Although the game was released last week, I only managed to write down a review for it today, after my gaming passion was fully revived with this game, Life is Strange: Reunion.
Actually, the first Life is Strange games released were the very first "choices matter" games I ever played, as well as the very first games I ended up playing in tears. This happened almost 10 years ago, when, even though my gaming adventure had started a long time before, it still felt like one of the key moments in my overall gaming 'career' if we can call it that way. If you played any of the LIS games, I am sure you fully understand what I mean.
But if you didn't, then here is a little bit of background on the LIS games, because there are already seven games released from this series, and although the story of Chloe and Max will never continue, I would still love to play a few more LIS games in the future, even if they come with other protagonists. In fact, we already had different protagonists in some of these games, because Max and Chloe are only part of 4 games which are: the original Life is Strange (2015), the continuation Life is Strange: Double Exposure (2024), and the latest instalment Life is Strange: Reunion (2026), which formally reunites them. While Before the Storm is a prequel focused on Chloe, Max is not a playable character in it.
As I said, the beginning of the LIS series started back in 2015, when Max and Chloe were presented, yet two very different kids, but they somehow connected to each other, trying to build their future and remake their pasts, because Max has the power to rewind time, but this sometimes comes with consequences.
If you are into fun and comedy story-driven games, then keep in mind that none of the LIS games is like that, but rather emotional, full of trauma, trigger warnings, unconditional friendship and love, but also about the LGBTQ+ community, which might still make some people out there not really get interest into playing this.
Now, I've never been part of that community of people, but neither have I had an issue about it because I find it weird to question the love between two people, no matter their genders, and I strongly believe there is really a place for anyone on this planet, too. Hence why, I had no problem playing the games, but rather educated myself from some points of view, after seeing some perspectives that these people have to face.
If you haven't played the other games but don't have the interest into starting this whole journey from so long ago, after an intro of a few minutes where you get to see some of the most important moments from Chloe and Max's life, you will have the option to pick or randomnize the relationship between Max and some other characters that are present in Life is Strange: Reunion game.
You can both keep it low with realistic life situations or turn it into a whole drama setting, with Max having a relationship with each of Amanda, Chloe, Safiya and Vinh. But honestly, I think it's a very wild take that will create a lot of chaos in the game and make it less close to reality and the emotion it was meant to share with the players.
As soon as you make your decision on Max's relationships, the game will begin. And just like the LIS series has already got us used to, there is no time to wait before seeing a whole madness happening out there, where Max has to travel back in time and align things as best as she can, to prevent the worst scenario ever.
Now, a thing that I would like to mention is that I really appreciate how the graphics of these games have evolved over time. I still enjoyed these from the first games because they have an emotion apart, but I really enjoy seeing the graphics be visibly improved, while still keeping a modern, cinematic 3D graphical style instead of seeing real people. Even if they looked absolutely stunning, I think we all would find them very weird and not aligned with the rest of the games, constantly distracting us from what we used to know this series for.
The main story of the game focuses on a fire that starts at Caledon University, where Max is a photography teacher, but she wasn't present at the time the event takes place, but still notices the disaster from a distance while being called by Moses, who speaks about it.
Sadly, at the time Max reaches the university, the flames are already over the whole building with people locked inside, but what catches Max's attention the most is that she notices both Moses and Chloe are meant to die in that fire.
So, although the things between her and Chloe have previously ended, each of them following a different path, she decides to use one of her images to rewind time and look for all possible clues and suspects that could start the fire which was set.
What at first seems like a random event that could be resolved pretty quick, things turn out to be a lot more complex than I thought, leading to no less than 7 suspects where each one of them has a valid reason to hate the university and possibly set it on fire, as well as an organized group of protesters that play their role pretty well.
Even more than that, this also leads to the key moment of the game when fans get to see Chloe and Max reunited for one last time, yet a thing that I absolutely loved seeing as well.
While the romance sequences were a lot more present in the previous games, in Life is Strange: Reunion we are speaking about two fully grown women with a common past, who, although their personal lives took separate and different twists, they are still enjoying their time spent together.
