Life is Strange: Reunion - Final Thoughts

Spoilers ahead.

That was a fitting end to Max & Chloe's story. I'm glad this is going to be the last game with these characters, but I hope the series continues with new characters.

As I suspected, this is very much an apology game. This is totally a "fans complained, so let's give them what they want" game. And if you love these characters, it's a blast.

As a one-off game, it's not great. The story is very much "Double Exposure Part 2," as well as the end of the story started by the original Life is Strange. Playing this one by itself would be like watching "Return of the Jedi" as your first Star Wars movie.

It fixes the mistakes created by the last game. But it also undoes the tragic choice you have to make in the very first game. It weaves everything back together in a way that leads to a happy - if bittersweet - ending. I don't know if I really approve of this... the original game made an impact for a reason, you had to choose between two equally tragic endings. But Reunion merges the timelines into a universe that's the best of both worlds.

The characters deserve this happy ending, finally, but it does mean that the original game loses a little of its bite. Kind of like how Spock's sacrifice in Star Trek II feels less meaningful after Star Trek III.

My biggest fear was that I'd have to choose between Max and Chloe surviving. Well, my fears were groundless. The final choice really isn't that tough. I'd say it's on par with the final choice in Before the Storm.

I think this game's most interesting mechanic is just how much extra material they had to write based on your previous choices. At the beginning of Reunion, when it asks you what you picked in the original game, I told it I sacrificed Chloe. In my playthrough of Reunion, Chloe mentions that she's supposed to be dead approximately 6,000 times. I'll have to watch a YouTube walkthrough to see the alternate dialogue. I swear it had to be like programming two entire games' worth of dialogue.

There are a lot of possible outcomes in the end. Different characters can die in the fire, and different buildings can burn down. As usual, when I looked at my post-credits stats, I saw options I never noticed when playing the through the story. Like I said, I'm going to have to watch some YouTube playthroughs.

In my ending, two main characters died - Vinh and Owen. I didn't manage to stop any of the fires, and the buildings burned down. When presented with the final choice, I lied to Max. None of these are happy events.

And yet, this game left me with warm fuzzy feelings. That feels wrong, somehow, but at this point in my life, I'll take happiness where I can find it.

Ranking the Life is Strange Games:

1. Life is Strange

2. Life is Strange: Before the Storm

3. Life is Strange: True Colors

4. Life is Strange: Reunion

5. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit

6. Life is Strange 2

7: Life is Strange: Double Exposure

Life is Strange: Reunion - First Impressions

So, I'm about six hours into the newest Life is Strange game. So far it's a vast improvement over Double Exposure. 

An awful lot of it feels like an apology to the fans. Which can be bad. I mean, The Rise of Skywalker spent so much time trying to apologize for The Last Jedi, that it felt like it was written by a  PR committee (FTR I still loved it, but a lot of people didn't).

And Reunion does make some very obvious attempts to placate fans. It also makes a lot of "comfort references," like familiar music and legacy jokes (such as Max forgetting to water a plant).

Chloe is back. Regardless of what choices you made in the first game and Double Exposure, Chloe reappears and gets about as much screen time as Max. The writing is practically genius in the way it manages to honor all your major choices from previous games.

Like the last few games, Reunion asks upfront what choices you made in the earlier games. I've  played through LiS multiple times, so I've picked both endings. I had trouble deciding which one to tell Reunion I picked. Finally I chose "Sacrifice Chloe" because I felt it would make it that much more dramatic when Chloe showed up in Reunion.

And I was right. In fact, there's so much "You're supposed to be dead" dialogue that I'm wondering just how different the story is if you tell Reunion that you sacrificed Arcadia Bay.

Max no longer switches timelines at will like in DE. She's back to rewinding time like in the first game. And Chloe still has her backtalk from Before the Storm, though I've only gotten to use it twice so far.

There's a lot of foreshadowing, and it feels like the ending is going to be a real tearjerker. I don't know what to expect, but I know what I'm going to do if certain "Final Choices" are given.

Sacrifice Chloe vs Sacrifice Caledon University - Definitely save Chloe. It was a tough choice picking Chloe or Arcadia Bay, as it was a beautiful, charming town full of interesting people. But Caledon? Honestly I'd sacrifice Caledon for a grilled cheese sandwich.

Sacrifice Chloe vs Sacrifice Safi - Chloe wins. Safi is an annoying prankster, and even if she has good intentions (which is hard to say at this point in the game), she hasn't won my heart like Chloe.

Sacrifice Chloe vs Sacrifice Moses - Chloe wins again. Moses is a great guy, and I enjoy talking to him, but he's no Chloe.

Sacrifice Chloe vs Sacrifice Max - This is a real possibility. There are a lot of hints that Chloe is doomed, and it could turn out that the only way to save her is to eliminate the person who keeps screwing up time - that being Max herself. If it comes down to that, it's going to be a tough choice. I like Max better, but she had a good run. Chloe's never even really had a chance at life. I'll cross that road when I get to it.

Sacrifice Belgian Waffle vs Sacrifice Bacon Omelette - Oh, I don't know if my heart could handle it.

I'll write more when I finish the game. I'm trying not to play too much in one day, as I'm old and gaming hurts my back. But I'm also trying to get through this game before I start seeing spoilers. I doubt I'll finish the game today, but I should have it done by the end of the week.