel Amber causes a distraction. The next day, Chloe and Rachel reunite at Blackwell Academy and decide to ditch class, stowing away on a cargo train and ending up at a lookout point. They people-watch through a viewfinder and see a man and woman kiss in the park, which upsets Rachel. They steal wine from local campers and take a walk to a scrapyard. Chloe confronts Rachel about her change in mood, but she refuses to answer. When Chloe meets Rachel later, she discloses that she witnessed her father, James, through the viewfinder, cheating on her mother. Rachel destroys a family photo in a burning trash bin, and in a fit of rage kicks it over, igniting a wildfire.
The next day, Chloe and Rachel are reprimanded by Principal Wells for ditching school. Chloe hides out at the scrapyard where she finds an old truck in need of repair. She then receives a call from local drug dealer Frank Bowers, who arranges a meeting to discuss settling her debt with him. Chloe agrees to repay him by helping him steal money from her classmate Drew, who owes Frank a large sum. However, Chloe learns that Drew is being violently extorted by another drug dealer, Damon Merrick, and she must decide whether to pay off the dealer with the stolen money to protect Drew or keep it. Later, when a student is unable to participate in the school's theater production of The Tempest due to road closures caused by the wildfire, Chloe reluctantly takes on the role opposite Rachel. After the play, they decide to leave Arcadia Bay with the truck from the scrapyard, and return to Rachel's house to pack. Following a confrontation there, James reveals that the woman they saw him kissing was Rachel's biological mother.
Rachel is told that her biological mother, Sera, is a drug addict, and that on the day her father kissed her, he had rejected Sera's plea to reunite with Rachel, after she adopted her away years before. Chloe vows to find Sera, against James' wishes. Chloe contacts Frank, who agrees to meet her at the scrapyard. She repairs the truck there before Rachel arrives. They are ambushed by Frank and Damon, who stabs Rachel after he realises she is the district attorney's daughter. Surviving the wound, Rachel recovers at the hospital. Chloe continues the search by investigating James' office for clues about Sera, instead revealing that James has been in contact with Damon; Chloe uses James' phone to convince Damon to disclose where Sera is located, and finds out that Damon has kidnapped her for ransom. She races to Damon to pay him off, but learns, when she reaches him, that James wanted him to kill Sera. Frank appears and fights Damon, after which Sera entreats Chloe to never tell Rachel about James' actions. Back at the hospital, Chloe is faced with a choice: tell Rachel everything or protect her from the truth.
