Life is Strange: Episode 5 - Polarized

 PC
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 348 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 274 out of 348
  2. Mixed: 36 out of 348
  3. Negative: 38 out of 348

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  1. TheLewdOne
    Dec 1, 2015
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. As someone who really liked the series up to this point (besides how the writers handled the teen dialogue which was pretty awful at the start) this last episode was really disheartening. The fact that it's getting so many nines and tens astounds me considered how many things are blatantly just...wrong with this episode.

    The David "puzzle" is a complete joke, it has the most warped logic as to what will make a difference and is frustrating in all the ways a good puzzle shouldn't be. Going through an apocalyptic Arcadia Beach was cool to begin with until the puzzles for saving people started kicking in...I honestly didn't see the point of saving anyone beyond the people in the diner since Max was obviously not going to let this future stay (more on that later). The "dream" sequence was also something that started out interesting and had a few highlights even later on that do a good job of showing Max's insecurities but it drags on FAR to long, especially the walking down memory lane with Chloe part.

    And the ending...My god the ending. This ending is the personification of your choices having no meaning. This is mass effect levels of disappointment except with one less option. Time is depicted as a thinking force that is actively out to hunt down Chloe since she is "destined to die"...but she never would have been saved in the first place if time had never given Max her power? Max has visions of the storm BEFORE she has her first time travel incident, before she even saves Chloe. Also, when Max goes back in time and saves William from dying on the day he was supposed to the storm never came at him like a bat out of hell. It seems to still be coming years later but why did he get a delay when Chloe didn't? Is the storm really just about teaching Max a lesson? A lesson Max...wouldn't really have needed to learn had she not received these powers in the first place?

    This ending reeks of plotholes, invalidates all of your previous decisions no matter what path you go down and yet people still praise it. I can only assume they are blinded by "feels" as I might have been years ago when I was fresh to the story driven game genre and while I did find one of the endings to be particularly sad the path leading up to it had me feeling more upset and betrayed than anything else.

    I might have given this episode a 7/10 and the series as a whole a solid 8 if not 9 had the ending been even just decent, but I can't stress enough how important an ending is to a game based around telling a story. Overall I give this episode a 3 for all the reasons I stated above, the only things saving it from any lower is some interesting and well-handled scenes and imagery. For the series as a whole I give it a 6/10. I would no longer refer this series to someone based on it being an excellent game in it's genre, I would only refer it to someone who has already played a lot of adventure games and was just looking for more.    … Expand
  2. Fonjask
    Oct 31, 2015
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Such an absolutely great first 4.5 episodes, and then this. What a **** awful ending to such a great game. What the actual **** You HAVE to save the Bay, since choosing Chloe is the dumbest **** ever since that doesn't actually solve the issue of the tornado and disasters existing in the first place, and Chloe will still have to die by like another tornado or whatever. I went on /r/LifeIsStrange and they're all talking about Bae>Bay and it's the dumbest **** ever. **** this ending. I'm removing this episode from my mind and making my own ending, where we go back to the first photograph, simply keep standing in the toilets so Chloe's life gets saved without abusing Time Travel, save Kate, and still bust Jefferson/Nathan. Boom, best ending to the game. What the **** was this **** God...… Expand
  3. Chapa9dj
    Oct 22, 2015
    4
    It's like Mass Effect 3 all over again, minus the reapers.
    Absolutely disgusting, i cannot believe i fell for it, and all the time and effort i have wasted in this just to reach to awful conclusions.
    Horrible last episode and stupid endings. Way to ruin a franchise.

    4/10
    Now if only i could get my wasted time and money back.
  4. plount
    Oct 21, 2015
    4
    Meh. It could have been the episode that transformed this game into a good, or a great game, not sunk it into mediocrity. You have even less gameplay here, so you're basically watching a movie. That would have been ok, if the movie was good, not an incoherent fantasy full of cliches. And the ending while isn't Mass Effect 3 level of bad (which is something probably impossible to achieveMeh. It could have been the episode that transformed this game into a good, or a great game, not sunk it into mediocrity. You have even less gameplay here, so you're basically watching a movie. That would have been ok, if the movie was good, not an incoherent fantasy full of cliches. And the ending while isn't Mass Effect 3 level of bad (which is something probably impossible to achieve again), it's pretty bad and somewhat in the same line. Not gonna spoil it more than telling you that one of the choices you have in the end is to make everything you did in this game useless. The other is choosing to be an inconsiderate **** which is out of Max character. Good job, devs. :(… Expand
  5. raorian
    Oct 25, 2015
    4
    as other reviews say. great series overall. the writing to this episode is shameful (not all of it) to what the other episodes left behind.
    the ending was meh. and i liked mass effect ending.
  6. TenchuuKhan
    Oct 20, 2015
    4
    And another great storytelling gets killed by its finale.

    It starts out with lengthy, boring dialogues, a few jumps in time and things just get weird because the characters say things that make no sense at all. Then comes a lengthy "dream" part with surreal judgement dialogues which makes one hope for some decent explanation. But there isn't one. Ever wondered about why the doe is    And another great storytelling gets killed by its finale.

    It starts out with lengthy, boring dialogues, a few jumps in time and things just get weird because the characters say things that make no sense at all.
    Then comes a lengthy "dream" part with surreal judgement dialogues which makes one hope for some decent explanation.
    But there isn't one.

