![Video thumbnail for [Ep. 1] Let's Talk Life is Strange: Reunion](https://video-meta.open.video/resized-posters/73htLbuqQA2/res640.webp?cb=1)
Up next in 10
This is a podcast review of Life is Strange: Reunion.
╰┈➤ˎˊ˗ Check out our written reviews - https://tgexp.com/
╰┈➤ˎˊ˗ Join our Patreon! - https://www.patreon.com/worthyofme
━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙ ━━━━━━
Feel free to contact us for podcast reviews - podcast (at) tgexp.com
⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆
✨ AFFILIATES ✨
SYNC - https://www.sync.com/?_sync_refer=a85470970
I store a lot of my videos on Sync and have used it for years.
BUNNY - https://tinyurl.com/bunnynetaff
I recently started using Bunny to store videos for my Patreon channel for the ad-free videos.
SMUGMUG - https://secure.smugmug.com/signup?Coupon=dTc34n
SmugMug is used to store all of my screenshots and images I use on my website, so I don't have to upload them to Wordpress and take up space.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Before we get into the game play, let's
0:02
take a moment to relax and listen to a
0:04
portion of this title screen music
0:06
because Life is Strange music is always
0:08
so good and deserves a listen.
0:39
The first setting we come across, as per
0:41
usual, is the brightness setting.
0:44
Luckily, this game doesn't have a whole
0:45
lot of dark areas to venture into.
0:48
Accessibility options are what you can
0:50
tinker with next. And they actually have
0:52
presets for specific things like low
0:54
vision, low motor, low audio, and low
0:57
sensory depending on what would better
0:59
suit your needs. And I like that they
1:01
thought of presets instead of just
1:03
having adjustable sliders.
1:06
Along with these presets, there's a
1:07
variety of gameplay options you can
1:09
toggle on or off. I won't go through the
1:12
entire list of them, but I did disable
1:14
camera shake for this playthrough as
1:16
well as to display a photo hotspot. Not
1:19
that it did me any good in finding them
1:21
all.
1:23
Next are graphic toggles, which allow
1:25
for warnings. I don't toggle any of
1:28
these on since nothing really bothers
1:30
me.
1:31
Finally, there's an audio volume warning
1:33
if you're not partial to loud noises.
1:36
Well, those are all the accessibility
1:38
options. The rest of the options can be
1:40
found on the title screen when you
1:41
choose settings.
1:43
Weird that they catered to accessibility
1:45
and left everything else to choose the
1:46
settings options for more. Anyway, there
1:49
are four other categories to go through.
1:51
Graphics, audio, UI, and gameplay.
1:55
Graphics deals with brightness, window
1:57
mode, frame rate, your graphics quality,
1:59
which is hilarious that the highest
2:01
setting you can choose is called hella
2:03
high. throwback to old school Chloe.
2:06
You've also got your HDR option and
2:09
advanced graphics settings. The only
2:11
thing I turned off in there was motion
2:13
blur.
2:15
The important thing with the audio
2:16
settings for most streamers is going to
2:18
be the option for substituting licensed
2:20
music so you don't get copyright claimed
2:22
on videos. I did not substitute just
2:26
because I don't mind listening to the
2:27
music the game was meant to have.
2:30
UI has subtitle options as well as text
2:33
language and font style.
2:35
Back on the title screen, there is an
2:37
option in extras to change Max and
2:39
Chloe's outfits to their classic styles,
2:42
but I cut them as is. Unfortunately,
2:45
there's no moment that I noticed in the
2:46
game to change your outfits like in
2:48
several of the other games, meaning
2:50
you're either stuck to the characters
2:51
outfits or can decide to change them on
2:53
your own with a classic style.
2:57
>> My name is Max Cfield. I came back to
3:00
Arcadia Bay to study photography at
3:02
Blackwell Academy. But it was there I
3:06
started having visions. Visions of the
3:08
town being wiped out by an impossible
3:11
storm. I fled to the bathroom to compose
3:15
myself, but instead
3:18
witnessed something awful. No.
3:21
>> Instinctively reaching out, I discovered
3:25
I could rewind time. The girl Max saved
3:30
was me.
3:30
>> Chloe Price and I were childhood best
3:33
friends.
