Support NeoGAF

[JehutyRunner]

NOTE: SPOILER THREAD IS HERE. PLEASE BE AWARE OF YOUR FELLOW MEMBERS AND MARK ALL SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD!

Life is Strange - Season One OT

NOTE: This is not to be confused with the new Life is Strange game in the works from original developer DONTNOD Entertainment as well. Before the Storm acts as a prequel to the first game and is made by an entirely different developer. DONTNOD is working on a brand new game that will take place outside the events of both the first game and Before the Storm with a new story, new set of characters and new locations.

Title: Life Is Strange: Before the Storm
Developer: Deck Nine Studios (previously Idol Minds, known for PAIN on PSN)
Publisher: Square Enix
Platforms: PC (Steam), PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Genre: Graphic adventure
Distribution: Download

PRICING:
One Episode: $5.99 / €5.99 / £4.99
Episodes 2 and 3 Bundle: $11.99 / €11.99 / £9.99
Complete Season Pass (Ep. 1-3): $16.99 / €16.99 / £13.99
Deluxe Edition (Mixtape Mode and epilogue Max chapter): $24.99/€24.99/£19.99

PC Requirements:
Minimum requirements:
OS: Windows 7 or above (64-bit Operating System Required)
Processor: Intel Core i3-2100 (3.1GHz) or AMD Phenom X4 945 (3.0GHz)
Memory: 3 GB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon R7 250 or NVIDIA Geforce GTX 650
DirectX: Version 11
Hard Drive: 14 GB available space

Recommended:
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i3-6100 (3.7GHz) or AMD Athlon X4 845 (3.5GHz)
Memory: 6 GB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 460 or NVIDIA Geforce 1050
DirectX: Version 11
Hard Drive: 14 GB available space

Set as a prequel before the first season of Life is Strange, Before the Storm sees you play as Chloe Price, the best friend of Max Caulfield from the first game. Its been two years since Chloe lost her father in a car crash, of which she's still not taking well as you'll discover in the game. In that time, Max has moved from Arcadia Bay to Seattle and her mother Joyce has started a relationship with David Madsen.

In Before the Storm, Chloe finds a surprising new friend in Rachel Amber. How their friendship plays out as Rachel discovers a massive family secret will play out through the mini series.

Unlike the first Life is Strange game, because of a lack of a rewind time power, choices in Before the Storm will carry a lot more weight and permanence to them. It also introduces a new Talkback mechanic where Chloe and another character will get into a verbal battle of sorts that's also befitting Chloe's personality. Use aspects of what the character is saying and throw it right back at them to get what you want out of it.

For those who buy the Deluxe Edition of Before the Storm, there will be an epilogue chapter where you'll play as Max Caulfield entitled 'Farewell'.

LINKS TO BUY AND DOWNLOAD ON ALL PLATFORMS HERE

Episode 1, Awake: August 31
Episode 2, Brave New World: TBC 2017
Episode 3, Hell is Empty and Farewell (Max epilogue chapter for Deluxe Edition owners): TBC

Chloe Price - The game's lead protagonist. Still dealing with the aftermath of her dad's death and her best friend leaving her for Seattle, Chloe has since taken a full-on in your face, no fucks given attitude.

Rachel Amber - Blackwell Academy royalty, Rachel is Chloe's new best friend and is instrumental to how the story plays out.

Joyce Price - The mother of Chloe Price. Joyce, unlike Chloe, is moving on after the death of her husband William, seeing a new man in her life, David Madsen.

David Madsen - A military vet, David is Joyce's new beau, but has a very feisty relationship with Chloe, mostly in part due to her.

In addition, other characters from the first season of Life is Strange make a return, including Nathan Prescott, Victoria Chase and more.

With Life is Strange - Season One, the original soundtrack was handled by Syd Matters' Jonathan Moralli with licenced songs spliced in from the likes of Alt-J, Mogwai, Foals, Jose Gonzalez and more to name a few, as well as work from Syd Matters.

With Before the Storm, most of the game's music was composed and recorded by UK trio Daughter, who provided the song Numbers to the game's reveal trailer at E3.

The work from the game has been put together as an album, entitled 'Music from Before the Storm'.

Listen to it: Spotify|iTunes

Trailers:
E3 reveal trailer
Daughter soundtrack reveal
Deluxe Edition trailer
gamescom launch trailer

Dev Diaries:
Returning to Arcadia Bay
Chloe and Rachel
Daughter X Life is Strange

Gameplay:
Gameplay Reveal
Chloe and David Gameplay

Other:
E3 Q&A stream
A Open Letter

All links and opinions below are for Episode One, Awake.

