Ten years after their story began, Max and Chloe will defy fate one more time in Life Is Strange: Reunion, out March 26.
After teasing fans with a cryptic announcement last week, Square Enix and Deck Nine pulled back the curtain today with a livestream hosted by voice actors Hannah Telle and Rhianna DeVries, a fitting choice, as Life Is Strange: Reunion will allow players to control both protagonists in the same game for the first time.
[Small disclaimer: some potential spoilers for previous Life Is Strange games may wait ahead!]
Building off the dramatic revelations of 2024’s Double Exposure, Life Is Strange: Reunion will see Max Caulfield seeking to stop another disaster with her unexplainable psychic powers. This time, when a fire threatens to destroy Caledon University and kill her friends, colleagues, and students, she somehow taps into her original “Rewind” powers and buys herself three days to figure out how the tragedy will go down.
Building off the dramatic revelations of 2024’s Life Is Strange: Double Exposure, Life Is Strange: Reunion sees Max Caulfield attempting to stop another disaster using her unexplained psychic powers. When a fire threatens to destroy Caledon University and kill her friends, colleagues and students, she somehow taps into her original Rewind ability, buying herself three days to uncover how the tragedy will unfold.
As if one looming catastrophe were not enough, Chloe Price arrives in Caledon seeking Max’s help in deciphering memories of events that seem impossible, regardless of the player’s preferred canon or their choices in the original game. The finale of Life Is Strange: Double Exposure effectively merged timelines, leaving Chloe with memories of both realities, while Max’s perspective reflects the player’s choice between “Bae” or “Bay” in the original game.
Chloe is back, and so is Max’s Rewind power. Just like the original game, Life Is Strange: Reunion will allow players to wind back conversations and events, to explore different dialogue options or get a leg up on a puzzling situation, picking up items or effectively teleporting in the blink of an eye. The mechanic functions in much the same way as the original, complete with the on-screen spiral meter.
However, Max is not the only playable protagonist. Chloe’s Backtalk power from Life Is Strange: Before The Storm returns, along with writer John Zimmerman—so while ten years may have passed since the trouble at Arcadia Bay, the blue-haired heroine can still use her snarky charisma to get information, mess with authority figures, or otherwise turn a situation to her advantage. DeVries reprises the role, first portrayed by Ashly Burch, from the 2017 prequel.
The dynamic duo will reunite to solve the mystery of the Caledon fire in what is being billed as the finale to the “Max and Chloe saga.” Whether you choose for them to reconnect as friends or as something more romantic, the ramifications of having both sets of memories and traumas will surely make their last ride a dramatic one.
Aside from their own suddenly-rekindled relationship, there are plenty of other questions to answer and unresolved mysteries to be unravelled. How will Chloe’s presence affect the relationships Max has already forged at Caledon, especially with Amanda? How will Safi play into everything, given Double Exposure‘s tense ending? What toll will using her old powers take on Max, especially since she’s rewinding for the first time in years, and for the longest amount of time?
Fortunately, fans don’t have long to wait to find out, as Life Is Strange: Reunion launches on March 26 for PlayStation 5, Steam, and Xbox Series X|S.
A variety of different versions are now up for preorder, in addition to the Standard Edition: a Twin Pack with Double Exposure ($59.99 MSRP USD); a Deluxe Edition with a digital mini soundtrack, art book, comic, and documentary ($49.99); or a physical Collector’s Edition through the Square Enix Store, including a box and sleeve with exclusive artwork, a 12″ vinyl soundtrack, a double-sided poster, rewind symbol felt slipmat, guitar picks, and 3 Polaroid art cards.
