Life is Strange: Before the Storm - Episode 1: Awake Reviews
Life is Strange: Before the Storm offers us the chance to use trust and love as our cloak and dagger.
An honest insight into the tragedy of loss in youth.
Chloe's enhanced angst might grate a little, but there's no denying Before the Storm is going to be another brilliant Life is Strange game.
Before the Storm evokes everything wonderful about the first game, with even the loss of Max Caulfield and her time-rewind mechanic not as great as one might think. This is fan service at its best. If you were a fan of Life is Strange, you'll love this opening episode and the tease of what's coming in the following episodes.
Before the Storm's first episode is an excellent starting chapter for this prequel. With a strong, endearing protagonist in Chloe, a deeper choice and consequence system than the original, and some intriguing mysteries surrounding the story, I found myself invested in Arcadia Bay once again, and it feels hella good.
This is a perfect start to a new Life is Strange saga and left me wanting more as the original series did so expertly. If you're already a fan of the series you'll feel right at home (although I do miss Max…) and if you're new, it ain't a bad place to start. If anything I would envy the chance to play this first before the original game, as my final choice and decisions throughout the original might have been very different having become attached to Chloe before Max.
Life is Strange: Before the Storm – Episode 1: Awake starts the prequel series off strong with a narrative that makes you care about Chloe in an all-new way.
As I played through the game, I found myself profoundly moved by Chloe, by Rachel, by loss and pain and the wondrous beauty of a newfound love. Excellence in writing evokes emotion and memory. Awake has it in spades. Deck Nine has done what most didn’t think they could: It took a beloved series by another developer (DontNod Entertainment) and made it even better. There simply isn’t a better way to honor another game than that.
As an introductory episode to a three-part series, Awake absolutely nails it.
A solid and long episode with great characters and story. Must play for Life is Strange fans.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Life is Strange: Before the Storm is a relatable and gripping tale of dealing with loss and emotionally ambiguous friendships.
The story is pretty good so far and seems to kind of set up the first Life is Strange game. The graphics seem to be awesome as well. I do have to say that I enjoy Chloe's "I don't give two F's" attitude better than Max's quiet attitude, though its good, it could had been better.
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.
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.
Episode 1 of Beyond the Storm builds a few lines of dialogue from the original series and a character that we didn't previously meet into a riveting expansion of the Life is Strange universe. The writing. The visuals. The soundtrack. The story. The mechanics. They're all superb with only a handful of niggles and bum lines. All of my caution and concern was totally unfounded as Deck Nine are obviously very safe hands to carry the series forward. Awake is as good as much of the original Life Is Strange and there's not a single "hella" in sight.
Episode 1: Awake is a strong start to Before the Storm.
Life is Strange: Before the Storm had no easy task, but at least the first episode managed to deftly follow in shoes of its extremely successful predecessor.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Life is Strange: Before the Storm Episode 1: Awake starts off this season with a bang. It removes one of the most iconic features of the first season and yet still delivers an impactful story thanks to great writing and outstanding performances.
Before the Storm is a glimpse into a struggling mind. It is a not a blank canvas to create your own character, but the story of one person meeting another. Beautiful and flawed.
Before the Storm's first chapter has already deflected most of the pre-release concerns that "This doesn't need to exist." Maybe it doesn't because Life is Strange's story was self-contained. Then again, maybe Life is Strange is better off with this complementing it. After its debut, I'm fully willing to argue that Before the Storm deserves to exist because this story is important too. In true Chloe fashion, anyone who disagrees gets two one-finger salutes.