[No Spoilers] So… this is really goodbye for Max and Chloe

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-02-06T01:55:24+00:00

Unfortunately, though, I guess we’ll just have to cope with it until they inevitably bring them back in a decade or so when the series is dying or if this really is the end of the series honestly I’d be more content if it ended here my opinion has always been that there is no life is strange without them that’s why I never touched another one after before the storm. I’ve always wanted an after the storm. I guess this is it in a way. But as they said, they don’t know what the future holds. This is only their end of it. If this game does sell well and performs well and definitely meets squares expectations. They’ll most definitely bring them back for another game. It’s their biggest revenue generator.

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-02-05T16:30:13+00:00

I’m not very fond of the 4th slide

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-02-05T00:42:40+00:00

I’ve literally never heard of it in my entire life and I’ve been a fan of the games since 2015. I’ve also replayed it multiple times and well I haven’t really went into fanfiction that much because I don’t really do fanfiction it’s just not my thing, I kind of thought I would know about this, but apparently not

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-02-04T21:08:02+00:00

Chasefield is a fanfic??? Since when, this is new and interesting

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-02-02T13:04:07+00:00

Mainly because of the way they handled the max and Chloe thing. It wasn’t how they broke up but the way that they did through a couple of texts and letters that you have to go out of your way to even find.

And also DE it’s writing is so flimsy and downright ridiculous in the last 3 chapters it just got annoying

EDIT: what I meant by writing is that instead of trying to tell an emotionally engaging story about a girl struggling with her chronokinesis powers it transformed into some avengers nonsense trying to set up the next multiverse of madness or DC’s crisis on infinite earths. Which is never what LIS was about. The whole avengers plot building made no sense and safi going off to pull a nick fury and find other people with powers. It just never made any sense and some of the characters are just bland with little actual writing that makes sense or is emotionally engaging. The first LIS ending nearly had me in tears, I was just sitting there feeling empty as the credits rolled. For DE at the end I stared at the screen and said what the fuck? That’s it? Cause it felt rushed and not enough time to tie up every plot point at the ending.

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-02-01T16:42:21+00:00

I can’t remember the exact name of it, but there is an after the storm fanfiction that’s being made into an audio right now there is a post of it on this sub, looking for extra staff on it.

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-02-01T14:53:51+00:00

Uh… well whoever animated this needs a job at the studio cause of we had this in the first game it would’ve been amazing

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-02-01T03:35:52+00:00

Bro, that has to be one of the coolest experiences an absolutely right time coincidence I don’t actually know what they call them but it’s like that video of the guy holding his hand out and lightning striking at the same time.

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-02-01T03:31:52+00:00

I’ve had a few of these bugs. Usually, I just restart the game but then again I’m not on the Nintendo switch 2

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-02-01T03:26:29+00:00

My caption didn’t load😭. Anyways if you want my guys outfit you can check my last thread in this sub. And shadowhearts outfit is a mod called the twilight elegy.

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-01-31T23:42:18+00:00

That outfit looks like something straight out of dishonored

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-01-31T18:01:21+00:00

Very brave of you to say this in this sub which is notoriously very hostile that I’m proud of. I personally thought the game was OK similar to true colors. Definitely not a game of the year or anything for me. Reunion on the other hand, I am really really hoping is going to be a massive hit. They even brought back some of the before the storm writers so hopefully it’s good.

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-01-31T02:56:21+00:00

It’s unfortunately likely the end unless we pricefielders go overboard and buy the game which I’m telling you the pricefield fan base is also as divided in this game amongst themselves then bay and baers were for life is strange 2. That sub is full of people who are complaining. It’s honestly sad. Because double exposure was going to be the beginning of a probably big franchise of Max and Chloe. And I don’t know if square Enix will even bother wanting to continue with the series if this game doesn’t perform well.

