Life is Strange: Before the Storm takes center stage!
I was able to grab an appointment for a Square Enix theater presentation for an unknown property at the time of booking. It was revealed that Square Enix was creating a prequel for Life is Strange and the theater presentation was for this project. Let’s get right into to.
Before the Storm takes place three years prior to the events of the first Life is Strange title. It will have 6-9 hours of content strewn over three episodes. Fans who can’t wait for the first episode won’t have to wait long since it is releasing August 31st.
In Before the Storm, you find out that Chloe and Rachel were friends and something drove them apart. You will also find out what characters interact with the main characters and which ones you thought were secondary turns out to be main. There will be new characters and locations in the game as well as familiar locations making their comeback to the series. It will be interesting to see how old locales are used in the prequel.
Writing and humor is key for Before the Storm. During the presentation you find out that Chloe is a bit of a hardass and she doesn’t take anything from anyone. This will get her in trouble but lucky for her, she has the player to make these stupid choices for her. If we want her to ask for pot, we can have her ask for pot. If we want her to punch the jerk at the bar, we can do that too. It plays a lot like a “TellTale Games” game where you have interaction within the story. You have control of Chloe but you perform actions with the use of the buttons, similarly to a Telltale Games game.
Like I mentioned before, when you’re trying to tell a story through what’s going on in the scene, writing is key. Humor is part of writing and it looks like Before the Storm has a strong sense of humor and strong writing team behind it. The development team in the presentation said it was a tearjerker so that must mean it has a great writing team behind it, right? Musical scores can also parlay mood in a scene and Before the Storm has some great music, just like the first Life is Strange did. The presentation played a song that sounded Rock/Garage/Punk and if that is any indication of the types/variations of music we’re going to get, it’s going to be fun.
Life is Strange: Before the Storm is a prequel that tells the tale of Chloe and Rachel and their lives three years before the first Life is Strange. Episode one comes out August 31!