This review contains spoilers

As seems to be the trend with Life is Strange games, this had compelling characters, an engaging plot, and a bomb-ass soundtrack that all built up to a less-than-satisfying climax.
With all the build-up to this secret Typhon is hiding, I have to admit, I was expecting way bigger than "so it turns out this one guy didn't actually save all those miners years ago." The only thing that saved that reveal from being a total fucking letdown was the personal connection to Alex- that her dad was one of the miners who died. Despite that, I really enjoyed the character development in this game. Unlike the first Life is Strange, which seemed to focus more on Chloe as a possible love interest while Warren is effectively sidelined, both love interests felt like realistic, fleshed-out characters, and both of them genuinely felt like good choices for Alex. Sure, Ryan could've used a little more development, but maybe I just missed all the scenes that give him more depth by not romancing him. That seems like a backwards way of doing things, but whatever. One thing I'm not happy with the way Ryan is characterized, though, is that he won't believe Alex when she reveals Jed's secret. It's understandable that he'd be shocked to hear someone accuse his dad of that, but what I don't like about the game's handling of this is the fact that, in the very end, if you check your phone, you'll see that Ryan texted Alex an apology, and Alex didn't respond. Seems kinda fucked up to give the player the option to forgive Jed for trying to kill her, but not Ryan for taking a few days to come around to the fact that his father is a murderer. For all its faults, though, overall, I really liked this game.

Reviewed on Dec 27, 2023


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