3:34
>> We grew close once more as we reveled in
3:38
Max's strange new powers.
3:40
>> We discovered I can freely rewind up to
3:43
a few minutes at a time. And if I
3:46
concentrate on a photo, I can travel
3:49
much further into the past, projecting
3:52
my mind back into my younger body. Is it
3:55
just me or do they speak too quickly
3:56
against one another in the scene? I kind
3:59
of wish that they allowed a bit more
4:00
dramatic pauses instead of scrunching
4:02
everything so tightly together.
4:05
But we also learned that making
4:07
significant changes to the past can have
4:10
devastating consequences for the
4:12
present. With the aid of my power, we
4:15
solved the disappearance of Khloe's
4:17
friend, Rachel. But even though we
4:20
brought Rachel justice, Max's twisting
4:23
of time had a cost. The storm.
4:28
Looking down into Arcadia Bay from the
4:31
lighthouse as the storm raged, I
4:36
I truly believed the only way to save
4:38
everyone else was for Max to rewind back
4:41
to that fateful bathroom and let me die.
4:44
I was forced to make an impossible
4:47
choice.
4:48
save Chloe
4:50
or save Arcadia Bay.
4:56
After everything that happened, I didn't
4:58
use my powers for years. I lost myself
5:02
in photography, a career that brought me
5:05
to Vermont's prestigious Caladon
5:08
University at the invitation of its
5:10
president, Yasmine Fiad. Being an artist
5:14
in residence, I worked with some
5:16
incredible students and staff like
5:19
Amanda Thomas, the lively stand-up
5:22
comedian who works at the snapping
5:24
turtle, and Vin Lang, Yasm mean's
5:26
assistant and then leader of the
5:28
mysterious Araxis Society. Most
5:32
importantly, I became close friends with
5:35
Moses Murphy, a nerdy astrophysicist,
5:39
and Sophie Llewellyn Fiad, a glamorous
5:42
student of poetry and Yasm mean's
5:45
daughter.
5:47
>> Then tragedy struck. After a night of
5:50
stargazing, Max found Safi murdered.
5:56
>> For days, I mourned.
5:59
Sophie's death bringing back painful
6:01
memories of Chloe, Arcadia Bay, of
6:06
everything we lost.
6:08
>> Then I heard Sophie's voice again. I
6:12
reached out with my power. Rusty from
6:15
disuse and shifted into a parallel
6:19
timeline where Sophie was still alive
6:22
but still in danger. Shifting back and
6:26
forth between the two timelines, Max's
6:28
investigation uncovered many secrets of
6:31
Caladon. But the clues didn't add up
6:34
until I discovered I was not the only
6:37
one with powers.
6:40
Sophie was a shape shifter and was using
6:42
her ability to sow discord and suspicion
6:45
among the Caladon faculty that she
6:48
blamed for the fate of her best friend
6:50
Maya, who took her own life.
6:53
Working together, we exposed the truth.
6:56
But in so doing, we discovered someone
6:59
else had been instrumental in covering
7:02
up the lies of Kaladon. Sophie's mother,
7:06
Yasm mean. Years of resentment overrode
7:09
Sophie's control of her power. Her
7:11
consciousness splintering across the
7:14
campus as an impossible storm loomed
7:17
overhead. In desperation, I grabbed hold
7:20
of Sophie and a photo and pulled both
7:23
our minds back in time. In the past,
7:27
Sophie, now clear-minded, begged Max to
7:31
shoot her, to stop this horror from
7:33
happening again. But I refused to repeat
7:36
my past mistakes. Torn between two
7:39
terrible options, I chose a third way.
7:43
Inside the storm, causality fractured. I
7:47
faced my past and united the fragments
7:51
of Sophie's mind. I merged the timelines
7:54
back into one, saving Sophie. And
7:58
together, we escaped the storm. An
8:01
action that will have significant
8:03
repercussions. And Sophie herself, she
8:07
left Kaladon on a quest to find other
8:09
people like her. But before she did, she
8:12
asked Max if she would support her.
8:15
Flaws and all. or condemn her for the
8:18
people she hurt.
8:20
>> From the moment I merged the timelines,
8:23
my ability to rewind time started to
8:26
return. I have this power to help people
8:30
after everything I've been through. I
8:34
won't run from it anymore.
