I would also give it a solid 8 and my second favorite in the series without a doubt. Even if I could never shake the feeling that the studio played it too safe with how hard it seemed like a course correction from Life Is Strange 2.
I don't know if I'll go back and replay it. For sure I'll go back and play some of my favorite individual scenes but it definitely felt like there was a clear right and wrong choice to everything. At least to me it did so I don't feel the need to go back and replay the game to see different outcomes because I'm extremely happy and satisfied with the ending I got. I was smiling the whole way through the ending and for the majority of the game for that matter.
Some of the things that bugged me and I would love to more was I would have loved to see more about her past with Gabe integrated into previous episodes other than the fantastic nightmare sequence. It felt too important to just shove in at the end like that.
At certain points when I was playing it felt like the best game in the series. The acting, mocap, animations are leaps and bounds the best in the series. Then, as I was approaching the end, I started to feel Like something was missing. All of the pieces are there, but it feels a bit...empty?
there just seemed to be a critical emotional anchor missing.
Typhon wasn't quite as imposing or ruthless a threat as it could have been. And aside from one or two characters and a few NPCs saying they worked there, it felt like a strangely disconnected entity. I didn't feel it like a shadow lingering over the town the way I suspect D9 intended.
I romanced Steph, and their tender moment following their performance at the Spring Festival felt fairly meek when compared to Chloe and Rachel's performance of the tempest and subsequent (optional) kiss under the streetlights in a flurry of ash.
The mystery didn't feel quite as deep or as urgent, and the relationships didn't quite feel as concrete. The NPCs were wonderful, especially during the full-town LARP, but at a point it felt like I was only passing through Haven Springs.
I felt like a tourist, hitting the important stops and observing what the town had to offer, but it never quite felt as deep as it could have. Something I don't think the series has really accomplished since Arcadia Bay: diners, truckers, school, politics, the economy, the higher ups and the lowlifes.
safe is the word I'd use to describe the whole game. The cutscene when talking with Gabe about the future was tremendously well done, but once you make your choice it's a quick shot of Alex either on a dock or on a stage and then it's roll credits. A bizarre choice if you ask me. When the credits hit the screen I was a bit confused, thinking I'd get at least a little more time to tell Steph of my decision, to decompress with several of the other characters. Idk even though I loved my ending that I got I just wanted a bit more out of it.
I'm not saying it would have worked pacing wise, but if there had been more time to explore the town, visit the shops more than once or twice, witness the real day to day, and give us some more breathing room between important story beats, I think it would've really helped.
Flower delivers, jam session mini games in the record store, kayaking, hiking. Like, have a location-based "side quest" pertaining to each character or something. Really do something the series hasn't done before, you have a "free roam" environment, use it.
I also want to add on about the time jumps, nothing makes me feel more disconnected from the story than jumping forward a week and reading about what everyone has been up to. I play narrative driven story games to be immersed in the story, nothing pulls me out of that more than constantly time jumping long periods. I think the reason the first game worked so well for me is everything was set over the course of a week, everything max had been through we had also been through it, when you take that away everything is a lot less impactful.
Have some real time pass. Let me see the sun set on the lake, walk the town at night with Steph or Ryan. Let me experience some of the wacky and fun moments that you read about in the text messages. Let me live in this apartment, this town, just a little bit before I hit the major plot beats and boom, the game is over. Let the town rub off on me like Alex rubbed off on it.
It seemed we'd get some stuff like that in the first three chapters, but with chapter 4 basically being one quick stroll through the town, a performance, a smooch, and getting shot in the face, then chapter five being one long cutscene, I was left feeling a bit...underwhelmed.
ALL THAT SAID
I loved Alex. They absolutely nailed a compelling and sympathetic protagonist. Far more than an empty shell for the player to inhabit. Steph and Ryan were sooooo well done, even if there's a bit more that could've been done romance wise. I feel like TC could definitely be even more phenomenal but It's great to be left wanting more, instead of glad we got it over with. A truly fantastic game.
I'm so happy Alex got closure after all the hell she's been put through and is living a happy life with Steph in Haven Springs.