Life Is Strange: Episode 5

 

(Beware of spoilers for anyone who has not played all 5 of the episodes. You have been warned!)

 

A gripping and satisfying conclusion to the popular gaming series known as Life Is Strange. From the very beginning, I was completely captivated by the story and the characters shown in the episodes. Poor Max Caulfield has seen the worst of what Arcadia Bay has to offer and has come out at the end with a satisfying conclusion to herself and for those she surrounds herself with.

 

So lets do a quick recap as to how we got from point A, episode 1, to point B, episode 5. The most obvious thing we notice at the beginning, even before Max gets her powers, is the fact that Rachel Amber has been missing for months and as we walk through the corridor after Jefferson's class, her poster is on the double doors for all of us to see and interact with. So we all know Rachel is missing. (Great, one thing down.) As time goes on we soon discover that Chloe and Rachel were really close while Max was away for 5 years and that Chloe is the one looking for her and is putting up the missing person posters. Once episode 1 ends, we all have many questions, one of which, 'Where is Rachel Amber and what is the significance?'. Episode 4 gives us part 1 of the answer to the question: Rachel Amber is dead.

 

Chloe and Max follow all the clues and information they collected in episodes 1, 2 and 3, and this leads them to the place where the Dark Room is hidden. They go down into the room and find Rachel's photos. They then head to the junkyard and discover Rachel's body. So we know  that she is gone but then we get to the second part of the question: "What is the significance?" That's when episode 5 comes in...

Max gets captured by Jefferson and then has to sit there while he takes photos of her and say why he is doing this. Mr Jefferson is a passionate artist who has taken that step from passion to obsession. He talks about how the "impure" models who approach him, don't have that purity that young, unsuspecting girls do. He explains how he likes to capture the image at the height of their innocence and Jefferson believes that particular moment can only be captured when the person is fading in and out of consciousness.

Max soon notices that some photos of herself from a few moments before in the Dark Room are on a table in front of her. She uses her powers and travels backwards to that moment when Jefferson is taking his "best photos". This wasn't the place Max wanted to be and she ends up passing out completely and ending up where she started before. Max finally asks what happened to Rachel Amber. Jefferson explains that he took Nathan Prescott under his wing and became a father figure to him. Nathan wanted to be Mark so much that he started trying to do his own "Dark Room Sessions" by purchasing drugs from Frank, to then finding girls and drugging them, to then taking their photos. Mark explains that Nathan first tried his luck with Rachel Amber but then accidentally gave her an overdose, consequently killing her. Then again with Chloe but she got away, thus leading to the confrontation in the bathroom. (Phew, that's a lot of information but bear with me.)

So, for me, mind officially blown but there was still some questions left unanswered. Rachel Amber's disappearance was like a little side quest for Max when really that was Chloe's main quest. Max was really heading towards stopping the tornado. But, due to something Max did in the past, the tornado happens anyway. Max knows she has to bust Nathan and Mark somewhere back in time. So she finds the selfie that she took in Jefferson's class, all the way back in episode 1. She changes and few things but every time she thinks she has fixed it, the tornado happens. 

After some crazy time jumps and a weird dream sequence, she decides to just weather out the storm with Chloe at the lighthouse. But Max watches as the tornado nears Acadia Bay and then says "I caused this! All of this! This is my storm!" Chloe tries to calm Max down but it doesn't work. Chloe then reveals the Butterfly Photo that Max took moments before she discovered that she could rewind time. Chloe then says "You could use that photo, to go back and fix everything. All you would have to do is let me..." Max, teary eyed, shouts "Fuck that! You're my number 1 priority and I won't trade you!" Chloe than says that she isn't being traded and that Max has just been avoiding their fate and that Max is the only one who can make this choice.

You are then given the series final choice: sacrifice Chloe or sacrifice Arcadia Bay? Me being the heart-wrenching person I was at the time of my first play through, I chose to sacrifice Arcadia Bay. (Bad Ending. For argument sake, compared to the other ending, this one is the bad one) Chloe and Max embrace as the tornado smashes into Acadia Bay and then once the storm settles, Max and Chloe drive off into the sunset. 

 

So, in my opinion, this isn't the best ending although it is what I would have wanted to see Max and Chloe do because after everything you have witnessed them experience as best friends, it is the most heart breaking thing to force them to them separate forever. But when you look at the bigger picture, letting Chloe go is the right thing to do.

 

When you choose to let Chloe go, depending on your choices, Max and Chloe will have a teary goodbye or they will KISS and then have a teary goodbye. So that proves another question we all had which was whether Max was in love with Chloe and it completely depends on your choices and whether you did everything to benefit Chloe e.g. taking Chloe's side in the fight with David etc. But whatever you choose, you will have to endure this absolutely crushing goodbye between best friends.

 

Max then uses the Butterfly Photo to travel back and then just sit there while everything happens. Through the entire series, Max has told herself and has been told that she is 'Super Max' but the first heroic thing she set out to do is now becoming the most cowardly thing she had to do. She is forced to sit there and face reality and her true fate. When she finally hears the gunshot, she completely breaks down and just curls up in a corner. We then see the future change...

 

Due to shooting Chloe, Nathan is arrested immediately by David and then interrogated. This leads to Jefferson's arrest and all the bad things that happened before, didn't happen this time. Just like in episode 3 when Max changes the future and sees all the polaroids change to something else, we get to see that again but we see all the moments that Chloe and Max shared together, get burned away and changed to something else. With each change, you feel the crushing emotion of the change. After that is finished, we skip forward to the present time where Max is about to attend Chloe's funeral which just adds to all the emotion but you can't help but feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction because Chloe wanted Max to get justice for Rachel and all the other victims of Nathan and Mark Jefferson and she did, not only that, Max also stopped the tornado from killing loads of people in Arcadia Bay. The final scene is of Max looking at Chloe's coffin as a Blue Butterfly lands on the lid and rests, Max smiles to herself and then the credits roll...

