Life is Strange: Reunion Review: a finale that saves the day, without being spectacular
, by Chris
In 2015, the French studio Don't Nod made a huge splash in the video game industry with the new franchise Life is Strange, produced in collaboration with Square Enix, which handled publishing. The premise? You played as Max Caulfield, a young college student returning to her hometown of Arcadia Bay to study photography at Blackwell University. It was a chance for her to reconnect with old friends, including Chloe Price, her best friend from back in the day.
It had been many years since Max had left Arcadia Bay, and in her absence, things had changed significantly. Starting with Chloe’s circle of friends. Chloe had gone off the rails following her father’s death and was now deep in drugs and drug dealing. Max witnesses Chloe’s murder firsthand. And that’s when she realizes she has a strange power: the ability to rewind time. Thanks to this power, Max and Chloe will try to solve a mystery linked to a murder in the small, peaceful town of Arcadia Bay. Unfortunately, all of this comes at a price, and the two friends will soon find that out.
A huge hit in 2015, Life is Strange got a prequel in 2016 with Before the Storm, produced by Deck Nine Games. In 2018, Don't Nod was once again at the helm of the excellent Life is Strange 2, which introduced new characters. Square Enix then decided to entrust the franchise to Deck Nine for the production of Life is Strange: True Colors in 2021. Unfortunately, this title was not as well-received as the first two installments from Don’t Nod. That’s why, in 2024, Deck Nine decided to play the nostalgia card with Life is Strange: Double Exposure, featuring the return of Max Caulfield. But once again, the formula didn’t work, and for many fans, it was one game too many. The concept of power felt outdated and muddled—it was hard to truly grasp.
This year marks the final attempt with the latest installment in the series, which is set to conclude Max’s story. With Life is Strange: Reunion, Deck Nine takes the nostalgia even further with Chloe’s return. Is this a desperate attempt to salvage the franchise? Or a genuine project with a story that holds up? Let’s take a closer look.
Welcome back to Caledon
Life is Strange Reunion is the direct sequel to Life Is Strange: Double Exposure. The story begins a few months after the events of Double Exposure, featuring the same characters. Max no longer has those strange « parallel reality » powers. In fact, she seems to have lost them entirely. After several years of anxiety, Max is once again a « normal » person and is trying to live a completely ordinary life.
But she didn’t count on fate playing tricks on her once again. As she returns from a trip away from Caledon, Max witnesses a tragedy. Her university is ravaged by flames, and she can only watch helplessly as this disaster claims many victims.
In the midst of shock and emotion, Max experiences a moment of clarity that unlocks her old powers. Thanks to a photo, she travels back in time to a few hours before the tragedy and is able to take action to prevent it from happening. With Life is Strange Reunion, Deck Nine has chosen to return to its roots, featuring the iconic« Max & Chloe » duo and the original time-travel abilities.
This might give the impression that the studio is running out of ideas and taking the easy way out. That may be true, but sometimes the simplest things are the most effective. Seeing Max again with her ability to travel back in time works instantly. The same goes for the reunion with Chloe.
The duo works wonderfully, even 11 years later. The chemistry is there, and the reunion is a success. Unlike the first game, we’ll be able to control both heroines.
The game’s world and atmosphere also work well. Even though the previous Life is Strange games had their flaws, one of their main strengths was always the atmosphere. Deck Nine has always been particularly skilled at creating atmospheres and locations where you want to spend time. Caledon University is no exception. It’s a pleasure to revisit these locations, even though the snowy winter setting had a much greater impact in Double Exposure.
Added to that is the game’s music, which is yet another recurring highlight of the series. This installment confirms that once again. Whether it’s the atmospheric music or the individual tracks, Life is Strange Reunion offers a beautiful, ear-pleasing soundtrack that’s perfect for accompanying the story.
Max and Chloe: a duo that works
The return of Max and Chloe is, of course, the game’s main draw. And it’s a success. As mentioned earlier, the duo clicks—there’s a special chemistry between them—and Deck Nine has managed to capture their relationship almost as well as Don’t Nod did back in the day!
Years have passed; Max and Chloe are no longer teenagers. And in this regard, Deck Nine has also succeeded in presenting a believable relationship.
