Editor’s note: Spoilers for the whole series abound.
With the release of “Life is Strange: Reunion,” Max and Chloe have had four games to tell their tale with varying degrees of success. From awkward tweens to punkass teens to creative professionals with established careers, we’ve had a lot of time with this duo.
I understand the appeal — I’m certainly not going to try to withhold anyone’s timey-wimey sapphic ship. If seeing them together matters to you, they’ve finally done the damn thing. Once you end up with the (scare quote) “good” ending of “Reunion,” it feels like as good of a place as any to properly say goodbye.
Both Don’t Nod and Deck Nine, the two studios behind the various “LiS” games, have tried other kinds of stories. “Life is Strange 2” was a huge swing that totally rejects the small town vibes associated with the series, and instead tells a story of brothers traveling down the west coast dealing with powers along the way. It rules, but nobody in the fandom seemed to care because it wasn’t Max and Chloe.
“True Colors” had the small town magic sapphic situation on lock, but Alex Chen still wasn’t the two ill-fated lovers from Arcadia Bay. It had ties to the earlier games, even more than the passing reference made in “LiS 2,” but fans still wanted their favorite Barbies to kiss.
I am an enormous defender of the more experimental installments of the series, and kind of a mild hater of the first game and its extremely clunky moments. It shouldn’t surprise you that I was a bit disappointed when they brought back Max in “Double Exposure” (albeit without Chloe).
Of course, there was immediate blowback regarding the idea that two high school lovers could (gasp) grow apart from each other. I thought it was an elegant way to handle the branching narrative of the Bay/BAE decision, but I was in the minority there. People wanted their ship. Nay, demanded it!
Finally, we reach “Reunion” with a (fine-ish) explanation of why Schrödinger’s Chloe was kicking around, and you can make the Barbies smooch (after some very funny rug pulls) and they can live happily ever after. It’s fine. I’m fine with it. Are you all happy now?
Can we do something else?
Now that we’ve collapsed the timelines and allowed the girls to be together, I want “Life is Strange” to reach for the stars. They’ve flirted heavily with more interactions between those with super powers in previous games, and I would like for them to pay that off now that the ten years of yearning have been resolved.
No more nostalgia bait — let’s finally move the series forward. I’m begging.
Image credit: “Life is Strange: Reunion”





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