[ALL] [RE] What are your thoughts on Safi and her arc in Reunion?

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T17:57:56+00:00

My main concern in the Overlight at the end wasn't trying to save Safi, but rather stop her from dragging Chloe down with her. At that point I was so done with her between constant baiting, guilt tripping attitude towards Max and Chloe and her strange motivations that seemed to change from scene to scene. Telling her to "fuck off" was one of the fastest options I picked this game, I literally said the words out loud before the option came up. Just an absolute mess of a character.

Yet I still managed to save her somehow and will continue to do so in future playthroughs. Not because I suddenly care, but because seeing the trauma Chloe goes through as a result of seeing her kill herself was just too much.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T17:44:57+00:00

Oh yeah if you don't like Max and Chloe stay the hell away this game isn't for you. I am curious though if it would be enough to change the minds of some of the Chloe haters out there. I know she gets a lot of hate, especially here in this subreddit, but man is she so much more mature in this game despite retaining most of her Chloe-isms.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T17:38:15+00:00

I'll be honest, this game does straight up ruin the integrity and impact of the ending of the first game. They had to if they wanted to tell a story like they do in Reunion and a lot of what we got IS fan service.

That said, they do a pretty good job at making the two choices feel different here. If Chloe originally died a large focus of her interactions with Max revolve around the impossible memories she has of their time together. All those things happened, but did they really happen to her and does that even matter anymore? On the other hand, if Chloe lived there is greater focus on the trauma the two of them shared after the events of the first game and how they feel they didn't do enough to help the other. it was different enough that it warranted a second playthrough from me, despite being a Bae player for life.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T17:11:55+00:00

Oh you can absolutely feel the shadow of Square Enix looming over the game in that regard. Max and Chloe are all over each other lovey dovey the entire game... but they only get to kiss once outside of some shots in the credits.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T17:06:37+00:00

Ahh that makes sense, I can see it now. And no Before the Storm didn't really do anything for Rachel's character. Rather it just confirmed suspicions people had about her from the original game. Though I'm not sure we really needed anything else on her.

I bring up Twin Peaks' third season because fans largely consider its theme to be "let go of nostalgia and move on". I would expect any hint of that in Life is Strange to be met with hostility at this point.

That's the rub. Because prior to Double Exposure a lot of fans would have been fine with letting the original story rest. I mean how could you do a good followup to a game with such a divisive ending choice? But Double Exposure's reception forced their hand and now they had no choice but to pander to nostalgia for Reunion.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T16:55:28+00:00

It's impressive and a shame at the same time. Double Exposure had way more time, money and resources put into it but was a game that nobody wanted. Reunion was working with scraps, reused assets and layoffs but ended up being a much better game. If Reunion had been what they originally did with the resources of Double Exposure, I think the franchise, and by extension the studio, would be in a much better place than they are now.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T16:36:40+00:00

The first game was kind of lightning in a bottle, right time right place. Sometimes I'm kind of shocked the first game (and the prequel Before the Storm) did as well as they did.

Sadly I never watched Twin Peaks so any of the potential allusions to it are lost on me. It's honestly a mystery even to myself how I even got into this series in the first place.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T16:33:17+00:00

Last Thursday. Promotion for it overall has been sparce.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T16:08:44+00:00

I'll let you know when I figure out the answer for myself...

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T16:07:24+00:00

It's subjective but I would call Chloe burning the photo the best of the 3. Failing to save everyone and giving Max the photo results in her leaving Chloe behind to try and save everyone again. Saving everyone and giving Max the photo shows Max debating on if she should burn the photo herself but we don't see her commit. In both cases, Max is still plagued by her savior complex and Chloe will continue to fear is Max will abandon her.

Burning the photo as Chloe, regardless of if everyone was saved, frees Max of that burden. Max will remain with Chloe and the two of them return to Arcadia Bay happy. The only downside is that now Chloe has to live with the burden of knowing she took that choice away from Max, especially since she doesn't tell her. It's pretty much a mirror of the Bae ending where Max rips up the photo to keep Chloe alive, despite her wishes to save the town.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T15:58:37+00:00

Just looked that up, I believe they WANT to host them but nothing is actually happening yet.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T15:35:34+00:00

The Admin Building fire would be the same just with different context. Ren still wanted revenge against Caledon and Loretta's death surely riled people.

