Life Is Strange: Double Exposure’s expensive “early access” period began yesterday, October 15, which allows folks to play the first two episodes of the game before the full launch on October 29. However, a revelation in those early episodes has sent shockwaves through the series’ fandom, especially those who were invested in the original game’s love story between its time-traveling protagonist Max Caufield and her punk best friend Chloe Price. Spoilers ahead.
In a scene in the first episode of Double Exposure, a now college-aged Max sits at a diner with her friend Safi. Max has been enigmatic with her new friends, so Safi is grilling her on her past and demands some answers. This is the segment that lets the player determine which of the original Life Is Strange endings is “canon” to them, as well as solidify the nature of Max and Chloe’s relationship. Were they best friends or high school sweethearts? That’s up to you to decide, but it looks like there’s no version of events where Max and Chloe are still together, and Chloe either died at the end of the first game, or the two girls split up.
In a vacuum, this development could make sense. People grow apart, especially friends and significant others from high school. But given what Max and Chloe went through together in the first Life Is Strange, it does not sit well with fans that their relationship would be discarded off-screen.
Chloe’s reasoning for leaving Max is apparently due to the time-traveling photographer’s inability to move on from the events of the first game. This is part of Max’s arc in Double Exposure, as she has sworn off using her time-rewinding abilities after they had catastrophic consequences. It seems like Max is dealing with a lot of trauma from her past, even many years later, and if Chloe is alive, her inability to move forward is what broke down the relationship, according to a letter the player can find. Not that the explanation is satisfactory to everyone.
Ultimately, we still don’t know if Chloe’s role in Double Exposure is just a dialogue option and a postcard because the full game isn’t out yet. But given how big of a reveal this is for longtime fans, I have to wonder if releasing the sequel in pieces was the wisest option. If Chloe does show up and things are different by the end of the game, I imagine some fans would be more willing to sit with and examine this development. Or maybe this reveal makes more sense in the context of the full game. I’ll hold judgment until I see the game through to the end, but I’m not surprised that fans aren’t thrilled to find these characters in such a different place from where they left them. We’ll know more when the rest of the game is out on October 29.