Of course, this action can be changed from the very start of the game when you set up the relationship between the two, but if you are a fan of the series, I think we can both agree that it doesn't make a lot of sense seeing the two other than in a romantic relationship.
Along with all the scenes that seem more or less familiar to us, we also have different sceneries to explore, new places to travel to, as well as some next-level missions like the one where Max attended a party at the Abraxas House, where each participant had to use one of the masks you see in the first picture from above and is anything but a commong party one would expect to see.
Now, a thing that I forgot to mention at the beginning, is that Life is Strange series of games are some of the most cinematic games someone can play, which means, pretty much, a movie with very little intervention of a gamer, except when being needed to look for clues or pick the dialogue here and there, with each answer leading to a different twist of the game and ending.
So if you are one of those gamers who enjoy lots of action, then this game is definitely not for you. Although there is indeed some action in there, you won't really get to press a lot of buttons as you usually do in any other game out there.
Some new characters later and plenty of clues gathered, the path I followed in the game led to the conclusion that there is really nothing you can do to actually stop the fire because, although I ended up figuring out who the fire starter/s are, the fire still happened.
I am not sure if this happens on all paths, but I am assuming it does because otherwise the game will end up a lot sooner than it was meant to. However, crazy twists are still happening, and an unexpected ending will still pop up no matter how well you make your decisions in the game.
And speaking about endings, I got an ending that obviously left me in tears, although it wasn't the worst that could have happened. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this series of games has a special meaning for me, with an emotion apart, although I have nothing in common with what I used to be more than 10 years ago when the first game was released.
I think it's more like what I got to feel back at that age, or the people that were around in my life that are no longer in 2026, but I strongly feel Life is Strange as one of the series that got the closest to my heart, despite how many years are passing over me.
What about you, though? Have you played any of the LIS games before, or this brand new release, Life is Strange: Reunion?
If so, don't hesitate to let me know in the comments what path you took and the ending you got. I am very curious to find out more about some other paths one can follow in this game, since I obviously don't have the time available to start the game all over again to explore some newer paths. At least not for now.
Oh, and by the way, I am planning to upload all the video gameplays I recorded while playing LIS Reunion on my YouTube channel starting 20th April, as I currently have the Hogwarts Legacy running.
So if you are interested in seeing actual footage of the game, you can take a look and possibly drop a sub HERE! I'm still dreaming of reaching that 1,000 subs goal! Thanks! 🐺
NOTE:
- all the pictures attached are in-game screenshots taken by me (unless if other stated). 📸
- this article is trying to stay away from revealing spoilers. ⚠️
- this is a personal review and should not be taken as real advice on either playing the game or not, because the opinion might be subjective. 🗯
- this article was written exclusively for the Hive community and its members. ❤️
Here is a list of some other games I wrote reviews about and you might like:
....
20.Forza Horizon 5 🚓 - 5/5
21.Watch Dogs: Legion 💻 - 4/5
22.Far Cry 6 💣 - 5/5
23.inZOI 👧 - 4/5
24.Assassin's Creed Shadows 🥷 - 5/5
25.Call of the Wild: The Angler 🎣 - 4.5/5
26.Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy 💥 - 5/5
27.Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League 🔨 - 3/5
28.Life is Strange: Reunion - A Game Series That Marked My Childhood 📸 - 5/5
| Game | Life is Strange: Reunion |
|---|---|
| Release Date | 26 Mar, 2026 |
| Played On | Steam |
| Price | 39,99€ |
| Genre | Choices Matter, Cinematic, Adventure |
| Completed | Main |
| My Rating | ★★★★★ |
| Hours Played | 12.4hrs |
Gabriela Travels is a Curator for Worldmappin and Hive Gaming communities, but also the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences.
At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe.
Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (300+ articles written on this field), but also approaching other topics as well, like game and book reviews, lets plays, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 750+ blog posts.
Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, owning a YouTube channel for each of the two.
~ @GabrielaTravels ~