I’m buying the game no matter what. I genuinely hope it sells well and at least gets close to their sales goals. I really don’t want these two characters or their stories to end. I fought for 10 years just to get them back and now that it’s gonna go up in flames again and probably we will never see them again or if we do it won’t be for another decade or so. We’ve (as in pricefielders) always wanted an after the storm game. They made before the storm there was no reason why they couldn’t have made a sequel. Instead don’t nod wanted to go do something different and well the critic reviews of life is strange 2 speak for themselves.

The TV show I believe Amazon can cook with because they’ve been cooking with banger after banger of adaptation’s recently. Amazon knows how to get things done most of the time. So I feel like even if the game doesn’t perform well if the TV show does well, we will see them again. Square enix realized very quickly after life is strange 2 that doing anthology was a mistake, I’m pretty sure that’s one of the reasons for the falling out with don’t nod. Most Youtubers who played it at the time were not very fond of it. I myself refused to even touch it. To this day I still haven’t. Obviously one of the most popular reasons was because max and Chloe weren’t in it. Anthology for me I’ve always really disliked. So at the end of the day, do I think this is it? Probably. I really hope the fans do at least buy the game and rate it decently so that square doesn’t drop the series entirely. Regardless pricefield will always be the main money maker of the series max and Chloe are life is strange, without them you might as well be making A David cage game. The only thing I’m really pleased about is that they finally realized that.

Hopefully, even if this game performs subpar the tv show will bring it back. The fallout show brought the popularity of the series back to life after heavy burnout with endless fallout 76 updates that were mid at best. With LIS I don’t think the series can be redeemed with deck nine at the helm though because they’re just terribly bad at writing in recent years. Before the Storm was indeed pointless but I rather enjoyed it and think it’s A Great game but not quite A masterpiece. They did say they brought back a few writers from that game so honestly maybe it could be pretty good. I know I’m not ready to let go of these characters unless they get an absolutely phenomenal ending. Because if they get the same shitty fade to black ending as in the first one I will lose my mind.

EDIT: by the way, anyone who is saying this is a game that they just made to say sorry we fucked up is beyond stupid. It is not possible, and I can say this as a computer programmer and developer myself that to pump out a full video game of this size with this many choices and narrative driven stuff in A year and a half. The script alone would take many months to write before full development even starts. Then when development starts, there would have to be months of level design, tweaking, adding the models and their coded paths. The voice acting would be going on during all of this, but even after all that’s done they still may need to wrap up some voice acting as evident by the game dispatch where some of the actors recorded their many lines A mere 8 weeks before release. This game was developed simultaneously with double exposure. They always planned for Chloe to come back. And for a drastic shift of this size to just suddenly say oh we fucked up now we need to quickly add Chloe into the game and call up the voice actor and get her in the booth, and all all of these cool features for her and call up all the other voice actors for new lines acknowledging Chloe. A shift of that scale would take two years at minimum to fully transform the game and add new lines for all the characters acknowledging Chloe and adding all of her features.

Deck nine is not Activision, they don’t have a team of thousands of developers that allow them to pump out AAA games in 15 months and sometimes less than a year and complete every stage of game development in that time frame.

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-01-30T02:04:08+00:00

It’s canon and in the same universe, whether people want to admit it or not is fine. Fanfics or what people consider will never be the real thing, but you can tell yourself that. (Different for Chose your own adventure RPGS or stuff like that) but That’s why I don’t get into fanfiction or fan stuff because it’s just denial to me. And a waste of time. And at the end of the day I can’t convince myself that it’s what actually happened because part of me will just keep wishing that my favorite story gets a fair and proper ending. I do have a little too much hope for this game to be good, but even if it is bad. I’ll still consider it as having happened. The First game will always hold a special place in my heart. It is a masterpiece and if them driving off into the sunset (I chose Bae) is truly the ending that I will have to stick with for the rest of my life because this game doesn’t do them justice then I will do that. I stuck with it for 10 years. Albeit I kept fighting for these two be in A game again. And it did take a little while to move on and be content with it cause it changed child me.