GAF Reviews Thread
MetaCritic/OpenCritic

Game Informer - 8

Awake shows you a broken Chloe - someone at her lowest. Everyone hits those trying times in their lives, and what Awake does best is illustrate how much another person can make a difference in those situations. The emotional pull is strong, and the story's strength is its relatability. This first episode has me intrigued at how Chloe and Rachel Amber will make it through their distress, and it also has me rooting for them.

GamesRadar - 4.5/5

If the first episode of Before the Storm is anything to go by, we're looking at a prequel that could live up to the expectations of Life is Strange.

Metro - 8

An excellent start to a prequel series that taps into the same style of sincere storytelling as the original, making a previously unsympathetic character seem vulnerable and likeable.

PushSquare - 8

Deck Nine Games has gracefully hurdled the obstacles in its way, with a rip-roaring episode that pulls back the curtain on Rachel Amber and begins a chain of events that we can't wait to watch unwind. Life Is Strange: Before the Storm recaptures the spirit of the first season, but by framing the story around fan favourite Chloe Price, it has a much more rebellious vibe. And while that means there's still plenty of cringe to work through, Episode 1: Awake pitches the moments that matter perfectly – we can't wait to see what happens next.

God is a Geek - 7

It's not unusual for a new series to have a slow start, and while this is borne from something else I'm going to grant it the leniency that a new series deserves. What we have here is a pilot episode that's obviously building to something. There are missteps, but I'm hopeful that these will be either eradicated or negligible in the forthcoming episodes.

Thanks to Kubus, who's original OT for Life is Strange helped as inspiration as a template for this OT in such short notice!

 

[TheMoon]

+1 for subtitle

 

[JehutyRunner]

PS: I know half of the OT is missing and garbeld. I think it's because of too many HTML tags. Give me a bit to fix it.

+1 for subtitle

Heh, cheers!

 

[strafer]

Hella nice OT

 

[JehutyRunner]

Right, that's the OT mostly fixed. There's a videos section missing, but I'll add that in asap. When I try and add it, there's a little errant HTML code somewhere I need to take out that I can't find that fucks up the rest of the OT. So for now, if it looks a little barren than it should be, that's why.

 

[Blitzrules240]

Gwen Stefani must like this game alot.

 

[Necron]

Perfect thread title.

Liking it so far. New VA sounds very similar and does a really good job.

 

[Family Fry]

Nice to see an OT, good job.

 

[NeoRaider]

Yay, finally. Nice OT.

 

[StormBrute]

I said this in the spoiler thread, but I'll reiterate here:

As someone who loved Life is Strange and came into this super skeptical, I was really impressed with how they managed to pull it off. It's definitely carried the spirit and tone of the first game forward.

I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first game or wants more of the world and characters.

 

[petethepanda]

Made the mistake of exporting a stream archive of episode 1 to YouTube and woke up to seven content ID and copyright claim emails, lol. It's still up but blocked in the US.

 

[alexbull_uk]

Great OT.

I played for about 2 hours so not done with Ep1 yet but I’m loving it so far. Really nailed the atmosphere of the original, and the new VA is actually very good. Great work by the devs.

I noticed that it runs on Unity, which was surprising as the original was on Unreal- does that mean they had to make this pretty much from scratch?

By the way, isn’t Max’s name Max Caulfield? Says Caldwell in the OT.

 

[Certinty]

Wonder if the Max episode will be any good, £6 for that is pretty pricey.

Anyway glad the game turned out good, I assume DONTNOD must have guided them a lot.

 

[Albino_Yeti]

I said this in the spoiler thread, but I'll reiterate here:

As someone who loved Life is Strange and came into this super skeptical, I was really impressed with how they managed to pull it off. It's definitely carried the spirit and tone of the first game forward.

I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first game or wants more of the world and characters.

How much of a brat is Chloe? Like, will I be rolling my eyes at all the teenage angst or do they do a good job of exploring why she is the way she is? Without the more level headed Max to balance it out, I've been afraid this game would be way too angsty.

 

[benicillin]

I said so in the spoiler thread, but this episode was super great. I admittedly went in with fairly low expectations and was very, very happy to see that they were far surpassed.

How much of a brat is Chloe? Like, will I be rolling my eyes at all the teenage angst or do they do a good job of exploring why she is the way she is? Without the more level headed Max to balance it out, I've been afraid this game would be way too angsty.

I have never thought Chloe was unbearable in the original series, but I found her portrayal here remarkably sympathetic and goes a long way to helping you understand her as a character and get in her frame of mind.

 

[Morts]

Very conflicted. I loved Life is Strange but I was not a fan of Chloe.

 

[Sparrowhawk]

Not a fan of the game, but had to post saying that the OT title is fantastic lol.

 

[carlsojo]

Game is a hella worthy prequel so far.

