Life is Strange Before the Storm Remastered

Life is Strange: Before the Storm Remastered is a third-person, episodic narrative adventure for PC developed by Deck Nine and published by Square Enix. The current remastered edition keeps this exact name on Steam and is also included in the Life is Strange Remastered Collection; it is not a renamed version of the original standalone game. Set three years before Life is Strange, it follows sixteen-year-old Chloe Price as she develops an intense friendship with Rachel Amber in Arcadia Bay.

This is a character-focused adventure built around exploration, dialogue, environmental interaction, and decisions that can reshape later scenes. It is aimed at players who prefer emotional storytelling and relationship-driven choices over combat, open-world systems, or traditional role-playing progression.

Chloe and Rachel at the center

The story begins with Chloe in the aftermath of personal loss and increasingly disconnected from school, family, and the people around her. Rachel, a popular and seemingly confident student, becomes the catalyst for a friendship that quickly moves beyond ordinary teenage drama.

The game explores grief, anger, identity, family tension, secrecy, and the desire to escape a life that feels predetermined. Its strongest scenes come from the contrast between Chloe's defiance and Rachel's ability to draw other people into her orbit.

As a prequel, the game assumes familiarity with the world and characters of Life is Strange. For that reason, many players will get more from it after experiencing the first game, even though the events shown here take place earlier in the fictional timeline.

A choice-driven adventure without rewind

Before the Storm uses a deliberate third-person perspective. You walk through locations, inspect objects, listen to conversations, read messages, and speak with characters before choosing how Chloe responds.

There is no supernatural rewind ability in this story. Chloe cannot reset a conversation after seeing its result, so decisions feel more immediate and uncertain than Max's choices in the original Life is Strange.

The core loop is simple but purposeful: explore a compact location, uncover context through optional interactions, enter conversations, and decide whether Chloe should be confrontational, sympathetic, evasive, or reckless. Later scenes reflect selected choices without turning the game into a completely different campaign on every playthrough.

Dialogue is supported by multiple endings, relationship changes, alternate reactions, and optional discoveries. The game records important decisions through its Choices menu, giving players a clear way to review major selections after completing an episode.

Backtalk, graffiti, and personal expression

Chloe's signature system is Backtalk, a timed conversation mode based on sarcasm, observation, and verbal pressure. During a Backtalk encounter, you listen closely to what another character says and choose a response that turns their own words against them.

Backtalk is not a universal solution to every conversation. Some encounters offer several opportunities to recover, while others provide fewer chances to make a mistake. The system rewards attention to dialogue rather than fast reflexes alone.

Exploration also supports Chloe's rebellious personality through optional graffiti. Walls, signs, notebooks, and other surfaces can become places for tags or drawings, giving completion-focused players reasons to inspect familiar spaces instead of following only the main objective.

Chloe can also change outfits, and clothing choices can affect how some characters react. These details do not create a gear system or statistical build; they reinforce the game's interest in self-presentation, mood, and social perception.

Players who enjoy intimate, relationship-led mysteries may also find a strong parallel in episodic narrative adventures like Tell Me Why, although Before the Storm places more emphasis on teenage friendship and conversational confrontation.

Episodes and included content

The main story is divided into three episodes. Each chapter revisits the same central relationship from a different emotional angle while expanding the conflict around Rachel's family and the pressures surrounding Chloe.

The remastered edition includes the previously released Farewell bonus episode and bonus Chloe outfits. Farewell is a separate story focused on a younger Max Caulfield and Chloe, making it especially relevant to players who want additional context for their childhood friendship.

The package is therefore more substantial than the three-episode main story alone. Buyers should distinguish it from the original standard edition, the original Deluxe Edition, and the separate Life is Strange Remastered Collection that bundles this game with Life is Strange Remastered.

There is no season pass structure or character progression economy to manage. The commercial model is a premium single-player package with optional edition differences centered on bonus narrative content and cosmetic extras rather than gameplay power.