8:40
I'm happy they did that recap,
8:43
especially since it's been a good long
8:44
time since we've seen Max and Chloe
8:46
together. I mean, if you play the first
8:48
Life is Strange, it's hard to forget
8:50
what happened. But things do get a bit
8:52
fuzzy when it comes to remembering
8:53
specific things, such as names and faces
8:56
for me. Shoot, there were even some
8:58
scenes I couldn't remember going
9:00
through, but I do plan on going back
9:02
into the series and playing them all for
9:03
reviews again when I get the time.
9:06
Of course, I'm going to go through the
9:08
characters and make the same decisions
9:10
I'd made before in the previous games. I
9:12
don't like the idea of randomizing it,
9:14
though. That might make for an
9:16
interesting blind playthrough of this
9:17
game.
9:19
Amanda Thomas, when she's not
9:21
workshopping her standup comedy
9:23
routines, Amanda Bartends at the
9:25
snapping turtle. Max and Amanda grew
9:28
close last winter after wanting to hang
9:30
out more. But in the wake of Sophie's
9:32
death and shifting between parallel
9:33
universes, things got complicated. Did
9:37
Max and Amanda just hang out as friends?
9:39
Or did the pair begin a tentative
9:41
romance?
9:43
I ended up just being friends with her,
9:45
and don't get me wrong, I really liked
9:47
her, but we just didn't really connect
9:49
once the whole timeline split came into
9:51
awareness and we were basically two time
9:53
with Vin. I mean, is it technically
9:56
cheating if it's two different
9:58
timelines, though? Probably.
10:01
Chloe Price.
10:03
Chloe was Max's ride or die since
10:05
childhood until Max moved away, and
10:07
their friendship fell quiet. When Max
10:10
returned home years later, she saw Khloe
10:12
die and manifested the ability to rewind
10:15
time to save her. But changing Kloe's
10:18
fate unleashed a supernatural storm that
10:20
threatened their hometown of Arcadia
10:22
Bay. Max faced an impossible choice.
10:26
Save Khloe's life and sacrifice Arcadia
10:28
Bay or spare the town by letting Khloe
10:31
die. Did Max save Kloe or save Arcadia
10:34
Bay?
10:36
I was not going to let my girl die to
10:38
save a town where I didn't even like
10:39
half the students. So, yes, she
10:42
survived.
10:44
Max and Chloe. Max and Khloe had a
10:47
lifelong bond, which only strengthened
10:50
as they investigated the mysteries of
10:51
Arcadia Bay. They became partners in
10:54
crime and partners in time. Did Max
10:57
choose to blossom their partnership into
10:59
a romance or stay as best friends?
11:02
After all the crap that we went through,
11:05
I definitely fell into a romantic
11:06
relationship with Chloe. If you saved
11:09
her just to be friends, shame on you.
11:12
Good on you, but also for shame.
11:15
Sophia the well and Fiad. Last winter,
11:18
Max saw Sophie's supernatural murder.
11:21
Using her powers to merge two parallel
11:23
timelines and restore Sophie to life. In
11:26
the chaos, it was uncovered that Sophie
11:28
was actually a shape- shifter. She was
11:31
using her powers to enact justice for
11:33
her friend Maya, who tragically ended
11:35
her own life. After everything that
11:38
happened on campus, Safi has chosen to
11:40
leave Caladon in hopes of finding more
11:42
people like her and Max. Did Max choose
11:46
to support Sophie's goal or reject her
11:48
after everything she did for revenge?
11:51
I supported Sopie. She had a rough time
11:54
with it when her friend lost her life
11:56
and she blamed a lot of people for it
11:57
and went a little crazy, but I
11:59
understood where she came from with the
12:01
blame game.
12:03
Van Lang.
12:05
Vin was once the head of the mysterious
12:07
Abrais society, and he's now woven
12:09
himself into the fabric of the campus as
12:11
the university president's assistant.
12:14
an unapologetic flirt. Ven has also
12:17
never met a pretty face he wouldn't take
12:19
out for a drink, including Max. Did Max
12:22
explore romance with them or just stay
12:25
as friends?
12:27
How could I not romance him? Look at
12:30
that hair. And those were my choices for
12:32
the gameplay that's about to commence.
