Life Is Strange: Reunion

Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PS5, PC

Chloe Price died years ago. Chloe Price is alive today. This paradox is the compelling hook of the latest Life is Strange, tying up threads dating back to 2015’s first game in the series, where time-twisting photographer Max Caulfield had to choose between saving Chloe’s life, or saving the town of Arcadia Bay.

Many years and several video games later, Max and Chloe are reunited as adults, and whichever route you chose (or choose – you can speedrun the big choices from earlier entries to set the stage here) it makes for an emotionally fraught new chapter in both their lives. If Chloe died, Max is faced with the resurrection of her first love. If she lived, the pair grew apart after escaping Arcadia Bay. Poor Chloe herself is plagued with knowledge of both timelines, recalling her own death alongside a life full of memories, good and bad.

Unfortunately for both, solving the mystery of the blurred realities has to take a backseat to a more urgent threat – Max’s new home of Caledon University is days away from burning down, and after using her powers to travel back in time to stop it, Max has to figure out who’s responsible in order to save everyone she cares about.

Playing as both women, Reunion has you using their respective skills to navigate the series’ familiar choice-driven mechanics and branching narratives. Max, with her actual superpowers, feels the most “video game-y”, able to rewind time to get the upper hand in conversations, or take small objects back with her to help solve puzzles. It’s more a refinement of her earlier powers than an evolution – although she does get an upgrade of sorts, eventually – but it forces players to think a little bit four-dimensionally, and figuring out the “right” way to navigate time for the best outcome invariably has you feeling incredibly clever.

Chloe, meanwhile, lacks any metaphysical abilities, instead having the power of a barbed tongue, her “backtalk” ability allowing her to steer conversations in ways Max can’t, to the extent of possibly sweet-talking (or occasionally threatening) her way into spaces Max is unable to. However, with no way to take back a poor dialogue choice, there’s a weight and permanence to every choice that makes playing as Chloe feel far more dramatic, and closer to the series’ choose-your-own-adventure roots.

Pathos and poignancy was always this series’ greatest currency though, and in bringing the pair’s tale to a close, Reunion certainly splashes that cash.

Pathos and poignancy was always this series’ greatest currency though, and in bringing the pair’s tale to a close, Reunion certainly splashes that cash. There are characters returning from across the series’ history, although chiefly 2024’s Life Is Strange: Double Exposure, all with their own complications – depending on previous choices, some can be friends, enemies, ex-lovers, or might-have-beens. There are emotional payoffs throughout, especially if you’ve been keeping track over the years.

It can make for a lot of baggage but that’s also where Reunion feels like Life Is Strange at its strongest. The plot is gripping, with some of the pivotal choices sending events spiralling in ways that feel incredibly meaningful and surprisingly hard to predict, while the performances – Max and Chloe motion captured and voiced by Hannah Telle and Rhianna DeVries, respectively – give even the most supernaturally-tinged moments a heartfelt authenticity that many games would kill for. It’s also arguably the best the series has ever looked, the gorgeous, seemingly perpetually autumnal Vermont where much of the game is set leaving you wishing there was a dedicated photo mode (the closest is a few lukewarm collectibles Max can take Polaroids of, for little real purpose). And of course, no entry in the series would be complete without an achingly cool soundtrack, which Reunion duly provides with both its instrumental score and its tracklist peppered with indie icons proving a delight.

However, Reunion also repeats some of the series’ biggest missteps. It’s all so heavily narrative-focused that it often veers into “interactive movie” territory, leaving players with little else to do. While there are a few background distractions – a series of podcasts that can be found, each ‘episode’ offering insight to what’s going on, are a particularly nice touch, although the game forcing you to sit down and listen to them as cutscenes is less appreciated – there’s little to make you feel like you’re actively rooted in the world. That monofocus makes it all feel a bit on the short side, which may disappoint those hoping for a longer goodbye. Comparative brevity does make multiple playthroughs to see everything on offer seem a bit less daunting, though.

Tailoring so much of this game to fans who’ve been ride or die with Chloe and Max since 2015 is perhaps Reunion’s biggest risk. Not only does it present a huge hurdle for newcomers (frankly, don’t start here if this would be your first Life Is Strange), but in bringing closure to one of gaming’s longest-running relationships it may provide a jumping off point for the series as a whole. While Life Is Strange has branched out to explore other characters and stories, like in 2018’s Life is Strange 2 or 2021’s wonderful Life Is Strange: True Colors, it’s always swung back around to Max and Chloe.

Whether your choices in Reunion lead them to a happy ending or not, it’s hard to see where the franchise might go next without them – and any attempts to bring them back yet again would likely feel incredibly forced and more than a bit desperate. That future is yet to be written though, and for the intended audience Reunion proves beautifully cathartic, sending its central heroes out on an undeniably high.