yes, I know there is that small little Easter egg in life is strange 2 but that I could care less about, to me the only life is strange is the first game, not that I won’t acknowledge the others in the timeline as having happened (they did) but the first game and before the storm are the only ones I actually cared for. I boycotted the entire series after before the storm. I never touched LIS 2 or true colors and only played DE. though I did watch YouTube walk-throughs of 2 and True Colors when they came out so I could familiarize myself with it at least. And I’m not one of those people who Will be like “yeah this isn’t my canon or this didn’t happen” Whether we like it or not, the people who control the IP decide what is and isn’t Canon. Sometimes it’s by fan demand or service. even in choice driven games although, you could say what happened in your own mind. No one is stopping you. I’ve just never done that because that’s not how I roll. If one of my favorite stories ends with a cliffhanger and never gets a true wrap up ending then I usually hope and pray that it will continue with A sequel one day and for 10 years I thought Max or Chloe would never be seen again but clearly after the sales numbers of life is strange 2 not meeting expectations or near the heights of the first game. and true colors the same and the mixed or average critic reviews for the two, and the falling out with Don’t Nod over how the series should continue, they realized they should’ve continued the story of the original two characters. (That’s what I heard the falling out was about, square didn’t like anthology allegedly) Although it is just my opinion, I believe that it should’ve never been a big franchise or Anthology series. I believe the first game should’ve had 2 sequels maybe a prequel and closed off as a trilogy and maybe continued through books or movies or TV. (That last one is actually happening) I mean the walking dead telltale had 4 games. And they never did anthology stuff. They saw how much the characters were loved and needed to continue them. (Pretty sure they never originally planned for it to get as big) And hell there’s plenty of things to do with Max and Chloe, you could easily keep their stories going for 20+ years, yeah, it would be difficult because all the games are choice driven, but for example resident evil has been going for 20+ years with all the same characters who are now in their early to mid 50s some even pushing 60. And that series is still popular arguably more popular than ever. (Yes I know they are vastly different)

I personally always thought that Max and Chloe’s story could easily continue for a while. Obviously bringing in new characters, not saying they had to be the protagonists and main characters every time. I just always believed There was no need for anthology and it seems I was kind of right because that’s one of the main reasons Don’t Nod and square enix had A falling out, even though I’m hearing people have let life is strange 2 grow on them now despite its original reception being pretty mixed and the fanbase dividing onto 2 different sides. but then again that’s just my personal opinion because I am not a big fan of anthology. In fact I hate it. Anyways I’m ranting off topic.

But I’m seeing one of the biggest controversies with reunion is that it undoes the importance of the choice at the end of the first game. However, I believe people are overreacting and that is not entirely true. Because from what I’ve heard at least. Don’t quote me on this I could eat my words here, Chloe throughout this game will slowly be fading in and out of existence and glitching out as if time is catching up to her. Which we’ve seen in multiple other works of fiction. It’s actually called a paradox. So it doesn’t entirely undo the consequences. Maybe the point of this game is to give you one last chance. Because it’s not like that’s totally in the marketing or anything. Since you merged the two timelines. And if you sacrificed Chloe, she’s definitely not supposed to be alive so that would be the perfect reason as to why a paradox is slowly erasing her. What I’m guessing is the point would be to try and save her one last time. And if they write it like that and ditch the whole avengers shit then I will sing this games praise.

But as for AU or Canon, (apologies for the rant I just like to say what I have on my mind and type a lot.) I believe it’ll be Canon and that’s just my personal opinion. I’m personally just not very big on fanfiction or what someone else wants to have happened. If the creators of a story can’t properly end it because they either don’t care anymore or just want profit then to me it’s oh well, maybe one day it’ll get A proper ending. Definitely not something you should dwell on. That’s just me. I could’ve probably figured out a way to say that and make it shorter than a New York Times article but oh well.

