Life is Strange: Before the Storm (Bonus Episode- Farewell) -Review (PS4)
When Farewell begins there is an eerie feeling of familiarity. Not just with the characters, but on some deeper level of which we are unaware. You play as Max again and the episode starts back in Chloe’s room where you’ve been time and time again. You’re tasked with helping her clean out her room and throw some things in the garbage. It’s a simple concept, yet it gives you a chance to explore Chloe’s room one last time, reliving a few more memories. With each item you choose to toss out, Chloe pushes back. Eventually you find some items that will lead you on your adventure.
The second act is a full blown treasure hunt in Chloe’s back yard. Through exploration you must find a treasure that you both buried five years ago. The payoff is more than you could ever imagine. It will take you on a hunt from the attic to the backyard and everywhere in between. You never leave the property, but will feel like you’ve been on an actual treasure hunt with two of your best friends.
We learn early on that this is not only farewell for us and the characters, but for Max and Chloe as well. This is the day that Max is planning to tell Chloe that her family is making the move to Oregon. Players make the choice on a couple different occasions that day to tell Chloe or not about the move, knowing this will ruin the day if you do. It becomes an even bigger decision than you realize at that time. The return of Ashly Burch and Hannah Telle make every conversation that much more riveting as well.
The ending is perfect. I briefly thought that we would get through Farewell without the usual emotional gut punch the other seasons have given us near the end of every episode. I’ve never been more wrong, and the series is all the better for it. This is the last day that Chloe and Max will ever spend living under the shade of childhood innocence. Today will change everything. Once again seeing these events play out connects us even deeper to the characters we’ve all grown to love. It continues to amaze me how they can connect future events by going even further into the past.
At the conclusion of the episode, it’s hard not to feel as though this is our farewell forever to Max and Chloe, and that may be the most heartbreaking part of the episode. Somehow they found a way to bid goodbye to these characters before the real story ever begins. This is storytelling at its finest. Dontnod created a magical world and Deck Nine has filled in the gaps in a masterful way. If this is a final farewell to this chapter in the Life is Strange saga, we couldn’t have asked for more. Farewell Max and Chloe, farewell.
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