The following contains spoilers for all previous Life is Strange games.
The original Life is Strange was released episodically ten years ago and concluded with Chapter 5 on October 20, 2015. This is one of my all-time favorite video games, a heart-wrenching, nostalgic, heartbreaking paranormal adventure. The film tells the story of Max Caulfield, voiced by Hannah Tell. Max Caulfield, voiced by Ashleigh Birch, is an 18-year-old photography student who discovers he can rewind time after witnessing (and thwarting) the murder of his childhood friend (and potential love interest). After Max reunites with her, the two begin investigating the disappearance of Chloe’s best friend Rachel Amber.
Max and Chloe in the remastered version of the original Life is Strange game
By the end of the game, Max’s interference creates a temporary storm that threatens to overwhelm the town of Arcadia Bay. Players are given a horrifying choice: leave Chloe’s murder behind and stop the storm from existing, or continue to save Chloe from death at the cost of the lives of many other characters. I chose the former, many people chose the latter, but in any case, publisher Square Enix may have decided it would be too expensive considering half of people’s playthroughs don’t have Chloe, which means bringing Max back in future titles is always questionable.
After appearing in the Titan Comics series, Max returned to the game in last year’s Life is Strange: Double Exposure and rose to popularity 10 years later, now working as a university lecturer. This was a fun piece to put an end to the loneliness Max had to endure after the horrific events he had to keep secret after the first game, and of course I felt the same way. As far as I’m concerned, Chloe has been dead and buried for 10 years. Fans of Saved Chloe were furious at developer Deck Nine’s decision to break them up in the meantime, believing it completely invalidated their choice, or worse, was homophobic and motivated by hostility towards them and Chloe.
Compare Chloe’s double exposure photos to see if she’s alive or not
I’m not going to argue that they’re wrong, but as a former Wikipedian, I would advise always acting in good faith. Instead, what I’d like to suggest is a way to remove what could be the biggest impediment to Chloe’s resurrection and allow her to participate in the game Deck Nine clearly wants to make, in a way that’s natural for a supernatural series featuring Max and other Life is Strange protagonists: literally bringing her back from the dead. In a series that features time travel, telepathy and telekinesis, shapeshifting, alternate realities, and other strange and unexplained phenomena, is it really this far-fetched?
I’d like to joke that it would be fair if my decision didn’t make sense, since the outcome for those who choose Chloe over Arcadia Bay is so heavily influenced, but there’s a lot of dramatic potential here, and it might motivate other players to start anew with her death. A big part of Chloe’s personality has always been her survivor’s guilt, which turns her grief for people like her late father (Joe Ockman), Rachel Amber, and potentially her mother (Cissy Jones) into fuel for anger and resentment against others (even Max). How will it manifest itself if her rest is disturbed?
It would also be appropriate, considering that Chloe’s spirit is symbolically represented by the blue butterfly, which appears during Max and Chloe’s fateful reunion and at her funeral if Chloe is killed. Butterflies are historically a metaphor for life, death, and rebirth, so similarly, death could turn out to be just a transformation for Chloe (though not necessarily resurrection being the powers she discovers as a result, but I digress).
Chloe butterfly motif. It is depicted on the sleeve case of the “Life is Strange” comics.
Life is Strange also takes inspiration from indie films and embraces the superhero genre. Double Exposure and 2018’s Life is Strange 2 both play with the idea of supervillains, with the former having Max’s new best friend Safiyah Llewelyn Fayyad (Olivia Abiassi) lose her obsession with shape-shifting abilities, and the latter (depending on how you play it) having protagonist Sean Diaz’s (Gonzalo Martin) brother Daniel (Roman Dean George) corrupted by his demons. Telekinesis. Resurrection is often only a matter of time in superhero stories, and this is another classic trope that the series will put its own spin on.
Finally, what is the theme of the original Life is Strange?Chloe eventually dies in my playthrough, so for me it’s a story about closure with someone who dies before you can have a conversation with them. Over the years, I have lost several dear family members, but I never got to have that legendary final bedside conversation. I also often felt embarrassed by the deaths of famous people I didn’t know or had the opportunity to meet.
But as the years pass and their lives fade from memory, the desire to see one of them return from the dead turns into anxiety. It’s unfair to any of them, in much the same way it’s unfair for Captain America to miss out on decades frozen in the North Pole. I didn’t mean to bring up another precedent set by superhero stories, but here’s the result. It’s a very dramatic theme, perfect for providing a uniquely relatable and unsettling version of the equally shocking world of Life is Strange.
Max, Chloe and Life is Strange: True Colors protagonist Alex Chen (center) appears in the trailer for the game, which will be released on Nintendo Switch in 2022
No matter what happens next, I’ll always be interested to see what happens to Max and Chloe and the rest of the magical and real world of Life is Strange. There’s something really endearing about this series, a super-powered story that takes place in a universe that’s nearly identical to ours, and where the ongoing geopolitical concerns aren’t the Blip or Superman, its heroes live among us, dealing with the same everyday shit that we do. Hopefully, someday we’ll get more insight into what Chloe is up to now and the path we took to catch up with Max last year – Max would probably appreciate the opportunity too.
This article is dedicated to streamers and Life is Strange fans Dani (CacophonyandDiscord) and Mira (Mirafalls). Their kind words helped immeasurably during some difficult times earlier this year. It’s also because I promised Mira that I would finish this draft. If you like it, please thank her! If not, please discuss with me instead.
Something like this:
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