Reunion live report highlights six reasons to get excited on March 26 – PlayStation.Blog

It always comes back to Chloe Price and Max Caulfield. Through several games, the branching narrative series Life is Strange has explored the consequences of love, friendship, and community, but the bond between the two remains at the heart of the overall story.

Since Life is Strange: Reunion is said to be the final chapter in Max and Chloe’s story, it’s no surprise that the two characters have returned, thanks to the cumulative events of Life is Strange: Double Exposure. Although some of the important decisions you make from the first game, such as Max and Chloe’s relationship and the fate of Arcadia Bay, are also carried over.

I spent some time with the game to understand why fans should be excited if the partner-in-crime gets one last chance.

Some more familiar faces appear again

It’s not just about Max and Chloe returning. Many characters from Life is Strange: Double Exposure appear, with Moses, a graduate, as the focal point as he was one of the victims of the fire that Max tried to prevent. Yasmin Fayyad and her shape-shifting daughter, Safi, were also present, but Max’s friend Amanda was the focal point of the demo’s opening minutes. That causes…

Ready to Replay again?

My first task in the demo was to save Amanda from a demoralizing person during her stand-up routine at the campus bar Snapping Turtle. It was a gentle reintroduction to Max’s Rewind capabilities, as after I failed in my first attempt to stop the taunting troublemaker, I replayed our encounter with L1. Using the information I learned from our previous conversation, Max was able to talk to him again and made up a story that forced him to leave.

Max’s abilities can be accessed at any time, but essentially, their use in the demo is to avoid tight-lipped people, like realizing that spilling beer on disgraced Double Exposure university professor Lucas is the only way to peek at his hidden documents.

The revelation of the act leads Max to investigate the unsettling House of Abraxus, prompting a more action-driven use of Rewind. After meeting another familiar character, journalism student Loretta, the two women become trapped in a spooky basement, under threat of being discovered. Using a broom to barricade the door proved useless, but Rewind allowed me to find a much sturdier metal crowbar.

But the danger is not over. Since the house was about to be demolished early, I then had to use Rewind to find and disarm all the detonators in the correct order under a strict time limit, a fun sequence that hinted at the potential direction the game would go later.

Chloe’s backtalk is back

Considering Chloe is playable, it’s only natural that her dialogue puzzle-based Backtalk ability from Life is Strange: Before the Storm is also here. Although his introduction in the demo focuses less on debilitating sarcasm to get his way, and more on charismatic persuasion by bending the truth.

After sneaking into the Snapping Turtle and then being caught by security, I was asked to prove Chloe’s university credentials or risk her being banned from campus. A Backtalk overlay appears, offering a choice of replies within a certain time limit, with some responses carrying future consequences.

The key to answering successfully lay in setting the scene beforehand, with the game giving me the opportunity to observe items around the bar and interact with others to gain information, I had to remember to make my lies sound convincing. So don’t worry if you’re put on the spot – as long as you pay attention and are quick, Backtalk is the perfect solution.

Both Max and Chloe are playable

Being both characters in the demo created an interesting situation when they were reunited at a climactic point in my playtime. Rather than forcing me to choose who will control or keep them apart, Reunion allows me to decide what each character says to the others, shaping the ebb and flow of their conversations and creating direct cause and effect in their dialogue.

Their journal is the perfect tool for catching up

We also have access to Max and Chloe’s journals, which provide backstory and world-building through thought-provoking scribbles, stickers, and other ephemeral items. The same menu allowed me to read incoming text messages between characters, along with their previous texts, providing rich insight into their previous relationships.

You can take photos at any time

Similar to previous games in the series, there are photo hotspots to uncover in Max’s scenes, for the composition of the collection stored in his journal. But pressing the D-pad at any time while you’re controlling Max reveals a much-requested addition to the series – the ability to take an in-game photo whenever something catches your eye.

Your private snaps will not be saved to Max’s journal, but can be shared with friends and via social media by long pressing the Create button.

My short time in the game has me eager to keep playing as Max and Chloe’s adventures together start to heat up. March 26 is when we can all expect a potentially heart-wrenching decision about what happens next when Life is Strange: Reunion launches on PS5.