 

[benicillin]

Great OT.

I played for about 2 hours so not done with Ep1 yet but I’m loving it so far. Really nailed the atmosphere of the original, and the new VA is actually very good. Great work by the devs.

I noticed that it runs on Unity, which was surprising as the original was on Unreal- does that mean they had to make this pretty much from scratch?

By the way, isn’t Max’s name Max Caulfield? Says Caldwell in the OT.

If I remember correctly DeckNine basically created a toolset using the Unity engine from scratch for the sole purpose of designing Life is Strange style narrative adventures. I hope this is really successful for them, because with the pipeline in place I think they have a very bright future.

 

[Razorskin]

I noticed that it runs on Unity, which was surprising as the original was on Unreal- does that mean they had to make this pretty much from scratch?

By the way, isn’t Max’s name Max Caulfield? Says Caldwell in the OT.

Yeah it's Caulfield.

I imagine they imported a lot of models and resources.

Weird that they would go from Unreal to Unity. The original was also playable on Mac/Linux and now it's Windows only.

 

[Pandora012]

How is the music compared to the first game? I know the first provided me with many new favorites.

 

[epmode]

For anyone with the PC version, is there a way to get rid of the blurring around the edge of the screen? It was easy to do in the first game but that was Unreal Engine and this is Unity.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

Love the graphic options

Low
Medium
High
Hella High

 

[Albino_Yeti]

I have never thought Chloe was unbearable in the original series, but I found her portrayal here remarkably sympathetic and goes a long way to helping you understand her as a character and get in her frame of mind.

I thought she was fine for the most part in the original, but that was after she had some character growth in the 3rd-5th episodes. Since this takes place before all that, I wasn't sure whether I would like it or not. Good to hear that they flesh out her inner turmoil, just might have to check it out then. Now the question is do I wait for all the episodes to come out or just dive in.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

Am I imagining it, or is the lip syncing (and maybe facial animation) better than before?

 

[BiggNife]

A++ thread title

 

[foxdvd]

I know Deck Nine worked on this game, but for those that played the first game as it came out, what was the release time frame for each episode? I gave up on Telltale a while back, and no longer buy their games until all the episodes are out because of the sporadic release schedule, and was wondering if the same thing will happen with this game.

 

[Pandora012]

I know Deck Nine worked on this game, but for those that played the first game as it came out, what was the release time frame for each episode? I gave up on Telltale a while back, and no longer buy their games until all the episodes are out because of the sporadic release schedule, and was wondering if the same thing will happen with this game.

About every other month. Though the last one took a bit longer.

 

[SE Toby]

Hey everyone! Thanks for the OT. It's been awesome reading your response so far in the other Review and Spoiler thread and seeing what you think of everything.

We'll be monitoring this thread much like all the other discussions everywhere else, and though we may not say much, we'll be sure read and pass on your feedback

Happy gaming!

Toby - Life is Strange Community Mananger

 

[Ricker]

Ok,did not see the regular season pass yesterday on the PS4,they tend to push the deluxe in your face more lol but I will be getting the regular one soon for sure...unless impressions here of the lenght of that bonus story and all is worth it...

Nice OT.

 

[alexbull_uk]

Am I imagining it, or is the lip syncing (and maybe facial animation) better than before?

It's absolutely better than before. They've done a good job of it.

 

[Chaserjoey]

Hey everyone! Thanks for the OT. It's been awesome reading your response so far in the other Review and Spoiler thread and seeing what you think of everything.

We'll be monitoring this thread much like all the other discussions everywhere else, and though we may not say much, we'll be sure read and pass on your feedback

Happy gaming!

Toby - Life is Strange Community Mananger

The team did an excellent job on the game. There was a lot packed into the 2 and a half hours I played, and I still missed a lot!

 

[SE Toby]

Ah before I forget - Daughter released their album Music from Before the Storm today.

You can get it here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/music-from-before-the-storm/id1269311663

https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Daughter_Music

 

[Reedirect]

Very nice OT!

 

[JehutyRunner]

Yeah it's Caulfield.

I imagine they imported a lot of models and resources.

Weird that they would go from Unreal to Unity. The original was also playable on Mac/Linux and now it's Windows only.

Yeah, I dun fucked up on Max's surname. I was thinking of a teacher of mine who had the surname Caldwell and got mixed with Caulfield.

I've fixed it.

 

[Fantomas]

How is the music compared to the first game? I know the first provided me with many new favorites.

It's great in my opinion. The band Daughter does most of the music, so you can check them out to see what the sound is like. Pretty moody, mostly acoustic indie rock/folk for the most part, very similar to the feel of the first game's soundtrack.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Love the graphic options

Low
Medium
High
Hella High

Max should still be there as the ultra setting.

