Life is Strange Reunion is wading into dangerous territory. A lot can be said for how Deck Nine has handled its stewardship of Life is Strange, having taken control of the franchise from Don't Nod to deliver Before the Storm, True Colors, and Double Exposure. Three great adventure games which attracted varying degrees of controversy, from the change in Chloe Price's performer back in 2017 to the way Max Caulfield reflected upon old friendships during her time at Caledon University in 2024. Bringing the pair back together for one last chance at a reunion seems purpose built to attract scrutiny.
Perhaps I'm the easiest mark in the world, but I'll freely admit that I felt a little swell in my stomach seeing Max and Chloe back together again after so many years, particularly as my final memory of Arcadia Bay was that of a parting storm and a body bleeding out on the Blackwell bathroom's floor. This reunion shouldn't be possible; Double Exposure made it clear that my Max, from the 'Bay' timeline, is still haunted by the guilt of her decision, with a decade spent wondering what might have been.
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Does that mean that Deck Nine has chosen to canonize one Life is Strange ending over the other, positioning the 'Bae' timeline as the primary branch in an effort to give this pair of characters some closure? "This game isn't just for people who sacrificed Arcadia Bay to save Chloe," says Rhianna DeVries, the actor responsible for bringing Chloe to life since Life is Strange: Before the Storm.
With both the Bay and Bae timelines still intact, how is Life is Strange Reunion possible? Rewind back to Double Exposure, where a supernatural murder had to be solved across two different realities. Max and Safi (her new shapeshifting bestie) combined powers amidst a new storm, merging Caledon's Living/Dead timelines with Max's tangled memories of Arcadia Bay. A choice with consequences. "When Max merged the two timelines to save Safi's life, she also – without realising it – merged the alternate realities where Chloe either lived or died," says Hannah Tell, the actor behind Max Caulfield.
This is where Life is Strange Reunion centers its camera lens, with Max and Chloe reuniting for the first time in a decade – either as best friends or romantic partners, with Deck Nine confirming that you'll have the ability to dial in Max's key relationships to ensure the story follows whatever version of the world you've headcannoned over the years. "Depending on your canon choice at the end of Life is Strange, you'll get different branching dialogue through Life is Strange Reunion," says Tell. "Max is still carrying all the weight of making her devastating choice, and that sort of guilt doesn't just disappear."
Something else that doesn't just disappear are Max's supernatural abilities. She'll have Temporal Rewind and Stopping right from the outset of this new adventure, giving you the ability to freely rewind time to realign difficult decisions and solve puzzles from the past with tools from the future.
Max also makes use of Chrono-skimming, using her power to timeline shift through a photograph in an effort to alter the past – this time, trying to stop Caledon University from going up in flames. With the lives of her friends and students hanging in the balance, figuring out the cause and effect of this attack makes up a central mystery of Reunion. "Violent protests, resentful staff, and a secret society; there are many threats and theories vying for your attention while the clock counts down to disaster," says Tell.
Max won't be alone in her efforts to save the campus grounds she calls home from ruin. Friends and colleagues are returning from Life is Strange: Double Exposure (many of whom are aware of Max's abilities), so too are many key locales alongside some new environments. But really, all most of you are going to care about is how Chloe fits into the picture here – returning as both a point of interaction for Max and a playable character in her own right.
Chloe arrives in Caledon to reconnect with Max, seeking her help to better understand the intense visions and impossible memories she's been experiencing ever since the events of Double Exposure. "These merged timelines mean that Chloe is seriously messed up. She has nightmares of surviving the storm in Arcadia Bay, but she also has traumatic memories of bleeding out on the Blackwell bathroom floor," says DeVries, who also notes that Safi has a presence in these visions too. "This is a second chance for Max and Chloe to reconnect, and rebuild their relationship. As partners in time, or something more."
Deck Nine has taken on a monumental task here. It's trying to offer closure to the Max and Chloe saga, dancing around timeline twists and canon choices by presenting a world in which, as DeVries puts it, "Chloe has the memories of both endings, but your Max still reflects the choice you made at the end of Life is Strange." It's ground that is ripe for heartwrenching exploration, although it wouldn't take much to have this concept veer into the realm of fan-fiction. I'm excited to see which it'll be, and thankfully we won't have to wait long to find out for certain.
