Disclaimer: Episodic games are a weird one to review; with a new episode comes a new review but it’s still the same game as before; it’d be like reviewing the campaign to Gears of War in five instalments and talking about how the shooting feels in each one. Consequently, there isn’t much talk of how the gameplay functions or Life is Strange’s aesthetic style here because it’s the same as it was in the previous episodes. If you don’t want to read this review in a vacuum, check out our reviews for Chrysalis and Out of Time.
Going back and watching old TV series, you realise how awkward those first few establishing episodes were, before the actors fell into their characters and the writers got to grips with what works and what doesn’t. Life is Strange felt a little like that to begin with, but I’m happy to say that Chaos Theory represents DONTNOD hitting their stride.
My main complaint throughout the first two episodes has been the clunky delivery of a lot of the puns and references and, whilst I’m not entirely sure it isn’t just Stockholm syndrome setting in, Chaos Theory’s delivery of its dialogue seems to be more comfortable than previous episodes. Don’t get me wrong, there is some cringe worthy teen dialogue, but it feels more natural, like a character who would make a cringe-worthy remark doing so, rather than just a poorly written line.