Life is Strange: Before the Storm on Xbox One

Narrative driven titles have come so popular over the last number of years, that everyone wants to get in on a piece of the pie while the genre is still hot. While Telltale has dominated the marketplace with some major franchises, other companies are creating unique experiences that are equally as good, if not better. Life is Strange: Before the Storm is one of these experiences, that drives character progression throughout a fairly engrossing story. How does it live up over its three chapters? Let’s take a look!

The only downside to playing Life Is strange: Before the Storm was that I had already played the (technically) sequel, in Life is Strange. Many of the things that unfold in Before the Storm were actually known to me before I picked up the controller. This wasn’t bad, but it should be noted. If you are coming in blind to the franchise, definitely play this before the original title!

Without all the supernatural abilities you find in Life is Strange, Before the Storm is instead a story of teen drama in a small US town. The relationship that we see develop between Chloe and Rachel is fantastic, although it makes the events of Life is Strange even more tragic, should you play them in reverse order. It is the character progression, however, that kept me going forward. Having the knowledge of the original Life is Strange in my back pocket, I did enjoy getting the back story on Chloe, and to a lesser extent, Rachel. My plan when this review is over is to jump back into Life is Strange and play it again, with new knowledge that could make the original title better than what I remember.

What Before the Storm does well is contrast the backgrounds of Rachel and Chloe. Chloe is more rebellious, loud, and antagonistic, while Rachel is calmer, a model student, and the daughter of a district attorney. They couldn’t be more opposite, yet watching them come together in this game was interesting, and one of the main reasons I continued to play.

The dialogue options available are fairly varied, and different techniques can be utilized to change the tone and direction of a conversation. Unlike Life is Strange, which featured a rewind feature – decisions made in Before the Storm are permanent. On the plus side, it means decisions have some consequences, but that end, it makes taking risks less appealing.

What will compel so many people to play Life is Strange: Before the Storm is how relatable these two characters are. They are real, with real teenage feelings and emotions. They act and engage in dialogue much like players will remember from their own time in high school. Sometimes a relatable experience trumps a crazy insane experience, and this title is proof of that. Before the Storm has its faults, but the characters and their background more than makes up for any graphical hiccups along the way.

For the most part, the graphics and frame rate in Before the Storm holds up really well, and when played on Xbox One X, the enhancements – whether frame rate or graphics – are phenomenal, making the choice between the two actually quite difficult. There are a few hangups and pop ins, but those are few and far between, and rarely ever negatively impacted my experience.

Conclusion

It won’t take you too long to make your way through the three episodes offered in this bundle. While Episode 1 and Episode 2 are very strong, looking at the relationship that grows between the main characters, as well as touching on the oddities of the town, Episode 3 veers a bit away from that and the experience is damped a little bit. Overall, however, the package is above average for a narrative driven title, and shouldn’t be missed by those looking for a great story with some minimal gameplay elements.

It’s an above average experience that was worthwhile throughout, so we are giving Life Is Strange: Before the Storm a 8.0/10!