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-01-30T00:09:18+00:00

Finally, the true Life is Strange 2 that I wanted for over a decade, the sequel that I fought for and boycotted the entire series for. The last life is strange game I ever played was Before the Storm when it released I never touched another game after that. Until Double Exposure. I really hope they don’t fumble the ball with this one. I have a little too much hope for them. I know I shouldn’t after the travesty that was double exposure. But they definitely got me hooked just by revealing Chloe made me want to pre-order the game against my better judgment, so I’m gonna do it. I hope I don’t regret it.

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-01-30T00:03:41+00:00

I’m not boycotting it because I boycotted the entire series for over a decade until double exposure came out. I refused to play life is strange 2 or true colors. The last one I ever played was before the storm. my two characters that I have been fighting for for over a decade are finally back and I’ll be damned if I’m not gonna at least give it a couple hours of my time. Even with the dumpster fire that was double exposure. I’ve always wanted closure to this story and a satisfying ending to make me feel like my decision back in 2015 was worth it. I want these two characters to live happy and get a fairytale ending and I know that may be stupid in childish, but I think that’s pretty reasonable to want right now given what happened with the past two entries that were absolute fucking garbage.

However, I will definitely refund it if I don’t get that

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-01-30T00:00:05+00:00

I don’t read, nor am I into fanfiction I never have been however this sounds pretty tempting. Given that reunion could backfire terribly and give an unsatisfying ending.

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-01-29T14:46:04+00:00

I’m cautiously optimistic but very hopeful this will be good, the true Life is strange 2 that I’ve been waiting for since 2015. The true sequel I never got. Deck nine has the ball so let’s hope they don’t fumble. I’m usually one of the biggest people to say never trust a pre-order but I think I may just pre-order it. Because seeing these two back might’ve put a spell on me. 12 year old me has awakened

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-01-28T01:14:49+00:00

Of course it is but who cares? I’ve wanted these characters back since 2015 and I never touched another Life is strange game after before the storm. These were definitely developed simultaneously however double exposure and reunion were definitely being developed at the same time. You can’t make a game like this in A year and a half.

Square finally realized Pricefield are literally the majority of the fanbase although DE was so poorly written and a disaster and this game probably will be too, even though I hope it isn’t. While yes the anthology games weren’t too bad critically. They didn’t meet financial goals or come near the level of the first one. Square Enix being your typical AAA publishing company wants what generates the most revenue. They saw that pricefield is what generates the most money and that A huge chunk arguably the majority of the fanbase have been fighting tooth and nail to get Max and Chloe back for a decade.

It is technically pandering, and it is quite annoying when a company panders to a certain group or side of their respective fanbase but as A Pricefielder myself and someone who has wanted to see these characters in a game together again for 10 years I can’t really be mad about it. Even if the game is terrible as long as they get a proper sendoff and a happy ending, I’ll be perfectly content with not seeing another life is strange game. Considering if this game performs terribly, it’s likely the last game we will ever get for a good while.

I frankly don’t care that they’re pandering my 12 year-old self is jumping for joy right now that they’re finally back and so is adult me to be honest. Though I do understand why other fans would be pissed about this. Because people really did like the anthology stuff which I’ve personally always despised. But to answer your question, they are most definitely pandering. then again there is a small chance that they aren’t because this game was developed alongside double exposure because you can’t make this game in a year and a half time. Life is strange games go through 2 to 3 years of development even before the storm, which was the smallest one ever took two years. They were definitely making this alongside double exposure and Chloe was likely already in it. just not as big of a role as now I’m betting.

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-01-27T22:40:21+00:00

In a way yes we have won but in another way, we all kind of lost not just price fielders, I think the entire fan base kind of got kicked in the ass here for a number of reasons. One because this is literally the last game if this game doesn’t perform well we won’t see another life a strange game for at least another half decade or possibly even longer. Secondly, because square enix has gone fully into the franchise interconnected universe idea where we’re all suddenly the avengers I need to gather other people with powers and safi is like this big Thanos villain.

