Life is Strange: Before the Storm – Farewell – A heart-breaking send-off to Max and Chloe

Farewell is the bonus episode from Life is Strange: Before the Storm and this works as some sort of prequel to a prequel. This short, one-hour episode tells the events from the last time when Max was with Chloe prior to moving to Seattle with her family.

Somewhat bummed by the underwhelming final chapter of Before the Storm, I went into Farewell without any major expectations. Not being a fan of prequels per se – the past is in the past, particularly if we already know all the juicy details –, I didn’t find the beginning of this episode any exciting. In fact, scratch that – the initial trash hunt idea was just plain boring and made me wonder if we were getting more of the worst that Life is Strange can give us, post-Season 1. Too much looking at things and babbling without nothing exciting going on.

Luckily, things picked up soon after, with a fun pirate treasure hunt. You know, the kind that some kids used to do ages ago in their backyards, before consoles were invented and everyone stayed inside playing videogames, slowly turning into mass murderers. Max and Chloe do show some interesting chemistry, despite the former’s fondness for a monotone, dragged voice that seems a bit out of place in such a young character. It’s Max as I remember from Season 1 alright, but now with even more depressing, sad-face added to the mix. It doesn’t quite fit.

I do admit that the treasure hunt had a few clever touches, although you’re a spectator for most of it. You push and pull some furniture in Chloe’s decidedly spooky attic – someone should go up there and dust that thing from top to bottom, kill some spiders and fumigate it all –, pick up some duct tape and slowly walk around most of the time, but it’s nothing that shouts ‘interactivity’.

The only proper puzzle of this episode is the monocle one, where you must rotate an amulet to make it match the scenery – this is simple yet quite clever, and comes with a really surprising and funny touch, when you’re pointing Chloe around. ‘My other right or your other right?’, ‘Oh, just get over there’. This part just hit the nail in the head.

Another brilliant little design comes in the shape of a ‘Choose your own adventure’ book that Max and Chloe made as a school project. You know, the kind where you jump from page to page according to your choices and see where the story takes you. It will get quite grim, I can tell you that much, and it actually turns out to be a lot of fun to read.

After some more snooping around and realizing that Chloe is already starting to show traces of a rebellious and reckless behaviour – as if the exploded dolls at the start weren’t enough proof –, Max once again tries to break the news to Chloe. It is after this moment that the feels hit hard, in a way that should be familiar to those who have lived through the five original episodes. I won’t spoil it to you, but you probably have already guessed what is going to happen at this point.

Farewell ends on a depressing, devastating note. It’s not as impactful as it could be, its prequel design to blame, but when put into context, this is a short and sweet tribute to a pair of memorable characters, no matter how flawed they might be. Life is Strange is a defining game, and while Before the Storm failed to live up to the hype – and decidedly put a very ‘normal’ teenage drama spin into a series that should be renowned for its sci-fi idiosyncrasies –, the leading duo will be missed.

Max and Chloe deserved this endearing yet awfully short send-off, and despite the lack of choices and actual gameplay, this has a place in the big picture. Farewell works as our very own goodbye and thank you for all the feels to these two kids who had to grow up so fast and live exciting time-rewinding adventures.

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