**Tails by the Foxfire’s Life is Strange: Reunion Review**

When Life is Strange: Double Exposure was first announced, I was skeptical: after all, Life is Strange felt satisfyingly self-contained, so I didn’t see a need for a sequel. Then the sequel to the sequel (Life is Strange: Reunion) dropped, I saw Chloe Price, and I changed by tune with cautious optimism. What can I say? I’m a simple woman, at times.

My verdict is this: the Twin Pack containing Life is Strange: Double Exposure and Life is Strange: Reunion feels like a solid investment if you’re a fan of Max and Chloe. The games are each easy to play while winding down after work, and are relatively light at around 14 hours for Double Exposure and about 9 hours for Reunion. For Reunion, choices feel impactful and are so discretely woven throughout the game (which isn’t episodic but does feature a chapter select system), you likely won’t realise you influenced parts of the story until you’re faced with the list of variables and world stats at the end. Having Chloe back was a joy and added a sense of levity to the game that I found Double Exposure lacked. Players play as Max and Chloe in alternating sequences which make sense and feel seamless, which lets you get to know each of them better while also developing their relationship. Flawless, no notes. My disappointment (if I can really call it that) mostly lay with the rest of the cast, with some not being met with consequences that feel deserved, while others are barely there at all. Pricefield fans, however, will not be disappointed.

Keep reading as I dive into my full review of Life is Strange: Reunion, or check out the TL;DR Foxfire ratings below!

**What is Life is Strange: Reunion?**

Life is Strange: Reunion is adventure game developed by Deck Nine as part of the Life is Strange franchise. Specifically, it is the final installment of the Arcadia Bay Life is Strange games starring Max and/or Chloe (Life is Strange: Before the Storm, Life is Strange, and Life is Strange: Double Exposure, to which it is a direct sequel) and serves as the finale for their story.

In terms of continuation mechanics, Life is Strange: Reunion makes things about as smooth as it can for players returning after a break or coming to the series for the first time. Players can input which choices they made in the previous games (or which they would have chosen, if they didn’t play it), and then Max and Chloe narrate a complete ‘story so far’ sequence covering everything from their time as kids to Max’s enrolment in Blackwell Academy (Life is Strange) and her career at Caledon University (Life is Strange: Double Exposure). I find this method to be pretty seamless compared to importing a save, since it lets you jump into the game without having to replay the prior ones with different choices if you want to explore other combinations.

Speaking of prior choices, I found them to be integrated well. I’ll have to input some different ones to know for sure, but I felt the ones I chose were acknowledged and appeared to inform relationships across the cast, from Chloe and Max to Max and Vinh & Amanda. As for choices made in Life is Strange: Reunion, I found them to be handled so smoothly that I didn’t realise I’d influenced an outcome until I was presented with the long, long list at the end of the game, since it’s not episodic like the other installments. I’m honestly impressed with the quantity of variables and how one tiny action can go so far as to save or cost somebody’s life. Overall, beautifully executed.

Life is Strange: Reunion: Max’s Rewind Powers & the Return of Chloe Price

Part of Life is Strange: Reunion’s appeal for me (and, I’m sure, plenty of other fans across the world) was its return to familiar ground without taking us back in time. Well… there was some going back in time, as that’s par for the course with Max, but you get me. With the return of her rewind powers, we see Max tempted by the ability to go back, to rely on them for little everyday things, or to make things perfect by pushing the boundaries. We also see Max who is more cautious, because she’s been burned by these abilities before. While Double Exposure’s evolution of her powers made a lot of sense and held a mirror up to how Max has changed over the years, this was what I really wanted: to see how Max has matured in familiar territory, how her relationship with her powers has changed given what they cost her, and whether adulthood had brought with it the understanding that sometimes ‘good enough’ is the best you can hope for. This is a story point that Life is Strange: Reunion chooses to shine a light on and explore, which I appreciated and think was a wise move.

Another temptation for Max to stay stagnant or fall back into old habits was Chloe, since Max has always had some issues saying no to her and it’s easy to regress when faced with someone from your past who means a lot to you. It’s a feeling that looks to be mutual, with Chloe and her truck blazing into the story in a callback to the parking lot in Life is Strange, accompanied (in my playthrough, at least; this seems to vary) by “Spanish Sahara” by Foals. Reader, I wept. What a beautiful show of a bond lasting through the years, and a wholly perfect moment that brings us squarely back into their lives in a way that feels new and familiar all at once. It’s safe, it’s sweet, it’s home.

