“Farewell,” the bonus episode for Life is Strange: Before the Storm, is available now.
It’s only about an hour long, and it doesn’t add much to the story, but I’d still like to share my thoughts on it.
(For a series where I’ve been dissatisfied with the conclusions of both games, I sure do end up writing about Life is Strange an awful lot.)
“Farewell” is a standalone episode that takes place earlier in the timeline, before Max moved away.
It manages to be both happy and heartbreaking at the same time: happy because you get to see Max and Chloe having fun together, and heartbreaking because you know how it all works out.
Happy, non-cynical Chloe is my favorite Chloe, so I enjoyed getting to see at least a little of her.
There really isn’t a lot to this episode. No big revelations, nothing much we didn’t already know… but it was short and sweet (and sad), and it filled me with nostalgia for the days when I was a kid hanging out with my friends. Back then, I couldn’t imagine anything more terrible than moving away and leaving my friends, so Max’s worries resonated with me.
And the ending hit me especially hard because of things that happened in my life earlier this year.
I think that’s part of what makes the Life is Strange games so effective despite their flaws. They feel real. They evoke nostalgia. Their endings might fall flat in some ways, but the journey there is strong.
So even though I have mixed feelings about both Life is Strange and Before the Storm, I enjoyed “Farewell” and I’m looking forward to learning more about Life is Strange 2. According to the official announcement, they’ll announce the story and characters in “the coming months.”
Maybe this time we’ll get a happy ending.