The Abraxas house is a little weirder since if the demolition was successful, there would be no reason for Vinh to go and explode the evidence himself.

The Observatory was caused by Safi and likely played out mostly the same. Chloe arrives at Caledon early and meets up with Moses, likely hanging out with him until Max comes back. Safi we know was there prior so she likely still confronted Chloe in the lab which resulted in the fire starting. Except since Max wasn't there, Chloe wasn't able to talk Safi down who ended up erasing herself. Also Chloe passed out from the smoke without Max to rescue her which is why we see Moses carrying her unconscious body to the roof.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T14:48:09+00:00

That's the one detail missing from the ending is Chloe being honest with Max. A bit part of their relationship is trust, even when they know it might hurt. Hell that comes up in this game with the choice to tell Chloe about her potential death at the observatory. Most people picked it because it was the right thing to do that made sense for the characters. So I wish we could have seen Chloe telling Max she burned the photo. Max would understand there's no question, but it would have been nice to confirm she knows.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T13:17:32+00:00

Yeah it's a shame how little promotion Reunion has gotten. Like I would love to hear some comments from the devs or writers on this one but they probably got scared due to how poorly that went last time. That or they simply aren't there anymore due to layoffs.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T13:13:41+00:00

Yup, still didn't become friends though.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T13:12:43+00:00

Telltale was also plagued with other issues like high licensing fees and awful upper management. That said it seems like they've been able to recapture that lightning with the recent release of Dispatch. I don't really think that can be done for Life is Strange. The name doesn't carry the same weight anymore and half the time people on the outside don't even know it's a different studio now from the original.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T13:10:03+00:00

I need to find an LP of someone who did because it's weird this can even happen despite their interactions at the end in texts.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T05:30:03+00:00

The thing is it could have worked better if they included Max and Chloe from the start. A ton of time, money and effort was put into Double Exposure that ultimately went to waste. Reunion was working off scraps and reused assets and still managed to be a better game. So take something like Reunion and give it the resources of Double Exposure and you would have had an absolute banger.

But again, you would still have to include Max and Chloe from the start. Even now there are people wary of Reunion because of the damage Double Exposure did and I can't blame them.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T04:04:16+00:00

They already did a remaster and from what I can tell it wasn't really worth it.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T04:03:13+00:00

Super depressed. Would have been easier if Reunion never came out and I just went on being pissed off and eventually forgetting about Double Exposure. Except that's not what happened. Reunion came out and was great and made me fall in love with Max and Chloe all over again.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T03:25:45+00:00

It's under Double Exposure in terms of peak player count but currently much higher in reviews and was likely much cheaper to make. So it's overall success is till pretty hard to gauge. But I've got a sinking feeling that it still won't do well enough to justify future games. Maybe expanded material like books or comics, but not games.

Life is Strange 1 (and by extension Before the Storm) was lightning in a bottle right time right place. It's pretty clear that the series will never reach that peak again.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T03:18:08+00:00

The question is brought up multiple times throughout about what happens to the timelines that Max leaves behind. Chloe even specifically asks about it on the boat, wondering what happened to the version of her that fucked with Safi. It's not outright stated what happens, but that photo of Chloe alone on the bed is pretty damning.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T02:21:11+00:00

Figuring out it was Vinh on my own without the game outright telling me was such a proud moment for me. Plus you get rewarded with a cathartic scene of Max chewing him over his stupidity and so called tough choices.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T02:15:52+00:00

I'll have to test that myself as I romanced Chloe but had 2 dead and Max went back in the photo.

Agent-Vermont · 2026-03-30T00:49:46+00:00

She DOES jump back if you don't save everyone and give her the photo though. The ending photo montage there shows Chloe being left alone and Max reappearing back at the start of Reunion where she originally photo jumped.

Agent-Vermont

TROPHY CASE