What the remaster changes

The remastered version updates character models, environments, lighting, and the underlying presentation while retaining the original story structure and choice systems. Its purpose is visual and technical modernization, not a new interpretation of Chloe and Rachel's story.

Some collection-level feature descriptions refer to improved facial animation and other upgrades across both games, but the full facial motion-capture enhancement is specifically associated with Life is Strange Remastered. Before the Storm Remastered should be understood primarily as a visual upgrade with included Deluxe content.

The licensed soundtrack and original score remain central to the experience. Music is used to establish Chloe's restless mood, Rachel's emotional intensity, and the contrast between quiet exploration and major confrontations.

PC features and player profile

The PC edition is a single-player game with no online multiplayer, co-op, or split-screen mode. It supports keyboard and mouse play as well as gamepad controls, making it suitable for players who prefer a relaxed controller-based adventure.

Steam provides platform integration such as achievements and cloud-related features where supported by the storefront. GOG's original Before the Storm listing is separate from the remastered PC edition and is presented as a DRM-free release with optional GOG Galaxy functionality.

Supported PC localization includes English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese text. English is the primary spoken language for the PC remastered edition, so players should check the storefront language panel if a specific subtitle option is important.

This is a good fit for players who want choice-driven storytelling, expressive characters, mystery, romance, optional exploration, and a soundtrack-led atmosphere. It is a weaker match for anyone looking for combat, inventory management, skill trees, open-world freedom, or mechanically demanding puzzles.

Its replay value comes from altered conversations, changed relationships, optional graffiti, outfit reactions, Backtalk outcomes, and the chance to approach Chloe's decisions differently. It is a mastery loop built around interpretation and consequence rather than upgrades or high scores.

Similar narrative adventures on PC

The closest comparison is the original Life is Strange, because both games share Arcadia Bay, recurring characters, an episodic structure, and decisions that influence later scenes. The important mechanical difference is that Chloe relies on Backtalk and observation, while Max's adventure is built around time manipulation.

For a broader branching-story experience with more characters and heavier consequence tracking, choice-heavy cinematic adventures such as Detroit: Become Human offer a larger network of outcomes, while Before the Storm remains narrower and more focused on one friendship.

Players who prefer a comic-book survival setting can also compare its episodic dialogue structure with relationship-driven Telltale adventures like The Walking Dead: A New Frontier. The tone and setting are very different, but both games make conversation choices and character loyalty more important than conventional combat systems.

Life is Strange: Before the Storm Remastered FAQ

Is Before the Storm Remastered a renamed version of the original game?

No. The remastered edition is listed as Life is Strange: Before the Storm Remastered on Steam. The original Before the Storm remains a separate product, while the remastered edition is also part of the Life is Strange Remastered Collection.

What does Before the Storm Remastered include?

It includes the three-episode main story, the Farewell bonus episode, and bonus Chloe outfits previously associated with Deluxe content. The remastered presentation updates visuals and lighting without replacing the original narrative structure.

Does Chloe have Max's rewind power?

No. Chloe has no time-rewind ability and cannot undo a decision after seeing its immediate result. Her distinctive gameplay system is Backtalk, a timed verbal challenge that uses sarcasm and careful reading of dialogue.

Is the game multiplayer or co-op on PC?

No. Before the Storm Remastered is designed for one player. It has no online multiplayer, co-op campaign, competitive mode, or split-screen support.

Can you play it with a controller?

Yes. The PC edition supports gamepad controls in addition to keyboard and mouse input. The experience is well suited to controller play because movement, exploration, and dialogue selection are paced rather than action-heavy.

Should you play Life is Strange first?

For most newcomers, playing Life is Strange before Before the Storm is the stronger narrative order because the prequel expands characters and events that the first game introduces with more mystery. Players who prioritize fictional chronology can start with Before the Storm, but they should expect some context and dramatic tension to land differently.

Does it have meaningful replay value?

Yes, although it is not built around character builds or repeated combat runs. Replay value comes from different dialogue choices, Backtalk results, relationship changes, outfit reactions, optional graffiti, and alternate scenes across the three episodes.