There are a few plot conveniences, of course, such as the fact that Chloe shows up in Caledon unannounced, simply because she had « a hunch ». But as soon as they’re reunited, you feel that nostalgic vibe come through in their conversations and references to the past—and, once again, it clicks instantly. It feels like we’re reunited with the teenage girls from Arcadia Bay investigating together. That’s actually one of the game’s standout features.
Life is Strange: Reunion moves away from a linear narrative in favor of a detective-style approach. You’ll have to search certain scenes, gather clues, and ultimately solve a final puzzle that will determine (or not) how the fire started. This forces you to thoroughly search every room and location and talk to everyone to gather as many details as possible.
Max’s powerful abilities
With Double Exposure, Deck Nine set out to give Max new powers. There was this ability that allowed her, at certain moments, to switch between realities. While this power might have seemed interesting on paper, in practice, it very quickly became messy and confusing. Even in terms of frequency, you couldn’t use the power whenever you wanted to. It felt like the studio itself was unsure about how to use it and whether it was even relevant.
With the Time Power, Deck Nine returns to something simple and effective. This Time Power generally features the same uses and characteristics as in the 2015 game. There are a few new features that let you make better use of it. Once again, it’s simple, but effective—and above all, logical. The famous snail appears in the top-left corner of the screen when the power is active. It’s just a detail, but it also helps tap into that sense of nostalgia.
On the other hand, this installment confirms that Max isn’t the only human with powers. Other people have abilities as well. We might have suspected as much from Life is Strange 2, True Colors, and Double Exposure. This time, it’s fully embraced, and we realize that Max is far from an isolated case. And, let’s be honest, it takes some of the magic out of the game. It feels more and more like Caldeon University is turning into the X-Men’s university, and that Max isn’t actually all that special after all.
Good ideas, but an ending that leaves us wanting more
While it’s undeniable that Life is Strange: Reunion offers plenty of great elements and wonderful ideas—with some successful aspects to this bold gamble of reuniting Max and Chloe—it’s clear that, in the end, quite a few things don’t quite hit the mark. First and foremost, you’ll have to set aside concerns about consistency and the significance of narrative choices. Deck Nine has clearly decided to impose its own vision, and all the decisions you made in the first Life is Strange game—as well as a large portion of the choices from Double Exposure—no longer exist. And that’s inevitably a problem when the entire concept of the Life is Strange games is to offer a narrative that adapts and evolves based on your choices.
The plot and story of Reunion are also rather rough around the edges, with numerous shortcuts clearly taken to simplify certain situations. The ending and the various explanations are clearly far-fetched. You get the sense that there was a desire to wrap up the saga—particularly Max and Chloe’s story—but that the teams weren’t quite sure where to go or how to conclude it.
And in the end, on top of the plot inconsistencies and lazy storytelling, you’re left with quite a few unanswered questions—whether or not you complete all the endings and whether or not you solve the entire investigation using all the clues. To reassure many players and fans, it’s no worse than the storyline and writing in Double Exposure, but it still falls well short of what one might expect from a new installment of Life is Strange—especially for an episode meant to conclude the saga.
Tested on PS5. See our rating policy here.
7.5/10
It’s great to see Max and Chloe reunited. It’s not perfect, but when you consider what a disaster Life is Strange: Double Exposure was, you come away from this final adventure feeling pretty satisfied, filled with nostalgia, and quite happy to see the story end this way. In many ways, the team at Deck Nine managed to salvage what they could from a saga that was clearly starting to fall apart. The result is far from perfect, and there are still shortcomings in the storytelling and narrative, along with numerous inconsistencies. But the game still holds its own, and Life is Strange: Reunion gets things back on track after a very disappointing previous installment. It’s a shame, however, that many parts of the plot remain unresolved, forcing the player to draw their own conclusions.
- + The game's atmosphere is as laid-back and fun as ever
- + A really cool investigative element
- + The relationship between Max and Chloe is really well-written and still works
- + The soundtrack, once again, is very effective
- + A big dose of nostalgia at the end, which is bound to work
- - All the choices and the timeline from the Life Is Strange series are abandoned
- - A storyline that goes off in all directions with multiple storylines
- - A wave of inconsistencies between the previous games and this new storyline, especially at the end
- - Lots of unanswered questions, even if you play through all the endings
- - Minor technical glitches with textures that take a little while to load