Some stories don’t need to be told
A new trailer for the Life is Strange: Before the Storm was unveiled at Gamescom, showing a lot of similar imagery from previously released trailers (so similar I had to quadruple check to make sure it was actually new). There is some new bits though, such as seeing Rachel and another girl bring Chloe into the punk rock scene and her in the backseat of the car when her dad, William, is hit and killed.
The death of her dad is no spoiler, it is known very early on in the original game, but the interesting thing is she was not in the car when he died. There is no time travel mechanic in this prequel as only Max ever had those powers, and although Chloe was 13 at the time of the accident she appears to be 16 (her age in Before the Storm) in the scene which rules out a retcon most likely. It’s either a dream sequence or something fishy is going on.
In any case, the original was a top notch story-driven adventure game. The time mechanic added a new element, brilliantly without removing choice, and aside from cringe-inducing talk written by people with the least amount of contact with teenagers in the world, the writing and story were emotionally engaging. However, a prequel remains wholly unnecessary.
The background involving Rachel Amber, Frank Bowers, and Chloe’s upbringing were all to serve the story of the original game. Knowing the final outcome aside, there is not enough there to warrant a story of its own, and stretching it out won’t result in a coherent product. I’m hopeful that Deck Nine will salvage something out of this bad idea, but it has no chance of reaching the heights of the original.
Very much like all these Star Wars spinoffs like the absolutely atrocious Rogue One, it is not a story that needs to be told in full. No matter what story you have, there will always be something that happens before that is relevant but not substantial enough to be it’s own thing, but companies keep milking successful media by indefinitely answering questions no one asked and fleshing out whatever small piece of backstory they can find.
Luckily Dontnod is working on Life is Strange 2 (season 2?) with all new cast of characters. Leaving Arcadia Bay behind. Now that is the real thing to look forward to.