    Ever wondered about why the doe is hopping around? No explanation
    Max' nosebleeding? No explanation
    Why the weird dream sequence? No Explanation
    Why do characters outside the dream sequence talk nonsense in E5? No explanation

    There were so many things they could do with the story but they had to go with: here's some nonsense... go think up your own explanation.
    It actually feels like someone else wrote the finale.    … Expand
  7. AndySwaggly
    Oct 23, 2015
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Going to post my steam review here..

    By the time episode 5 came out, I was genuinely excited.. we just had, that cliffhanger, how was the main character going to get out of this one? and she got out of it the way the bulk of the fan base thought she would.. a picture. sorry but it really annoyed me how it was the first thing I guessed and they went with it, it was quite linear, again this may just be me but I found that cliffhanger utterly pointless, it could’ve been the character we all thought it was and it wouldn’t have changed a **** thing, we just needed an “oh **** moment so more people would buy the game of course.. It added nothing to the overall story for me at least felt quite half arsed.

    But then I went back in time in episode 5.. and then I was introduced to the most consistent filler that I have ever witnessed in a video game. I wasted 1 hour, doing **** all in this episode. literally, walking. that was the experience. I walked for an hour, or looked at something that I’d already seen. That’s filler. that’s boring and I don’t care. I found myself actually saying “I don’t care, get the plot moving” more in this game then any other game I have ever played. Maybe that’s because I don’t buy into this whole teen drama sub plot.. or was it the main plot? Wait, we have a character who can go back in time and change **** Why can’t we see her do something cool instead of revolving the game around 1 person.. her unlikeable (according to me) friend, chloe. I get it if you like that sort of thing but here’s the thing, I like escapism, I get enough of that boring bull**** that people call “teen drama” which I quite frankly hate putting those 2 words in my real life, I don’t want to sit down and play a game about something that goes on all the time, OH NO I MADE A FRIEND ANGRY I NEED TO MAKE THEM HAPPY SO THEY LIKE ME AGAIN, I like fiction. not teen drama with a touch of time travel, why not just ****ing TIME TRAVEL? I’m sure a lot of people would’ve been happier if they saw this character go back to historical moments and change the events taking place so they never happened, and how the world would be different now. That would be really interesting. however we’re greeted with a tweenie drama ****ty thing. yes I understand the appeal but comparing what I like to what this game is, you can understand why I dislike the premise.

    Anyway, back to episode 5. the thing that pissed me off the most was the ending that most of you are calling good. if you don’t want this game to be spoiled. stop reading. You can either choose to save your friend or the town. I chose to save the town because I found Chloe annoying. and My god, I picked the potentially biggest **** YOU to the audience I have seen since Breaking Dawn Part 2, I mean all twilight movies sucked but that was a general **** you. it ends with everything you’ve done being rendered pointless, everything, sure you have to decide, can you let your friend die, but the fact of the matter is, you can choose, save everyone, including warren one of your other best friends. save chloes family, let chloe die which she’s fine with and let everyone beside chloe’s step dad and mum be happy. However everything you have done over the previous 5 episodes holds no ****ing weight whatsoever, if you didn’t save your friend at the beginning of the game, (if you had the choice) the game would be over in 5 minutes.

    I’m sorry, what’s the moral of this story? all I got was “if you get time travelling powers don’t go back and change the past because bad stuff will happen” and in the other ending it’s “choose your friend over saving a town because 1 friend is more important than everyone” what the **** all in all I disliked the finale to this series, there should in NO WAY be a second series, NO WAY. I hate all the loose ends sure, but it’s done now, the whole thing is over I don’t want to see more, chloes dead, I don’t care anymore. The episode is still a **** TON more enjoyable than the 2 hour head scratcher the walking dead season 2 episode 5, but I just didn’t like it. Sorry if you did, I just really couldn’t get invested in this episode. I liked the other ones but the conclusion really let it down for me..

    Overall, yeh it was an okay build up.. a massive let down in this episode though. and I really really wanted to like it, I didn't find any of the other episodes bad, it's just this one really let me down and I don't want others to be let down too.    … Expand
  8. Dozangames
    Oct 20, 2015
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. i really like this game but in this episode i was disappointed so hard. the tramma is the same of start It has no evolution, and in the end realy ? only two finals ? all this way and elections for this sorry but is the same error of teattel made… Expand
  9. RShackleford
    Oct 22, 2015
    0
    Once again, this game is derivative garbage.

    Bioshock Infinite does Bioshock Infinite much better than Life is Strange does Bioshock Infinite. Horrible writing, shallow teenage-dream stock characters, and that holier-than-thou "high art" atmosphere, what a bunch of crock. If the purpose of this game is to satirize, parody, and make fun of it's own playerbase/ subject (    Once again, this game is derivative garbage.

    Bioshock Infinite does Bioshock Infinite much better than Life is Strange does Bioshock Infinite.

    Horrible writing, shallow teenage-dream stock characters, and that holier-than-thou "high art" atmosphere, what a bunch of crock.

    If the purpose of this game is to satirize, parody, and make fun of it's own playerbase/ subject ( Millennials), than I recant and give it a 10/10!

    (PC)    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

36
#36 Best PC Game of 2015
65
#65 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Games.cz
    Nov 4, 2015
    90
    Grand finale of an unconventional adventure is a success and the whole game has truly the one of the best stories of this year.
    Read full review
  2. RPG Fan
    Oct 26, 2015
    90
    The entirety of Episode 5 pulls at the soul, using the series' history as a catalyst for existential query.
    Read full review
  3. Multiplayer.it
    Oct 26, 2015
    80
    Life is Strange: Polarized is a brilliant pay off. All the choices we have made, along with the awkward narrative style finally make sense. And we are confronted with issues much deeper than expected.
    Read full review
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