Life is Strange: Reunion

The final chapter in Max and Chloe’s saga ended up being... just fine. The gameplay largely sticks to the familiar formula established by its predecessors, for better or worse. Still, if you’re on board with the direction Deck Nine has taken the series, chances are you’ll find plenty to enjoy in Reunion — provided you don’t run into the same technical and graphical issues I experienced on the PS5.

Life is Strange: Reunion attempts to tackle the difficult task of wrapping up the loose ends set forth in Double Exposure and find resolution for the series’ two beloved characters. The relationship between Max and Chloe has always been a highlight of the genre and thankfully it carries a weaker entry in Life is Strange that struggles to navigate its overly simplistic gameplay and less important subplots.

A satisfying end to the story of Max and Chloe, Life is Strange: Reunion is a mature tale of the uncomfortable truth that you can’t truly go back, only learn from your mistakes and go forward.

Quotation forthcoming.

Overall, I’m not quite sure if I liked Life is Strange: Reunion. I liked certain things about it, like Max and Chloe being back together, as well as the little bit of closure I got to see from my specific ending. But as I mentioned before, it didn’t feel grandiose or complete enough to be considered final game material. I think it should have been built up better, and we should have been given more time in the world and with the characters. Maybe then the payoff would have felt worth it, and I would have cared more about the outcome. Still, if you’re a fan of Max and Chloe like I am, and want to see what becomes of them, I recommend picking up this game. It will at least give you some really wholesome interactions between them, and you’ll get to see the conclusion to a decades-long story that was more than overdue. Sometimes nostalgia is all you need to carry you through, and I think perhaps Square Enix banked on that this time.

Life is Strange: Reunion succeeds by bringing back Max and Chloe with improved chemistry and maturity, ensuring a worthy ending. The soundtrack and collectibles remain excellent. However, the arsonist mystery is weak. The game suffers from limited dialogue options, reducing replayability, and a smaller campus, limiting exploration.

Life is Strange: Reunion brings down the curtain not only on the story of Max and Chloe but on the entire franchise—and it does so in a rather controversial manner. This is not to say it is a bad game; at the very least, Deck Nine has managed to craft a few moments of enjoyable fanservice. Beyond that, however, there is little else: the plot becomes overly convoluted, inexplicably sidelining certain key elements of the lore, while the gameplay is poorly balanced—giving ample scope to Max’s time-rewinding ability while drastically diminishing Chloe’s role. The credits—which roll to the rhythm of an excellent soundtrack—offer only partial satisfaction: they do, admittedly, allow us to bid farewell to Max and Chloe once and for all, but they also leave us wondering just how necessary it all really was.

Life Is Strange Reunion is a high-quality title, but it is also too conservative and shows how the series' formula has been used to the point of exhaustion. Life Is Strange itself will certainly have a future, but it is now necessary to rethink its mechanics even before introducing new characters. Time has been rewound far too many times; now it must be allowed to flow. Only then can Max and Chloe be truly remembered with affection. Otherwise, by constantly being reminded that life is strange, even strangeness risks becoming normality.

Reunion is an entertaining but technically imperfect trip down memory lane that proves the bond between Max and Chloe is still worth its weight in gold, even though the rest of the game is a bit less weighty this time around and the resolution sometimes feels a bit rushed.

Depending on how you look at it, the nature of Life is Strange: Reunion changes completely. On the one hand, it works perfectly as a tribute to the first game in the series, delivering a deeply emotional reunion. On the other hand, the gameplay and story of this new installment don't stand out as much as they should, precisely because they rely too heavily on nostalgia.

Life is Strange: Reunion wraps up the story of Max and Chloe in roughly 9 hours. It’s best experienced in one or two sittings to maintain its emotional momentum. While it never quite reaches the high standard set by the original game, it remains an enjoyable and worthwhile conclusion. Just don’t expect particularly challenging choices or complex time-bending puzzles.

Beyond the chance to catch up with iconic heroines, Life is Strange Reunion brings fans full circle with a duo they’ve grown up with—and, potentially, with the entire franchise. This fifth installment thus oscillates between emotion and frustration. Deck Nine takes great care to give Max and Chloe the most satisfying conclusion possible for fans, but unfortunately gets lost in a branching storyline it never quite manages to fully control. We’re left with pacing issues and unbalanced storylines, weighed down by ever-present visual glitches. It’s hard, however, to deny the joy as a fan, as the chemistry between the heroines remains as strong as ever. Despite a few missteps, we dive in with pleasure and excitement into a chapter that reignites the experience that moved us 11 years ago.