12:35
Did you make the same choices or did you
12:37
have different thoughts on different
12:38
matters regarding people and their
12:39
situations?
13:03
Yeah. To get the [ __ ] out of there.
13:06
Okay. I don't know how. Maybe. Hold on.
13:10
Maybe try reminding her that a drum
13:12
machine doesn't take up half the van and
13:14
smell like ass after the gig.
13:18
20 minutes.
13:23
Yeah. Okay. I can make that work.
13:29
>> I can't believe she didn't throw the
13:30
phone right there. You could tell she
13:32
was about to and then hesitated the last
13:33
moment. I know there have been times
13:35
where I got so mad I wanted to smash
13:37
something, but common sense told me not
13:39
to. I feel like Kloe's younger self
13:41
would have smashed the phone, though,
13:43
and she seemed pretty heated with that
13:45
phone call.
14:04
Last call theory. Either your band is
14:07
heading on stage now or I call the show.
14:11
>> [ __ ]
14:13
No show means no fee. means no gas means
14:17
no tour means [ __ ]
14:24
All right, it's our first choice and
14:25
Khloe's band seems to be letting her
14:27
down, making me think they're good at
14:28
being musicians, but otherwise useless.
14:31
I didn't want to threaten since I feel
14:33
like he could have just kicked us out or
14:34
not allowed us to play with that option.
14:37
Lying didn't seem like a good choice
14:38
either, so I went with a more neutral
14:40
choice of negotiation.
14:45
Look, I hear you. My drummer is being a
14:48
real Lars oo [ __ ] right now. Give me
14:51
just 20 more minutes.
14:53
>> I told you it's now or never.
14:56
>> Come on. We know those barflies aren't
14:58
going anywhere. Just prorate the 20
15:00
minutes out of our cut. All right,
15:03
>> I'm taking 30 minutes. You're already 10
15:06
over.
15:07
>> Damn it.
15:09
There goes my new toothbrush money. At
15:11
least she can still finger brush her
15:13
teeth. It's just not as thorough as a
15:15
toothbrush.
16:06
Not again.
16:08
It keeps getting worse.
16:12
But I I just need to find the way out.
16:15
Assuming there is one.
16:18
>> Now, let's talk business. Wrong. You got
16:22
hella cash.
16:23
>> Is that me in high school?
16:26
>> I never talked like that, did I?
16:28
>> Talk about looking back on your younger
16:30
years and having regrets.
16:34
So, there's two things I recognize in
16:35
this place, and that's the bathroom
16:37
portion of when she was younger and in
16:38
school with Max, and then the fireplace,
16:41
which is actually from Max's place,
16:43
something what we saw in the previous
16:44
game. I keep thinking true colors, but
16:47
it's double exposure.
16:49
What's curious is I don't think Chloe
16:50
has been to Max's new residence. And
16:53
this is also looking like that uphill
16:54
slope in the previous game where we had
16:56
a Momo Sophie. Chloe never had any kind
16:59
of special powers before, except maybe
17:01
the power of persuasion. So, it's more
17:04
than a little weird that she's in the
17:05
space that occupies a moment from her
17:07
past, Max's present, and also Max's past
17:10
altercation with Sophie. And that this
17:13
isn't her first time being here from
17:14
what she said,
17:26
man. I forgot all about Vortex Club, but
17:29
not VCard Victoria.
17:33
All right, hear me out. I was walking
17:35
the wrong way. I know, typically me. But
17:39
I was following the footprints that let
17:40
out through the gate until I couldn't
17:41
progress anymore. I didn't realize I
17:44
should have taken the path upwards, even
17:45
though in hindsight, that's where
17:47
something major happened before. If
17:49
they'd started the footprints maybe in
17:51
front of one of the sinks and continued
17:52
them upwards, it would have been a bit
17:54
more obvious. But they started them
17:56
outside the gate. It's misleading to a
17:59
directionally challenged person like me.
18:01
Like I wasn't even going the wrong way
18:03
on my own. I was being led out there.
18:16
How long has this been going on? These
18:19
nightmares that feel like memories,
18:22
they're only getting worse.
18:25
That's Sophie's gun.
