Choices Matter In Life is Strange: Before The Storm

Chloe is every bit as funny, reckless and broken in Life is Strange: Before the Storm. Unlike Max, Chloe doesn’t have powers. Her choices cannot be undone and she won’t know what will happen next.

I had a chance to play a demo at Square Enix’s meeting room at San Diego Comic Con 2017. I played a scene where Chloe meets Rachel Amber for the first time. Chloe has just talked her way into a “underground” concert and managed to piss people off along the way.

In true Life is Strange fashion, you can walk around and interact with people and items in the area. Chloe’s version of Max’s photography is graffiti. There will be prompts to tag certain items and you’ll have choices of what you’d like to put out in the world. There’s a saw blade on the wall of this abandoned barn where the concert take place. You can choose to draw an evil eye or “spin.” We won’t spoil what spin mess, but it’s pretty funny.

You can choose to observe the people in your surroundings and pick up on clues of what’s going on in Arcadia Bay. For example, there was a drunk man passed out in a corner who was just laid off from his job. You’ll find this out when you read a letter next to his body. However, the real fun starts when you start interacting with people.

For example, there was a man selling concert t-shirts out of the trunk of his car. Chloe goes to pick one up when the man pushes her hand away and tells her it would be $20. Chloe doesn’t appreciate the price tag. You can choose to let go of the emergency brake and the car will roll forward. You can also choose to walk away.

I let the car roll because that’s what Chloe would do.

The idiot selling the shirts is trying to figure out what to do about his car. You don’t have to take the t-shirt, but I did. When you look in the back of the trunk you see a wad of cash, which Chloe estimates is $200. You can take it or leave it in the trunk. Leaving in the trunk won’t prompt anything but taking it will have a consequence Chloe will have to deal with later on.

I chose not to take the cash because it didn’t seem worth it, even for Chloe. I know she’s an act first, think later kind of gal, but all she wanted was the shirt. Making Chloe a thief didn’t sit well with me. So next I talked to Frank, who reminds Chloe about the money she owes him for all the times he’s spotted her weed.

I kind of regretted not taking the cash. I could’ve walked back to the trunk and grabbed it, but again, I’d rather deal with Frank than the idiot t-shirt seller. Eventually Chloe encounters Rachel Amber. We won’t spoil how they meet up, but Chloe got into some trouble and Rachel basically saves the day.

The demo feels very much like the original Life Is Strange, even a different studio developed the project. It seems Deck Nine Games took great care to make the setting and characters feel familiar and transport you back into the game.

Life is Strange: Before the Storm will be released Aug. 31 on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.