The calm and the storm
It was in 2015 that the French from DONTNOD Entertainment landed in the video game landscape with the Life is Strange license which emotionally marked players, amateurs and lovers of narrative titles. It was taken over by Deck Nine Games, an American studio that developed Life is Strange: Before the Storm, a prequel to the first game. Life is Strange 2, featuring new characters for an all-new story, then returns to DONTNOD’s hands. Without forgetting, the latest, Life is Strange: True Colors, from Deck Nine Games, released at the end of 2021.
While no new Life is Strange titles are planned for 2022, as of this writing, lovers of the license and newcomers can immerse themselves or re-immerse themselves in the first adventures of the license, with Max Caufield, Chloé Price and Rachel Amber, thanks to the Life is Strange: Remastered Collectionavailable since February, on most game platforms. This compilation thus includes Life is Strange first of the name and its prequel Before the Storm.
An appreciable narrative loop
What you need to understand is the following: the events of Life is Strange: Before the Storm come before those of Life is Strange. Therefore, this compilation has the merit of offering a complete narrative loop around the trio Rachel, Chloé and Max. So, if you are new to the license, we can only recommend that you start with the prequel, before starting the story of Max Caufiel in the first opus. This will give you the story of the characters as a whole, and this in the right chronology.
On the other hand, we do not advise you to read the sequel, because the next two paragraphs could contain spoilers. In Life is Strange: Before the Storm, players control Chloe Price, best friend of Max Caufield. During three chapters, we are led to live the daily life of Chloé, in addition to seeing the birth before our eyes of a relationship of friendship or love (as you wish) with Rachel Amber. The two young teenage girls dream of taking to their heels and fleeing Arcadia Bay, for a better life. As you’ve probably figured out by now, nothing will go as planned, unfortunately. Their journey will be strewn with pitfalls, due to various secondary characters upsetting the smooth running of events.
On the other hand, with Life is Strange, we are in control of Max Caufield. While she had left Arcadia Bay, here she is back in this small town for her studies at Blackwell High School. Passionate about photography, she intends to pursue a career in the 8th art. But, while taking a course from a prominent photographer and teacher, she discovers strange powers. : she is able to go back in time in order to change the course of events. An ability that will serve him many times over, but could lead to the annihilation of his hometown. We can also count on underlying stories, linked to characters in the universe, coming to feed the plot, such as the sudden and strange disappearance of Rachel Amber. Note right away that Life is Strange is made up of five chapters in total.
Relaxing gameplay for titles that are still just as enjoyable
As in Life is Strange 2 and Life is Strange: True Colors, Max Caufield has very special powers. While Chloé, in Life is Strange: Before the Storm, is totally deprived of it. If Max’s powers condition part of the gameplay of the license, it is essentially narrative. As in an opus The Walking Dead from Telltales Games, all the choices that the players make will have consequences for the rest of the events. Thus, everyone will be free to shape their adventure and this invites a little replayability. Indeed, although they are not as numerous and important as in Detroit: Become Humanwe can count on several storyline branches.
What is especially pleasant with the Life is Strange license is the “feel good” feeling that emerges. Whether through the artistic direction or its soundtrack, which are of high quality, Life is Strange and Life is Strange: Before the Storm are very relaxing narrative titles. Not offering a vast open-world and being quite linear, it is rather two stories full of emotions that are revealed to the players. Fans of narrative games will have a lot of fun browsing through these two titles, if they haven’t already.
In addition, their lifespan is fairly well balanced: allow around 6 to 7 hours to go through Life is Stange: Before the Storm. Consisting of two more chapters, it will take between 8-9 hours to complete Life is Strange. Which is quite consistent and satisfying for narrative games. The rhythm being well thought out for all the chapters, the adventures of Chloe, Max and Rachel are quite striking.
A convincing remastered version?
But the real question we can ask ourselves is this: why DONTNOD, Deck Nine Games and Square Enix decided to remaster these two titles? And, by the way, do they do it well? For this collection, they saw things big. We can count on better graphics for characters and environments. Additionally, some facial animations have been tweaked to look more realistic. The very cartoon/comic side of the titles is therefore a tad erased to get closer to reality. It works pretty well, because reworking of facial expressions brings more depth and character to the characters.
In the same way, the developers have reworked textures, especially with regard to the clothing of the characters. The feeling of immersion is only reinforced. Life is Strange: Before the Storm and Life is Strange had already pleased us a lot and their artistic direction had captivated our eye, at their respective releases. But this remastered collection goes a little further and stands out thanks to its contribution to realism and verisimilitude..
What surprised us the most was the work on the lights. In general, they are brighter and bring more warmth to the universe. The atmosphere thus becomes even more striking and captivating. Similarly, particle effects are more compelling. We are thinking in particular of the flames and ashes of Life is Strange: Before the Storm, or even the smoke of Chloe’s cigarette in the first chapter of Life is Strange.
In contrast, both titles are not free of bugs and technical issues. At the official launch, they were numerous and a multitude of players complained about it. Which is a shame as the original opuses only included very few of them. After several updates, Life is Strange: Remastered Collection is already a little more stable. On our side, we mainly encountered problems with light: certain points of light appeared unexpectedly and intensely on the screen, especially in Life is Strange: Before the Storm.
In addition to this non-disabling, but somewhat annoying problem, we noticed sometimes overly repetitive use of motion blur with respect to certain sequences and types of shots. Which is a shame, because the backgrounds were of good quality before, and amply convincing. Unfortunately, immersion is, from time to time, compromised by these concerns. On the other hand, apart from a little clipping and popping, the framerate of the two opuses was intended to be fairly stable.
In short
For several years now, development studios and publishers have been offering remastered versions of their titles. The Life is Strange license was no exception to the rule since Life is Strange: Remastered Collection arrived at the end of 2021.
Thanks to this version, DONTNOD, Deck Nine Games and Square Enix have updated the first two Life is Strange games, by bringing more work on the facial expressions of the characters, better graphics for the environments and a more convincing lighting of the plans. While Life is Strange: Remastered Collection is not free from technical issues, this version manages to convince.
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