18:30
>> Stop stalling, Max. Pull the trigger.
18:36
>> Yeah, these are things Chloe definitely
18:37
shouldn't even know of.
18:43
>> That memory can't be real. The Max I
18:46
know wouldn't shoot anyone.
18:48
>> But why does it feel real?
18:51
Technically, we didn't shoot Sophie, so
18:53
Chloe still knows Max on that front. And
18:55
there's Max's Polaroid camera. It's from
18:58
her present, but I can't actually
19:00
remember what her younger self's camera
19:01
looked like.
19:05
I'm so glad you're my partner in crime.
19:08
As long as you're my partner in time.
19:16
>> Max is always on my mind.
19:20
Lately, I feel like she's the only thing
19:23
in my mind that belongs there.
19:25
>> I'm disappointing Chloe here because I
19:27
feel like there should be something else
19:28
occupying her mind, and that's my
19:30
Patreon. Uply says, "Games for everyone.
19:33
Be you one for the more tasteful side of
19:35
gaming or one for the more risque adult
19:37
side. From free tier, which Chloe could
19:39
definitely afford, giving an extra
19:41
allowance for that toothbrush, to a
19:43
higher adult gaming tier where people
19:44
can write their own story pieces to be
19:46
read aloud. Alas, too bad she's a video
19:49
game character representing a hella no
19:52
to a new patron member.
20:03
Does every daughter have nightmares that
20:05
she killed her mom even though she's
20:06
still very much alive?
20:09
Or is that just me?
20:11
>> Now there's something weird. The
20:13
tombstone's name is flashing between
20:15
Khloe's name and her mom's name, and her
20:17
mom should be dead since I allowed
20:19
Arcadia Bay and everyone in it to be
20:20
destroyed in order to save Chloe. But
20:23
she just mentioned her mom in a way that
20:24
means she's still alive.
20:27
What happened to that saying of not
20:28
having her cake and eating it, too?
20:59
a version of me. If Max didn't rewind to
21:03
save me,
21:05
she's not me,
21:07
but she's a part of me.
21:10
The question is how much?
21:14
Not Sophie, but Chloe taking up
21:16
residence where Sophie's body should be.
21:19
Makes you wonder if Khloe's feeling dead
21:20
inside.
21:52
Max.
22:00
Can Max's camera even take the perfect
22:02
shot from all the way over there?
22:16
At first, I thought Chloe was just going
22:18
in and out of focus from Max adjusting
22:19
her camera, but on second look, she's
22:21
actually disappearing.
22:32
Who the [ __ ] are you?
22:49
Let's go.
22:58
Well, that's a mental trip that nobody
23:00
wants to take more than once. And look,
23:02
the mirror is broke by what looks like a
23:04
bullet. That implies that it was real in
23:06
some way. Max actually fired the gun,
23:09
but instead of hitting Chloe, it broke
23:11
the mirror. And maybe the illusion.
23:19
There's one person who can help me
23:22
understand what the [ __ ] is going on.
23:26
But why do I keep hallucinating her
23:28
pointing a gun at me?
23:29
>> What is going on in there? Where the
23:32
hell is the bad?
23:37
>> I just told you, man. They're on their
23:39
way. Am I talking to a goldfish or did
23:42
the septum piercing get into your brain?
23:48
And this is where we have an achievement
23:49
for greenhaired girl playing as Chloe
23:51
for the first time. Wow, that was a heck
23:55
of an intro. But it also brought up a
23:57
ton of questions on what the heck is
23:58
going on with Chloe for her to have a
24:00
hallucination that involves a past
24:01
action from Max that she should know
24:03
about as far as we know. It also makes
24:06
us question her own past choices because
24:08
I never shot at Sophie in my
24:09
playthrough, but Max didn't seem to
24:11
care. Not only that, but Kloe's mom is
24:14
alive, even though she shouldn't be.
24:16
It's a pretty good hook for a game where
24:18
we've been missing our girl Chloe, but
24:20
also really confusing based on past
24:21
events. She's definitely got some kind
24:24
of trauma, and honestly, that's to be
24:27
expected from what happened at Kitty
24:29
Bay. You can't just live through that
24:31
and put in a box to never think about
#Online Media
#TV & Video
#Gaming Reference & Reviews