When Life Is Strange<\/em> debuted in 2015 from developer Dontnod Entertainment, it lit a fire in my belly. I\u2019d recently come out, and there was something infectiously joyful about getting the option to see young queer girls as heroes in a sci-fi, time-bending adventure. It also came at a time of great upheaval for LGBTQ+ rights, with the Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. I point all of this out because it\u2019s important not to get it twisted: the relationship between the quiet and introverted photographer Max Caulfield and the misfit Chloe Price, romantic or not, remains meaningful to me \u2014 and to many other queer fans \u2014 even after a decade.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n <\/p>\n So it pains me to say that Life Is Strange: Reunion<\/em> is the most cowardly conclusion to that relationship for anyone who actually saw its value and complexity. Worse, it comes from one born from a truly staggering overcorrection of things about both the original 2015 game and Deck Nine\u2019s 2024 sequel, Life Is Strange: Double Exposure<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A decade ago, Life Is Strange<\/em> gave players a choice. As young teen Max Caulfield, players had to decide whether to sacrifice the small Oregon town of Arcadia Bay or to sacrifice Chloe. It’s revealed that after Max saved her the first time (and discovered she had the power to rewind time in the process), Chloe’s existence inadvertently forced fate to conjure up a storm to fix Max\u2019s meddling with time. No matter which you chose, the ending perfectly paid off a phrase that\u2019s repeatedly brought up throughout the original game: your actions will have consequences.<\/p>\n Even Double Exposure<\/em>, as maligned as it is for reasons ranging from fans feeling Deck Nine \u201cdisrespected\u201d the relationship between Max and Chloe to that weird, mind-boggling merge of universes in the last couple of episodes, attempted to grapple with the choices of the original game. If you sacrificed Chloe, Max\u2019s guilt and loss of her best friend and romantic partner continued to haunt her. If you sacrificed the town, it\u2019s revealed that her relationship with Chloe was bogged down by so much guilt that it was starting to build resentment between the two of them. Sue me, but I think the break-up makes sense \u2014 especially as it was so obvious that the love between the two of them was still there \u2014 and adds an interesting aspect to Max, Chloe, and their relationship. More importantly, we got to see a more mature Max deal with grief and form relationships with characters like Moses and Safi, as well as several other faculty members at Caledon University. Max without Chloe was always going to be unpopular, but Max’s development throughout Double Exposure<\/em> felt meaningful.<\/p>\n Reunion<\/em>, however, laughs at the idea of being a true sequel to either game, except in name. While it plays with the set-up of the original, with Max having three days before the university where she works goes up in flames, at the same time as having to contend with the arrival of Chloe Price on the scene, that\u2019s really where the connection ends. Chloe\u2019s arrival, regardless of whether you picked Bae or Bay in the original, is explained by Max\u2019s merging of two different realities in Double Exposure<\/em>, which occurred after Max refused to live in a world without Safi, her new best friend at Caledon University. Or that\u2019s what Deck Nine\u2019s original intent was \u2014 that reason gets retconned entirely in Reunion<\/em>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the only thing that the developers throw away in this new adventure. Instead of engaging with the merged world introduced in Double Exposure<\/em> in a way that reflects the original game\u2019s theme of consequence, Deck Nine decided to discard that approach entirely. It strings Max and Chloe along like puppets, moving them around to replay the old hits (e.g., callbacks like Chloe saving Max with her truck and other exaggerated references to the original, which do not result in a better, more cohesive game) and hoping to evoke the same feelings.<\/p>\n Spoiler: they do not, and this makes the nostalgia bait in Reunion <\/em>stand out even more. That is, if the reused assets from Double Exposure<\/em>, minus interactable buildings and NPC conversations, don\u2019t already make that obvious.<\/p>\n Those who suffer most from Deck Nine\u2019s scrambling to create a game to entice Max and Chloe fans back are everyone else involved in the story, particularly the characters introduced in Double Exposure<\/em>. Max breaks up with her previously established love interests Vinh and Amanda off-screen, and there\u2019s no real way to talk to them about it again. Next, everyone who Max talked to about her powers \u2014 minus her Caledon besties, Safi and Moses \u2014 has completely forgotten about them. That whole ending where Diamond\u2019s powers are teased to be significant? She doesn\u2019t even appear in the game. Even Safi, whose will-they-won\u2019t-they relationship with Max was so paramount to Double Exposure<\/em>, is pushed to the side.