Reviews

I feel like my rating for this comic sequel is going to completely depend on the ending.

For now, I've given it 5 stars from all the emotions I have gotten from it. It's hard to emphasize enough how important getting to return to Max and Chloe's story was for me. I played Life is Strange as it came out, and I grew extremely attached to Arcadia Bay and its residents, literally having to clean off my keyboard several times from all the tears.

This work captures the spirit and characters of the original game incredibly well, and I thought that it translated smoothly into a very pleasing 2D art style.

I also love the surreal nature of this story; while living in Seattle with Chloe and doing freelance photography for her friends' band, Max is also dealing with slipping into other timelines and universes. Upon the first anniversary of the hurricane hitting Arcadia Bay, Max begins seeing things and entering universes where things are different. Ones where Chloe's mom is still alive, ones where Max moved to Seattle alone, ones where Max never left Arcadia Bay and Chloe has been dead for more than a year.

The way that these slight changes occur are so very surreal and well-done, and I loved that. I felt Max's panic and confusion vividly.

But that also worries me. Because my main complaint of the original game, as dear to my heart as it is, is that both endings really feel like they punish these sapphic girls for just...daring to exist and to love one another. Chloe either dies miserable and alone, or she loses her mother and leaves her hometown with Max. Max loses her childhood best friend who she loves, or she has to deal with the responsibility of the destruction of her hometown and the lives of her friends and neighbors. Rachel Amber dies for senseless, cruel reasons and even time travel can't bring her back.

I'm concerned because often it feels like these girls are being punished for...daring to hope? Daring to live their lives? And with the comic confirming that Max's time powers caused the hurricane for sure, I worry this will continue. Max feels she's being pushed out of her own timeline and universe, losing her new life. Chloe even laments that they are both just getting to heal from their trauma and now she's losing Max.

I don't necessarily mean I need a *happy* ending or even an uplifting one. I don't need everything to work out perfectly. But for pure tragedy and trauma, for these young women--many of whom are queer--being almost punished by the universe... That's not what I'm here for.

So for now, I'm giving it 5 stars because it means a lot to me and it captures the world and characters wonderfully. But, honestly, if it ends in tragedy yet again? I don't know.