A Theory About Rachel’s Life-Changing Moment In Before The Storm

Chloe meets Rachel Amber just before her world falls apart in Life Is Strange: Before The Storm. But why? I got a few pieces of the puzzle during my time with the game at San Diego Comic Con this year. I also love a good theory. Let’s discuss, shall we?

One of my favorite things while playing Life is Strange was reading the fan theories on reddit. The fandom would scan stills of the game to figure out what the hell was going on in Arcadia Bay. There’s a lot of great imagery throughout the game that gives you hints about the universe. So I went into my Before The Storm demo, and my subsequent interview with the game’s lead writer Zak Garriss and producer David Hein, prepared to dissect everything I saw.

There was a poster in the room that displayed three characters from Before The Storm: Chloe, Rachel Amber and a third person I hadn’t seen before. The pieces of my theory started coming together. I hit Garriss and Hein with it right after seeing the new demo. They were impressed with my observations.

"That's what's so fun about working on this game,” Hein told Player.One. “All of us were fans first. Loved playing the first game. Loved nitpicking and diving into it, ‘What was this about? What was that about?’ It's so fun to share in that and also be crafting the next story that people are doing just that, staring at the posters, trying to figure out who that [person] is. It's a pressure and a privilege."

So what did I maybe figure out? Get ready!

First, let me start by saying the Square Enix PR rep at the Before The Storm demo neither confirmed nor denied my theory regarding the third character on the poster. With that out of the way, let me describe the third person in the poster. He’s an older man with short black hair with gray patch mixed in and he’s wearing a suit. Sound familiar? You’ve might’ve seen him before and didn’t realize it.

The mystery man on the poster may be the same person featured in the pre-release footage during E3 2017. You can spot him in the scene where Chloe and Rachel take turns using the binoculars to spy on people at the Overlook. This man walks up to a blonde girl in a white dress, sporting a sleeve tattoo on her arm. It’s after this scene that Rachel’s attitude towards Chloe changes. The demo cuts to Rachel and Chloe in the infamous junkyard. She’s irritable and short with Chloe out of nowhere. Chloe doesn’t understand why Rachel is so upset with her. But Rachel is not upset with Chloe at (least that’s not what I think).

My theory is the mystery man on the poster is Rachel Amber’s father, and she catches him having an affair at the Overlook. I know, scandalous! But I think this man is Rachel Amber’s father because Chloe mentioned him during the demo. Chloe made a reference to Rachel’s “DEA dad” at one point. The mystery man must be important to the story because he was on this poster. Right? The developers could’ve featured anyone else: Joyce, David, Frank. I saw all these characters in the demo. But this man is poster-worthy for a reason.

I’m calling it now. Rachel’s life-shattering moment is finding out her father is a lying cheater who’s up to no good in Arcadia Bay. It would break her “perfect” persona and bring her closer to Chloe in the process. Chloe will help Rachel find out the truth about her dad and probably get the girls into some trouble.

Again, this is just my theory. If you want to learn more about Before The Storm, read my interview with Garriss at SDCC 2017 here. You can also check out the Overlook scene where Chloe and Rachel spot the mystery man in the video below. Life Is Strange: Before The Storm is out Aug. 31 on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.