Life is Strange: Before the Storm - Episode 1: Awake Reviews
The first episode of Life is Strange: Before the Storm doesn't contain a lot of exciting events or game-changing decisions, but it seems like a good start for a story filled with tense and touching moments. It sets up the spotlight on Chloe and her relationship with Rachel as well as it offering a tutorial of sorts for the new power Backtalk which helps our heroin talk other characters into doing whatever she wants.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Before the Storm – Episode 1: Awake is off to a bumby start but it defintely leaves some potential open for the upcoming episodes. The new Backtalk-Feature doesn't really make any impact on the story so far and also the course of the episode feels to forced but besides that Life is Strange Fans will see some familiar faces and funny side activities.
Review in German | Read full review
The good doesn’t stop there. The new entry into the series wouldn’t be anything without a legitimate sense of place. Luckily, the game’s soundtrack provides that, and so much more.
Overall, Before the Storm starts on a great note with its writing, characters and soundtrack. It took me 4 hours to complete Episode 1, which is a good sign given the fact that some people had a problem with the game only being 3 episodes long. For newcomers, I strongly suggest that you play the original Life is Strange before playing this one as you might not catch the importance and significance of certain characters as quickly as previous players will. I cannot wait for the rest of the episodes to be released and I am definitely interested to see what happens next.
Life is Strange: Before the Storm Episode 1 fails to live up to the promise of the original. While providing a great soundtrack, updated visuals, and better animations it struggles to realise just what made Life is Strange special.
If you were a fan of Life is Strange and its formula, this prequel will be perfect if you desired more from Arcadia Bay.
Life is Strange: Before the Storm offers us the chance to use trust and love as our cloak and dagger.
Since the game deals more with character development and how they cope rather than temporal philosophy, it may or maybe not divide its audience. Even though this is a prequel, I felt that this game should be played after the original for the way it is presented, think of it as bonus content rather than a standalone game.
Life is Strange Before the Storm feels like a true prequel to the original game, even though we don't have time travel abilities this time around. While character developments are interesting, this first chapter is unclear whether the journey will be better than the destination considering we already know how their fates will end.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Deck Nine has shown an extraordinary understanding of a delicate formula. For fans, it's a return journey to one of the most vivid, joyous settings in gaming. For them, and for everyone else, it's a brave effort which, at times, surpasses the original.
Life is Strange: Before the Storm is a great start for the series and I'm very, very curious where it will go from here.
The first installment in "Life is Strange: Before the Storm" blew me out of the water. The Game's clever use of literary allusions, coupled with the impressive dialogue and impeccable playlist makes 'Awake' a beautiful exploration of depression.
Much like Dontnod succeeded despite their inexperience, Deck Nine has managed to pull off a fantastic start to their own addition to the Life is Strange universe and Chloe’s tale.
Yes it has some serious pacing issues and the long conversations where you don’t seem to be doing much can grate. But the gameplay is solid, with some interesting extras and it still looks very pretty indeed.
Overall, Episode 1 is a great introduction to Before the Storm. It offers what you expect from the series as well as adding in some new ideas. The way Deck Nine have been able to take the concept of the first game and apply them to a totally different character has been great.
The original Life is Strange kind of came out of nowhere and surprised us all with just how good it was. As a result, there is a lot for Life is Strange: Before the Storm to live up to. Only one episode of three main episodes has released thus far, but so far it looks to be maintaining the quality of the original while presenting some new mechanics and building onto the backstory that we didn’t even know we needed so badly.
The writing so far is every bit as corny as an independent film crossed with a CW drama is, and it’s this writing style that has made the series so endearing, so it’s hard to not be excited to see what new developer Deck Nine has store for the next couple episodes.
There’s only one way to really describe Life is Strange: Before the Storm – Awake – it’s more of the same, for better or worse. If you were a fan of the original game then you’re going to really enjoy what’s on offer here, with the whole angsty yet touching vibe carrying over this time around too. There are a few differences, most notably with the time-bending powers replaced with Chloe’s Backchat, but in general it all feels the same. If you weren’t a fan of the original game though, nothing on offer here is going to change your mind. I was a massive fan of the original game though and in turn really enjoyed playing through Life is Strange: Before the Storm – Awake. It has set up a story that I want to see more of, and whilst I might already know the fate of both characters, I’m still intrigued to see how their relationship blossoms and what issues they face going forward. Life is Strange: Before the Storm has got off to a great start, so hopefully there’ll be more of the same in the next two episodes.
If you are a fan of Life is Strange this is a no brainer and you've probably already downloaded the game and are playing through it. Before the Storm was made with you in mind.
Life is Strange is a special kind of video game. The story is so engrossing and the characters are so relatable. The whole package is so much better than the sum of its parts. As such I don't feel justified in ranking a single episode and will defer until the whole story unfolds. For now all I can say is this episode has the same magical quality as the first game.