Life is Strange Reunion Review, Gameplay Impressions, Videos and Features

Life is Strange Reunion from developer Deck Nine is an attempt at a good comeback story. 

For those out of the loop, the narrative-based game follows up on Life is Strange Double Exposure, which wasn't as well received as some of the previous entries in the series.

To its credit, Reunion effectively tackles these issues head-on through its narrative and overall design choices. 

Whether Reunion can pull it all off will hinge not just on the immersive gameplay and environments, but how it carefully (or doesn't) juggles the important characters. 

Graphics and Gameplay

Double Exposure was a next-generation treat when it launched, bringing the series forward in encouraging ways. 

Reunion isn't necessarily a step back, but it doesn't take a big step forward, either. The darker themes are a little lighter this time and the soundtrack does a good job of fitting the current moment. 

Problem is, there's less variety compared to Double Exposure. Where the timeline-hopping of that game kept things fresh, there's not as much of that going on here. 

Technical problems abound, too, though it's a mileage-will-vary thing. Hair clipping or going wild in all directions is pretty consistent. There's texture clipping at odd times, and NPCs will shatter immersion by doing the same thing endlessly, like talking to themselves. 

Dealbreaker? Not really, but it's jarring to see compared to how polished the last entry was. 

Player choice feels a little more mundane this time out. There are really obvious good choices and really obvious bad choices. Not a bad thing, per se, but the depth regressed a bit while the series course corrects, it seems.

Likewise, gameplay is a little more straightforward coming off the last game's time shenanigans. Enter an area, interact with it to one's preferred level, then advance the story. 

That said, the returning Rewind feature is very fun. Tweaking the outcome of scenarios is usually interesting and exploration of these rather detailed environments always feels worth the time.

To call the gameplay as expected isn't a negative here. It's fun, does the intended job well and, functionally, is a big complement to the real star of the show, the narrative. 

Story and More

Max Caulfield is back once more and upon her return to Caledon University, finds it engulfed in flames. 

The last game had the murder of a friend as an early story beat, so the series really knows how to get things rolling right out of the gates.

Reunion has a lot of fun narrative beats at the forefront and overlooking things. We're talking the fire, a Caledon storm and an occult society…to just name a few in no specific order.

Like past entries, the sheer emotion is almost unmatched in video games, a welcome win for the game considering the niche space that is narrative-based games like this. 

As always, the tale explores heartfelt themes in earnest, ranging from grief and trauma to more. Along with this, there's less of the quippy dialogue that made it hard to always take the last game seriously. 

That said, there is some weird hand-waving of past events from other games. That apparently includes some stuff that was pared down, sort of off-screen between games. The player has merely reverted to using a rewind feature again, too, as one example.

One of the nice features of the series returns via letting players review their choices. Running back through and seeing how even smaller changes can impact the whole is a good time. 

Mentioned graphic gaffes aside, Reunion generally runs pretty well and has a strong list of options. 

Conclusion

At this stage, Reunion probably isn't going to be able to avoid landing as polarizing for longtime fans of the series. There's also a pretty high barrier to entry here, narrative-wise, for straight-up new players. 

That said, Reunion is a great exploration of not just interesting settings, but deep character dives. There's a lot of meat on the bone and some solid replayability. 

It will be interesting to see where Life is Strange goes from here. But thematically, Reunion feels like a fitting bit of closure for the main characters and this era of the series.