Life is Strange: Reunion pitches itself as the "finale" of Max and Chloe's saga, which feels like an odd concept considering the two only starred in one single game, the first Life is Strange back in 2015. I can almost hear the game creaking and bending to fit that term, assuring me that, no, really, all the events of Life is Strange, its prequel, and legacy sequel Double Exposure have all been leading to this, we swear. But, in practice, Reunion desperately struggles to hold it all together, feeling more like a hasty epilogue coda than a thrilling finale in its own right.
After a genre mandatory dream sequence, Life is Strange: Reunion at least spares no time getting stuck into its central mystery. Picking up nine months after Life is Strange: Double Exposure, photography student turned photography instructor Max Caufield returns from a gallery showcase to Caledon University (where the last game was also set). She's greeted by a horrific fire with arson tools nearby making it clear it's deliberate, witnessing trapped students in a chained-up building suffocate to death and her friends tumble into flames before being caught in an explosion herself. Only just managing to use her time superpowers to time travel back into a selfie she took before her trip, she's got two days to unravel why the fire started and put a stop to it. All this while the consequences of the first game's time storm seem to be catching up to both her and Chloe.