 

[Chaplain]

Hey everyone! Thanks for the OT. It's been awesome reading your response so far in the other Review and Spoiler thread and seeing what you think of everything.

We'll be monitoring this thread much like all the other discussions everywhere else, and though we may not say much, we'll be sure read and pass on your feedback

Happy gaming!

Toby - Life is Strange Community Mananger

Thank you for popping in this thread, Toby. Question, what Pro features does "Before the Storm" have?

 

[nightmare-slain]

Max should still be there as the ultra setting.

Low
Medium
Hella High
Max

 

[Family Fry]

How is the music compared to the first game? I know the first provided me with many new favorites.

I'll cross post this again.

Just in case anyone wants to know the tracklisting from episode 1, taken from mix tape mode.

5 songs/artists
"Are you ready for this" Pretty Vicious
"No Below" Speedy Ortiz
"Through the Cellar Door" Lanterns on the Lake
"Departure" Daughter
"Dreams of William" Daughter

Not on mixtape.
Intro track "Right way around" Daughter
End scene track "Flaws" Daughter
End credits track "Glass" Daughter

The OST is done by Daughter and is out now.

 

[Chris R]

Decent enough reviews.

Bummed by the extra episode stuff and Denovo.

Going to hold off on buying until everything is out though.

 

[Necron]

Hey everyone! Thanks for the OT. It's been awesome reading your response so far in the other Review and Spoiler thread and seeing what you think of everything.

We'll be monitoring this thread much like all the other discussions everywhere else, and though we may not say much, we'll be sure read and pass on your feedback

Happy gaming!

Toby - Life is Strange Community Mananger

The team did a very good job. Perhaps out of curiosity: how challenging was it to move to Unity from Unreal engine 3? Why the decision to change?

Looking forward to the next episode.

 

[jrush64]

The game is pretty damn great can't deny it even though I think it's an extremely unnecessary game. I've only played a little and am waiting for the full series to be released.

Was shocked to see it was made in Unity.

 

[StormBrute]

How much of a brat is Chloe? Like, will I be rolling my eyes at all the teenage angst or do they do a good job of exploring why she is the way she is? Without the more level headed Max to balance it out, I've been afraid this game would be way too angsty.

The game being from Chloe's perspective definitely helps round her character out, so while she does have a good deal of angst and can be bratty to her family, it also shows her in different contexts, like with Rachel and random people at Blackwell that help show the other sides of her personality more and balance everything out. Being able to hear her thoughts also helps with that as well.

All this comes together to make the angst understandable and believable. Then again, I also thought her character was great in the first game because of how realistically messed up she seemed to me, so take that into account.

Overall though, I think they did a really good job with the characters. I was worried about how they'd handle playing as Chloe because I was afraid it they would go too far with the angst and make it overwhelming, but they exercised enough restraint to make it more impactful when it does come out strong.

(Also, Chloe's VA captures the character well, which helps a lot.)

 

[carlsojo]

Give the developer love for this scene on Twitter, it was a big highlight of the game for me.

Mild spoilers for the scene

Spoiler

https://twitter.com/DeckNine_Chris/status/903662852111613954

 

[SE Toby]

The team did a very good job. Perhaps out of curiosity: how challenging was it to move to Unity from Unreal engine 3? Why the decision to change?

Looking forward to the next episode.

It wasn't actually too challenging at all and it was't a deliberate decision to switch engines. Simply put, when Deck Nine created their Storyforge tool (before BtS was a twinkle in anyones eye) they created it in conjunction with Unity.

To add a bit more about Storyforge (Quoted from elsewhere):

"Our staff writers actually write in code, dialogue and code to create branching structures that exports directly into a second part of the tools called StoryTeller which is a cinematic design tool that our cinematic artists use to light and block, insert camera frames and timing, and keyframe objects to create the cinematic elements. This is something our studio has been developing for years.

 

[JehutyRunner]

I found that little errant HTML markup, which means the OT is now as it should be! Links aplenty, more things bolded/italic'ed and videos included!

 

[Vegetable Lasagna]

Just completed. Really really enjoyed it. Ignoring everything else it's worth the price of admission alone to get a glimpse of the events that culminated into Life Is Strange. Just sad I'm already finished with it. Need more.

It'll be cool to get a better idea what all of the characters were like previously and how these events changed them. Episodes 2 and 3 have a lot of potential.

 

[gossi]

Just finished. Really enjoyed it. Loved the tabletop session, fit perfectly (plus it felt like a creative risk).

In all it gave me feelings. Hopefully episodes 2 and 3 pay off.

Unity ran this really well btw.

 

[jacobeid]

Holy shit. That thread title is incredible for so many reasons.