So, Chloe returns in all her heroic glory despite an appreciated show of uncertainty and vulnerability prior to hearing Max is in trouble. However, she’s different: she’s older now, haunted, and feels ‘levelled up’ from her younger self for establishing her identity in ways that honestly make sense. In the comics, I thought the mechanic career path fit her well, but I do appreciate her as a PR person for Drugstore Makeup. It’s funny to see her as the grounding person for the band’s chaotic force so much like her in her youth, and the responsibility went a long way to making her the person she is when she and Max reunite.

What’s interesting is we get to see Max’s two worlds collide: her past and her present, in ways I found to be relatable as someone who recently visited my hometown in England with my husband in tow. Nothing shows you how much you’ve changed than those moments of return, and I felt the dissonance was well-represented in Life is Strange: Reunion in a way that returned us to the bittersweet, nostalgic feel we’ve come to expect from the series. While Double Exposure captured the difficulties of navigating a new stage of your life, Reunion added that last sprinkle of what was missing: the feeling of ‘you can’t go home again’ that I so loved from prior games.

Life is Strange: Reunion vs. the Original: I Still Miss Stylised Menus

In Life is Strange: Reunion, Max has done away with social media, which feels very true to her character (and relatable!) but removes one of the more dynamic aspects of the otherwise flat menu: the ability to see characters interacting with each other and engaging with Max’s shots. It’s not the biggest loss where we still have the phone and text messaging, but Reunion hasn’t advanced enough past Double Exposure to break free of its mistakes. The menu still feels clinical, and the phone is still relegated to one side of the screen with texts shown in a separate screen without any time or dates tamps to indicate different days/months or how long it’s been, which works against you when you need to figure out where you last read to and where you should resume reading from for the whole story. I like the differences in style between Chloe’s broken phone and scribbled journal vs. Max’s prim and pretty style, but there’s still something so ‘polished’ about it that lacks the character of journals from the previous games. They feel more like an art tablet on a screen rather than a physical book filled with scribbles and stickers, which leaves a lot of its heart behind.

However, it’s not all ‘back when I was a young’un’ gripes: I do appreciate that the new photography mechanics are here to stay, as positioning the shot brings you much closer to the action than just pressing one button when prompted, so kudos there. Camera weight also felt a lot easier to work with this game, and the accessibility menu from Double Exposure returns with plenty of customization and trigger warning settings, which I thought was very considerate; thank you, Deck Nine!

**Is Life is Strange: Reunion the End of Chloe and Max’s Story?**

At the moment, Life is Strange: Reunion marks the end of Max & Chloe’s story. I say ‘at the moment’ because I felt Life is Strange was well-contained to begin with, but we can meet Chloe and Max again in Life is Strange 2 depending on which final choice you made at the start of the first game, and here they are again in the Caledon University duology. If Life is Strange: Reunion is in fact the end this time, then I feel it stuck the landing…mostly. Reunion continued some ongoing issues I had with Double Exposure regarding a severe lack of accountability for characters who did/turned a blind eye to some pretty reprehensible things, and then there was the straight-up absence of one character who got a whole cliff-hanger stinger at the end of Double Exposure which was a bit of a let-down, but if we’re looking exclusively at Max and Chloe, then yes: the ending feels satisfying. I was happy with it, wrangled with the final choice for a good amount of time, and felt hopeful that I made the right decision. Exactly the level of moral choice I wanted their arc to leave me on without repeating Double Exposure’s mistake of trying to live up to its predecessor. In short, Reunion worth playing, and likely won’t leave you disappointed by the time the credits roll. If you’re like me, it’ll be a perfect way to wind down after a long day at work and will give you just enough to leave you wanting more: the perfect amount that satisfies without overstaying its welcome.

Do I Need to Play the Original Life is Strange Game to Play Life is Strange: Reunion?

Does My Save File Carry Over to Life is Strange: Reunion?

What Other Games Feel Like Life is Strange: Reunion?

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