Life is Strange: Episode 5 - Polarized Reviews
Life Is Strange's conclusion is as effective and powerful an ending as we could hope for. It's been an emotional, haunting, and often ridiculous time following Max and her friends on their timey-wimey quest, and I'm going to miss them.
It's not the gamey aspects that are remembered, but the small, personal elements that make up a relatable narrative. It just all happens to involve time travel.
Max and Chloe's adventure comes to an excellent end.
Life is Strange is, without a doubt, one of the most unique episodic choice-based games to date.
Life is Strange has had its ups and downs, but the occasionally cheesy writing and dull plot points are easily outweighed by a truly unique game world and generally strong story-telling.
"Polarized" will most likely be the most…well, polarizing episode of Life is Strange, and though the episode falters a bit compared to the times it succeeds, it still concludes the tale of Max, Chloe, and the numerous citizens of Arcadia Bay with style, emotion, and nearly every loose thread wrapped up neatly. While "Polarized" maybe suffers the most from some of the more "gamey" elements of Life is Strange, it still brings with it so many of the qualities that made Life is Strange a unique, if not quite perfect episodic experience. From a dreamlike sequence ripped straight out of Twin Peaks, to a gripping murder mystery, to a touching story of friendship and support, Life is Strange has been daring and unafraid to try something different, and "Polarized" caps off the season with a poignant and touching picture to remember the series by, even if the end result is a little overexposed.
"Polarized" is otherwise so linearly story-driven that the puzzle play of its dream sequence feels a little out of place.
Polarized caps off the Life Is Strange saga with powerful storytelling and one of the more, well, polarizing endings seen in a video game. The middle drags on a bit and some gameplay elements aren't quite as dialed in. Then again, the series does such a good job with making you care that the journey becomes quite a compelling one, even if you may not necessarily agree with the final destination.
Polarized is not the perfect ending that some might've hoped for but it's a very strong finale. It carries a lot of the problems the other episodes did but they are issues that feel small in the grand scheme of things. The issues addressed narratively are situations that not many games have been brave enough to explore. That's something that can be said for the game as a whole. For that alone Life is Strange deserves to be applauded.
The capstone to a brilliant game, Polarized is a little too melodramatic to feel fully satisfying.
The best episodic game out there right now
Polarized ending may split some players with some saying the endings offer a satisfying conclusion to this teen sci-fi drama while others may find it a somewhat underwhelming climax to what has been a great series. The ending aside, this has been another very well written chapter, as the tension continued to rise throughout and as for the character development it was again on top form rewarding players with some very moving moments.
Dating back to January of this year, Max's adventure has been quite a ride. After a couple of episodes that were pretty shaky, the French developer righted itself and delivered three consecutive home runs that absolutely blew us away, and this has culminated in a finale that delivers on everything that we could have possibly dreamed of. We definitely hope that Life Is Strange sees something of a second season, and we can't wait to see what DONTNOD does next.
Overall, the finale of Life is Strange is a masterpiece, much like the series itself. Really focusing on character development and Max’s psyche, episode 5 stood out as the best installment in the entire episodic adventure. The many side characters showed their true selves and were each given a proper send off. Psychological horror and the complications of time travel mixed with intense moments made each part of this episode worth while. Although both endings were well written and posed moral ambiguity, the only thing episode 5 really needed was more choices and more paths for the players to decide.