Life is Strange: Before the Storm | Farewell Bonus Episode

*SPOILERS*

Publisher: Square Enix 
Developer: Deck Nine
Sequel to Life is Strange

PS4 Review

I was putting off writing this post for as long as I could until I couldn't hold off any longer, you see I didn't want it to all be over and I didn't enjoy Max's Farewell episode as much as I thought I would, I felt that it was far too short and lacking a little. I loved the previous episodes of before the storm they filled in some gaps but as I have said in previous posts it would have been more to have the story focus more on Chloe than Rachel although Rachel was one of the big parts of the game. The Farewell episode was a standalone bonus episode which I chose in a bundle when I bought the game for my birthday last year, it takes place when Max and Chloe are just children yet and were still pretty innocent you will finally get to play as Max again just like in the first Life is Strange which I have missed.

Max and Chloe are playing at Chloe's house where Chloe's mum has asked her to get rid of the junk in her room, and in true Chloe style, she can't bear to let thing's go no matter what junk Max brings to her to throw away. Instead, a lot of the time spent in the room is remembering the memory for each item picked up by Max, one item which isn't Chloe's was a Polaroid camera which was Chloe's dads, he said to let Max use it because he is tired of watching Max drool over it, even as a young girl Max has always loved photography. Max is really grateful as she loves polaroid camera's but something is eating away at her that she knows she needs to tell Chloe soon.

Max was moving away in a matter of days to Seattle and was scared to tell Chloe about it so she was trying to find the right moment to tell, there was a moment here where Max could choose to tell Chloe she was moving but I didn't. I like how Max is worried to upset her best friend it shows how compassionate she is about their friendship but at the same time leaving it so long could have caused problems because Chloe could have felt like she didn't mean much because Max told her at the last minute. Whilst cleaning they come across an old cassette tape, on it was messages that they made to their older selves about where to find buried treasure, they tape told them about a treasure map and an amulet so Chloe then looks their old sketchbook knowing full well that was where the map was and decided that they should hunt for the amulet and treasure, but the map isn't where Chloe thought it would be and max eventually finds it in one of Chloe's textbook.

Once they find the map it explains they need a telescope in order to help them find the treasure, Chloe goes to the garage to find it whilst Max is instructed to find the amulet in the attic, this part of the game was simple and easy enough to figure out on my own, I actually streamed my gameplay of the Farewell episode on Twitch and those who watched said they enjoyed it even though I didn't use a camera to show my face. Once the telescope and amulet were found they used them to locate the exact location of the treasure, which you control, they treasure is found pretty easily, I guess as kids they didn't want to make it too hard for themselves. The dig up the treasure and discover it was a time capsule they buried, at my old primary school we all did this for the Millenium and I still can't remember what I put inside of it but when it's opened one day I will be sure to try to find out.

Inside their time capsule were lots of memories one of which was a letter to one another of things the girls wanted to have had done or in their life by a certain age, this is the kind of thing I have done before, in fact there is a post on here called a letter to myself that I wrote a few years ago it wasn't about what I wanted in life it was more about how far I had come. I think reminders like that can have a huge effect so it's nice that Max and Chloe did that with one another, I chose to tell Chloe about Max moving at this point and Chloe knew already about it and wasn't mad at Max at all after all this the memories of the time capsule and the discussion about Max moving were short-lived as not long after Chloe's mum returns home with an Officer to tell Chloe the terrible news about her father being involved in an accident and both girls cry, it's actually heart wrenching to see how Chloe found out but I felt the came was missing more susbtance up until that point.

It felt a little like they could have included more things to do and find and maybe achievements to collect like in the other episodes, it also felt too short and a little rushed for me, I know not everyone will agree but after the whirlwind of the Before the Storm episodes I thought the Farewell episode would be just as interesting and interactive. The episode basically ends with Chloe's dad's funeral service and Max attending then we see Max leaving for Seattle and Chloe coming home crying on her bedroom floor after hearing a tape recording from Max saying sorry to Chloe, honestly it is a very sad Farewell to Max. Overall I give this episode 3 out of 5 stars as I said before I wasn't that invested until the very end but I do hope to one day see more from Life is Strange even if it's a new cast.

Elle May

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Life is Strange Before the Storm previous posts:
Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3

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