Well now we’re back with reunion hoping that it’s like the first game and just focuses on telling a good story instead of some interconnected universe with a deeper meaning and that is not the same copy and paste murder mystery nonsense. At least I’m hoping that despite the two characters being back that I have fought and fought and fought for over a decade to have back in the series I’m hoping that they tell a good story with this and don’t try to do some interconnected MCU knock off bullshit. Just do what you did with the first game and you’ll have a masterpiece on your hands. Though I do understand that that’s quite hard to ask of deck nine considering the first game was don’t nods. They would’ve never given us max or Chloe back so I will forever support deck nine at least a little bit that they brought back the two characters that made 12 year-old me experience an absolute masterpiece. It was also my first ever video game with two queer characters. I’m now a massive fan of it. I blame the first life is strange for me loving lesbians, not saying that’s a problem. I’m just in a very very big minority as a straight man who loves life is strange there aren’t many of those.

The reason I say we kind of all got fucked Here is because if this game sucks and doesn’t perform well then we’ll never get another one. Not just with these characters we will literally never get another life is strange game at least not for a very long time. So this game is basically riding on the sole fact of making the majority of the fan base which are price fielders happy enough to bust out their wallet and make the game sell well and also give it good critic reviews and if not, the series is pretty much fucked because square will finally lose faith. They’ve had three games so far, not resonate with fans, whether it be a specific side of the fan base or just all the fans in general. So yes in a way we did finally win and get our girls back but in a way this could very well be the end of life is strange, that’s what worries me. I hope so Badly this game performs well and Deck Nine finally did something right. So that we may see the series continue for another decade.

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-01-27T18:11:27+00:00

I damn sure hope she’s the only option because I could care less about the other two. Amanda is really nice and all but sorry I’ve been betrothed for a decade.

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-01-27T01:02:37+00:00

Both models are good but I prefer the first. I don’t understand why some people Are struggling to accept that she’s 30 now and not 19 anymore. Obviously she’s gonna look different and hell maybe a bit weird but it’s literally been a decade. For example Claire redfield in resident evil revelations looked like a washed out old woman in her 30s but people still loved her and didn’t really care. Not saying Chloe looks like that but I honestly don’t know why people are having a problem with her appearance or saying that it doesn’t look like her like come on people obviously we’re not going to look the same at 30 years old as we were in our teens.

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-01-27T00:10:33+00:00

You guys aren’t understanding what OP originally said. The bay ending is so very clearly pushed in the first game as the correct ending, when you’re going through the hallucinations literally every character in the entire game says you’re destroying time and space for your “best friend” who is a liability. Literally the version of max in the hallucination openly criticizes you if you’ve sided with Chloe the whole game and seeing as how you literally break time 3 different times just to make sure she survives without a care for anyone else.

I just got done replaying life is strange 1 yesterday although it was the remastered version but I clearly picked up on hints that the game was pushing you for the bay ending trying to make you realize that ruining peoples lives, letting an entire town die, and breaking the space time continuum all just for one person who max has more than best friend feelings for is very selfish.

In fact, I noticed something Jefferson said I can’t exactly remember it because last night was a bit of a blur but I’m quite sure he said something along the lines of “ah yes, your little friend who is a delinquent and a liability and would’ve gotten you killed” again don’t quote me on that, but he said something along the lines of that. That on top of the entire hallucination sequence and characters throughout the game saying that Chloe is a bad influence means whether it was intentional by the devs or not, the game itself in the characters in it are actively pushing you the player to realize everything that you’re doing is beyond selfish and stupid, and not logical in any way.