<\/p>\n Hell, even Max and Chloe\u2019s relationship isn\u2019t given any real significant choice outside of being romantic or platonic. You start the story by choosing how Life is Strange<\/em> ended for you, as well as who you dated in Double Exposure<\/em> and whether you supported Safi in it, but those choices barely change Reunion<\/em>\u2019s story. In the original, you could challenge Chloe\u2019s attitude and scold her that she wasn\u2019t the only important thing in Max\u2019s life. Now, however, Chloe is Max\u2019s main objective, and damn anyone else who gets in her way. Even if you choose to play as though you saved Chloe, but her and Max broke up, they have a single conversation about why before it\u2019s back to business as usual. There are no hurdles, no real choices to make, which actually signify progress for these characters. Even the reintroduction of Max\u2019s time-rewinding superpower \u2014 something which she swore never to do again because of how severe the consequences were last time \u2014 isn\u2019t given more of a passing thought. Who cares? Max and Chloe are here, everyone!<\/p>\n Now, don\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019m so glad to be with Max and Chloe again. Hannah Telle and Rihanna DeVries deliver heartfelt performances in this game, evoking deep emotions and taking you back to the simpler beginnings of the original. There, Max and Chloe found refuge and love amidst a time when it truly felt like they were up against the world. Both performances are tender, and I have to admit I teared up a couple of times. Yet even their performances couldn\u2019t prevent my disbelief that this was the game Square Enix specifically marketed as giving Max and Chloe the \u201cending they deserve\u201d, because sure, but I didn\u2019t think it would (or want it to) come at the cost of Reunion<\/em> completely undermining everything else (specifically player choice) in the process.<\/p>\n Because the player\u2019s choices in Reunion<\/em> are very limited, so is the gameplay. In the original, Max\u2019s rewind powers let players solve problems in different ways, like opening a locked safe without Chloe\u2019s stepdad noticing or warning Alyssa about an upcoming accident. While the earlier moments in Life is Strange<\/em> didn\u2019t significantly advance the plot, they helped us connect more with individual characters. Even if those characters weren\u2019t as central as others, it made a difference to you, the player. The most exciting thing Max can do with her powers in Reunion<\/em> is rewind repeatedly until she gets the right answer. Groundbreaking. This is supposed to be a \u2018your actions have consequences\u2019 franchise, not the \u2018the only actions that matter are the ones that make the loudest fans the happiest\u2019 franchise. I\u2019m not naive; I know game development is a business, but the lack of integrity from Deck Nine with Reunion<\/em> is so incredibly shocking that it would be an insult to call this poor fanfiction.<\/p>\n I should be happy that Max and Chloe even get the option of a happy ending. We\u2019re currently living in an era marked by a rise in anti-queer sentiment and rollback of LGBTQ+ laws. Moreover, even though there are more queer stories being told, we\u2019re not exactly drowning in happy endings. In many ways, Reunion<\/em> is a win in that regard.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s hard to be ecstatic when Reunion<\/em> is a pale imitation that\u2019s too cowardly to put forward original ideas and, in fact, directly undermines the sequels it’s supposed to respect. If this is the ending fans deserve, then Deck Nine can keep it.<\/p>\n Life Is Strange: Reunion is out now on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on PS5 using a prerelease download code provided by Square Enix. You can find <\/em>additional information about Polygon\u2019s ethics policy here<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Chloe](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/life-is-strange-reunion-chloe-and-max.png?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Image: Deck Nine Games\/Square Enix<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Max](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/life-is-strange-reunion-max-empty-room.png?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Image: Deck Nine Games\/Square Enix<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Chloe](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/life-is-strange-reunion-chloe.png?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Image: Deck Nine Games\/Square Enix<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n