Life is Strange: Reunion constantly straddles two identities: the desire to recapture the intimate atmospheres and human relationships that made the original Life is Strange special, and the burden of a broader, more convoluted narrative direction inherited from the more recent Life is Strange: Double Exposure. The result is uneven - often stumbling over inconsistencies and simplifications - but it finds its strength in quieter moments, particularly through the renewed focus on Max and Chloe's relationship. Its contained structure, recycled environments, and gameplay that evolves little from past entries prevent the game from taking a true step forward. Yet, when it centers on character and emotion, Reunion leaves an impression, showing that the heart of the series is still beating. It may not be the sequel the franchise needed, but it slightly improves on Double Exposure, and could be a satisfying chapter for those attached to these characters and their world.

Intentional or not, I can't help but read Life is Strange: Reunion as a metaphor for Deck Nine’s tenure with Max’s story. A reactionary and nostalgic finale that delights just as often as it frustrates. When viewing Reunion purely as a side adventure to see cute scenes of a duo we have grown to love, I can’t say this entry didn’t do its job. After all, I was smiling alongside them. But as a finale to a trilogy, it is a smile built upon tearing down any emotional weight that made these characters stick with us in the first place. Max’s quest to stop an arsonist isn't really a story with consistent escalation or character growth. Instead, it is a stream of moving, emotionally cathartic events that burns down the foundations propping up its bittersweet smile.

The primary draw of Reunion is seeing Max and Chloe reconnect and make up for lost time. The game delivers on that front; their heartfelt interactions sometimes made me forget the game’s other shortcomings. The manner in which Deck Nine sends these two off into the sunset – again, the version I unlocked – is truly wonderful. The rest of the package is overwhelmingly familiar to Double Exposure and takes a step backward in some cases. As much as I love Max and Chloe, everything around them seems to fall apart when they come together; Reunion is, sadly, no different.

Life is Strange: Reunion closes the book on Max and Chloe’s story, but is it handled well? While it’s nice seeing Max and Chloe again, it comes at a cost. The series has lost what makes it unique, and by retreading old territory, Life is Strange fails to evolve. Instead, uneven writing and plot holes combine to make a story that’s hard to care about. Max and Chloe are still the same as they were before, just a little bit older. Deck Nine says this is it for Max and Chloe, and honestly, it’s about time.

More of a show than a game – imagine Alan Wake taking place in Dawson’s Creek – Life Is Strange: Reunion works wonderfully as an involving continuation of Max Caulfield’s web-like, multi-timelined story, for fans already engaged with the weaving franchise plots and concepts. Newcomers may feel dropped in midway though, and there’s little intellectual or skill-based challenge to keep you hooked. The stakes are low, the action slow and there’s little to get either pulse or brain cell pumping. Maybe wait for the TV show…

While the comfort and charm of the series can still be felt within Life Is Strange: Reunion, Deck Nine attempts to course correct the series, but in doing so, not only hurts the core experience, but previous titles in the franchise as well. As a long time fan of Life is Strange, I can't help but feel disappointed.

Life is Strange: Reunion is going to make a lot of people happy and I don't begrudge any of them. There are people out there who waited a long time to give Max and Chloe a happy ending. However, as someone who watched Max Caulfield persevere through tragedy to build a happy life for herself, Reunion felt like a regression for this character. If the story was told well, I could overlook a lot of my personal hangups with the story. Unfortunately, I saw the potential of what they were setting up with Chloe and Safi, with Chloe's uncertain place in existence, with the nature of fate and the idea that some events are fixed and always meant to unfold. Reunion set up some tantalizing plot points and all of them underwhelmed.

True, the early response to Reunion seems to suggest plenty of players are content with seeing Arcadia Bay's finest together again. The rest of us might wish we too had a rewind. Or, failing that, a particularly potent case of storm amnesia. [Issue#423, p.106]

Life is Strange: Reunion could have been a full Double Exposure sequel, and it could have been a full Max and Chloe entry. Instead, both narratives are squeezed into a bloated finale with dull pacing and a lacklustre resolution. There are sparks of brilliance in there and fantastic chemistry between its two leads, but it's never given the love and care to blossom into something beautiful.

Whilst ultimately an underdeveloped entry, it does make for a loving send off for Max Caulfield. Unfortunately, being another weak entry, it may also play that role for the franchise itself.

Life is Strange: Reunion is another misstep in how Max’s story is handled. While better than the last entry, this is simply not the send-off for Chloe and Max that I had hoped for. Between the lack of downtime, Max having virtually no consequences for her actions, and Chloe’s unimpressive return, I was fairly disappointed. I think Max & Chloe deserve better.