I'm a massive Life is Strange fan. It's one of my favorite videogame franchises of all time, with my love transcending the games and into the books and comics, of which I own them all. I even have a tattoo. Suffice to say, LiS holds a truly special place in my heart, but in 2024, Double Exposure left me with a sense of disappointment that I couldn't shake, though a hint of hope for the series remained with those four words staring at me upon the game's completion: "Max Caulfield will return."
To me, that signified a huge opportunity for Deck Nine to pull everything back after what I, and many other fans, consider to be the worst Life is Strange game. It still pains me to think that, as I truly love Max Caulfield, and don't share that same connection with the cast of Life is Strange 2. Still, Double Exposure was a letdown in several ways. If you want to know what those are, our staff writer Daz covers them in their Life is Strange: Double Exposure review. Yes, I absolutely share their views and criticisms.
However, I'm not here to discuss DE. Last week, Life is Strange: Reunion hit the shelves following its initial announcement in January 2026. I've been eagerly anticipating it since then, particularly with the return of one of my favorite characters of all time. After the first Double Exposure trailer, I asked, "Where is Chloe Price?" I didn't have that on my mind anymore, with the green-haired punk showing up in the Reunion reveal. Even if you didn't see the trailer, the name gave away what you could expect.
In just five days, I've completed Life is Strange: Reunion three times and picked up my shiny platinum trophy, yet I still can't put it down. That alone should tell you just how good the game is, but I want to tell you why it's almost everything I wanted, along with the main hang-ups I have (which are pretty minor, all things considered). While I'm going to do my utmost to avoid major spoilers, there may be some minor details mentioned, so please bear that in mind if you continue reading and have yet to play.
Firstly, I want to give myself a little pat on the back for foreseeing where the franchise was going with the conclusion of Double Exposure. Watching Max merge the two timelines immediately made me think of Chloe, and how it would present an opportunity to bring her back, regardless of your decision at the end of the first game. I'm sure many of you had similar thoughts, but, following the disappointing narrative in Double Exposure, I had reservations about whether or not Deck Nine would truly do the reunion of Max Caulfield and Chloe Price justice.
Luckily, the team did a wonderful job. I'm not exaggerating when I say that the story offers exactly what I wanted. However, I must admit that some of your choices, regardless of your decision, do feel somewhat inconsequential, which I'll explain in more detail soon. The actual Reunion of Max and Chloe differs slightly depending on whether Chloe died - I got goosebumps when I heard the specific song play with dead Chloe standing in front of Max. If you know, you know.
You get to decide which Chloe you have at the very beginning of the game, with you needing to make five crucial decisions: did you romance Amanda, is Chloe alive or dead, did you romance Chloe (who didn't), did you support or reject Safi, and did you romance Vinh. These choices can have an impact on some of the interactions you have in Reunion, so consider them carefully. Or, you can do what I'm doing and slowly work your way through all sorts of combinations, except for Max and Chloe just being friends. I'll be a PriceField lover till the day I die.
The mystery of Caledon's fire is an interesting one, and there's no guarantee that you'll uncover what's happening before it's too late. There's plenty of optional evidence to find, leading you to the correct conclusions, but it's up to you to fully explore your surroundings, make the right choices, and do well in your social interactions to get the full picture and save those lives. On my first time through, my heart genuinely broke as I realized that, in my rush to help, I failed to pick up on a clue that would have saved the life of a very endearing student with such a bright future ahead of them. It made me determined to correct that mistake on my second playthrough. In that moment, I think I gained an even deeper understanding of the turmoil Max faces.
I think that's the thing I love the most about the narrative: you actually need to guess who starts the fire, and you can be wrong. Being wrong has disastrous consequences, as it should, and can lead to the loss of more lives. In the grand scheme of things, my first playthrough wasn't a complete disaster, with some players losing more people than I did. My second time around, you best believe I saved everyone. Oh, and I did guess correctly straight out of the gate on both counts, so props to me for that, I guess.
For the first time, you get to play as both Chloe and Max as they work together to solve the mystery of what starts the fire at Caledon. Not only do you control the pair separately at times, but when having conversations together, you get choices for both of them. You can have a direct impact on their relationship, which I love. There are some special moments these two can share, along with some great comedic timing that's sure to put a smile on your face.
The Partners in Time are back and on form, both playing to their strengths to get to the bottom of what's going on. For Max, this naturally involves the use of her time-bending powers, while Chloe puts her smart mouth to use with the backtalk mechanic, something you may recognize from Before the Storm.
However, while backtalk is fun and requires you to pay attention to your surroundings to help Chloe win the interaction, I think it's underutilized. There are just four occasions in the entire game that you can use this mechanic, so it would have been nice to have more opportunities, even if they didn't necessarily make a huge impact on what happens. Max has loads of chances to tweak things with her powers, and some of them are unimportant but fun - more of that for Chloe would have been good.
Besides the lack of backtalk opportunities, the thing that really holds Reunion back, as I briefly touched on, is how inconsequential some of your choices are. Numerous times throughout the game, you face decisions that have 'consequences.' However, as someone with numerous playthroughs under her belt, I can confirm that some of them have little impact. In fact, one of them didn't appear to do anything at all beyond changing a bit of dialogue later in the game, but the outcome remained the same. Again, I really enjoyed the story in Reunion, but some choices should make a much bigger impact. Oh well, at least there are harsh consequences if your detective skills fall short and you fail to pinpoint the right suspects.
Above all else, to put it simply, I love how Reunion finishes. Max and Chloe get the ending they deserve - though this isn't a complete guarantee, depending on how many people you save in the fire and what you decide to do with Chloe's final choice at the end of the game. I don't want to get into what I mean too much here, but you can piece together what happens post-game through some pictures. The absolute best ending, in my opinion, is saving everyone from the fire and handing Max her selfie, as it offers a sense of closure and gives you a glimpse of wonderful character development for Max.
As a massive Life is Strange fan, I think Reunion is a worthy finale for Max and Chloe, and perhaps the game series as a whole, for now. There's certainly an opening to revisit LiS and the two characters at the heart of it all (or perhaps see what it's like to be Safi), but it's a nice conclusion for these ladies who have been through so much. It also gives you, the player, some good closure on all of the choices you've made and the events you've experienced with your favorite Partners in Time.