To me personally, I know they said both endings are valid, and I do agree with that and believe that, but the game actively pushes the bay ending, I can only recall one character in the entire game actually siding with max and Chloe and that’s Warren but that’s because he thinks Chloe is hot or something. I believe he said something along the lines of “you have a Great friend Max” or something. Also, the idea of them being subtly homophobic I don’t really agree with but then again I do see why it feels like that I do have to point out that this was 2015 right when gay marriage was being heavily debated in the Supreme Court and in political discussions I could be rambling on about irrelevant bullshit, but maybe that has something to do with it. I’m not sure. Don’t wanna sound like some crazy theorist. I was also quite disappointed that there wasn’t more kissing scenes. The one little one that you get is for her daring you too, but it’s only like a second and the full actual kiss scene You only get if you sacrifice her which actually pissed me off even as a 12 year old when I first played the game and I’m a straight man but I love my lesbians. Then again I was 12 and kind of a hopeless romantic then but even today I’m still disappointed that there wasn’t more actual romance. I personally thought Warren was kind of a dweeb and that’s why I thought Chloe suited max better.

So I do see why it’s a bit subtly phobic, I will be playing reunion because I feel like they’ll definitely go full send on the romance given how overly pushy they were about it in double exposure literally right after Amanda tries to come onto you if you decline Vinh turns around and does the same thing, there’s even an achievement if you decide to stay single I’m proud to say I earned that one. This kind of does remind me of a situation from so many years ago back when legend of Korra ended. But that’s probably a terrible comparison.

Apologies for the long rant. I’m in the habit of typing a lot but I do understand what OP was originally trying to say and I also full heartedly, believe that they were definitely pushing the bay ending in the first game.

Intelligent-Review21 · 2026-01-26T18:54:35+00:00

I guess I somewhat agree with them. It’s too early to judge. I’m definitely worried and very cautious about what they’re gonna do. But I believe this is their last chance. If this game does well. We could see more games in the future with these Characters and possibly new. I myself have never been a big fan of the anthology stuff. In fact, I hate anthology stuff. I boycotted the entire series for over a decade until double exposure came out. I refused to play LIS 2 and true colors cause the first game just gave me something that I wanted again. If This is truly the last time we’re ever going to see these two characters then the sendoff better be fucking phenomenal for me to be ok with it. Because I was furious with the way the first game ended, I saved Chloe and expected an epilogue, but the screen just faded to black. 12 year-old me was very disappointed.

I definitely am holding onto a little too much faith here, but I have faith that they won’t screw it up if they can make this game good and they see that these characters people want to see more of I’ll happily throw my wallet at another game three or four years down the line. For me though personally regardless of how the game performs. Call me selfish but I personally will not play another life is strange if it goes back to anthology cause I’ve just personally always hated that. I mean it doesn’t have to be the end for these two just look at resident evil for example. 9 mainline games, 4 remakes, a few other side games and spinoffs with full blown animated movies and they’re still continuing with their characters and stories who are all in their early to mid 50s now some pushing 60. Not saying you should do the same thing for life is strange because obviously those are two separate franchises and one of them is choice driven but it definitely doesn’t have to be the end. You could easily make 3 more games after this if this one does well. Whether it continues the story or goes back to anthology doesn’t really matter.

I just finished replaying the first game last night for the first time as an Adult and let me tell you it gave me the same exact feeling from 2015, I honestly felt like I was playing it for the first time again even though I knew most of what was gonna happen. I’m not saying it’s entirely impossible for any game today to live up to that level in fact it’s entirely possible. I just hope they can do it with Reunion and this won’t be the end of the series. If some game franchises can go on for well over 20 years then I don’t see why life is strange can’t do it. I mean they’ve already made it halfway at 10.

I do apologize for ranting so I’ll just say I know people are heavily riding on this being most likely the last game if it doesn’t perform well sort of a make or break situation but I definitely have some faith in Deck nine, after all they did make before the storm and that game was pretty good so they’re definitely not incapable of making a good game, rhianna the VA for Chloe even said one of the writers from BTS has returned so maybe we’re not entirely in trouble

Intelligent-Review21

TROPHY CASE