 

Wow, this entire series has been so emotional but also so amazing. I tried to anticipate how the series would end but honestly, even will all the theories, I still couldn't of guessed how the final episode would play out. I think the creators have done a phenomenal job with keeping the story interesting, entertaining and mind blowing since day 1! I think a lot of players knew that Chloe would have to die but I think the developers may have done this on purpose because it means throughout the entire game they might build this false hope that they could possibly save Chloe and also stop the tornado but unfortunately, it's either one or the other.

 

Overall, I am really sad to see this series end and I hope we see more games like this in 2016 but I know that they will struggle to top this game due to its uniqueness and general high quality.

 

I've had a really good time playing and reviewing the episodes and I hope you enjoyed this final episode review for Life Is Strange.

 

Happy Gaming Everyone! 

Until Dawn: What Happened to Hannah & Beth?

 

(This post contains major spoilers to the key plot to Until Dawn. If you don't want to have the story ruined, don't read this post!)

 

So, Until Dawn has been out for a while now and many people, like myself, have done their best to collect all the clues and try to unravel the mystery. 

For those who have played the story, we all are aware that at the beginning, Beth and Hannah go missing in Blackwood Pines, never to be seen again. The main story takes place a year after they go missing. So, we know that much, however, despite the majority of people completing the game and trying to keep everyone alive, some people are still confused as to what happened to Hannah and Beth. This post will explain what happened and why.

 

To begin with, Hannah has a massive crush on Mike, Jess and Emily find out and decide to play a mean prank on Hannah to teach her a lesson. Matt and Ashley also joined in on the prank. Jess left a fake note for Hannah to find which read, "Hannah, you looked so hot in that top. But I bet you look even hotter out of it. ;) Meet me in the guest room at 2:00AM, Mike xxx" 

Hannah believed the note and proceeded to go to Mike's room, only to be surprised by all her friends in the room with a camera, just as she was about to get unchanged. Sam bursts into the room too late and tries to explain that it was just a mean prank. Hannah was so embarrassed that she ran out of the lodge. Once Hannah left, Beth saw her and proceeded to chase after her through the woods.

Once Beth found Hannah, they got chased themselves by something, which caused them to be driven to the cliff. Hannah loses her footing and falls over the edge, dragging Beth with her. Beth manages to grab hold of a branch but this doesn't last long. No matter what choice you make, the twins still fall of the cliff and into the mines.

 

In the game, that is where we last see the twins. But here is what happened while they were down there...

 

Beth was killed when she landed on a rock that was below the cliff, she then fell down the mine shaft that was open. Hannah wasn't killed by the fall but got knocked out and she broke her leg. Hannah realised her sister was dead and decided to bury her, right after she took Beth's jumper to keep her warm. By this point she had been down the mine nearly 5 days. Hannah by this point stated in her diary she made, that she had never been this hungry and that she was still hoping help would come.

By the 30th day down the mine, Hannah had no choice but to dig Beth up and eat her. She states in her diary that she is "So sorry" and that she had "No choice". She also says it is the only way she can survive anymore. By day 33, the Windego curse had begun to consume Hannah. She talks about how her nails had been pushed out and that she couldn't feel the pain of her broken leg anymore and that she was getting stronger.      

The last page of her diary says it all. It is just etched writing saying "HUNGER" or "HUNGRY" over and over. By this point, Hannah was at the final stages of becoming a Windego.

 

So, we are all up to speed so far. Because Hannah resulted to cannibalism, she then turned into a Windego. A year later, she then had no control on whether she wanted to hunt her friends down, one by one. However, if you collect all the twins clues while in the game. When Sam and Mike find Josh in the mines, Sam tells Josh what happened to his sisters. Through this, when Josh was confronted by Windego Hannah, Josh yells "Hannah!?" as he notices her butterfly tattoo on her shoulder. By doing this, Hannah recognises Josh and keeps him alive. Only for him to later on, be left down the mines to starve and then also result to cannibalism and become a Windego.    

There you have it. The true story as to what happened to the Washington Twins. It is a tragic story of how desperation can bring out the worst in some people. When I realised that was what happened, I was so shocked that I convinced myself that it wasn't that and that it must be something else. But, unfortunately, that happened to them and Hannah had to live through it.

Hope you enjoyed and Happy Gaming!

Life Is Strange: Episode 5 Theory

The Importance of the Butterfly Photo

 

(Spoilers ahead!)

 

I've been thinking about what could possibly happen in the final episode of Life Is Strange and all my ideas have come to one conclusion so far. It has to do with the butterfly photo Max took in the first episode which was followed by the event of Max discovering her powers. I think that is photo has a lot more importance then just a simple photo of the butterfly.

Now, many people have speculated that Chloe has to die in order to stop the tornado from coming to Arcadia Bay. This is in relation to chaos theory, one of the sayings are "A flap of a butterfly wing can cause a tornado further down the line." What if it isn't referring to the actual butterfly in Life Is Strange but to Chloe. Maybe her living after that day is the theoretical "Wing Flap" which causes the tornado.

I have no concrete idea on how Max would figure this out in order to realise she has to go back and let her best friend die. However, in light of her new ability to jump back in time through photos, she has a path back to the exact moment when she would have to let Chloe die. When she took the butterfly photo. Big question, where is the photo now?

In episode 1, when Chloe is looking at all the photos Max took that day, she comes across the butterfly photo and realises that Max saved her life in the toilet. A few moments later, Max tries to fix her original camera but cannot. Chloe then offers to give Max William's camera. In exchange, Chloe takes the butterfly photo. So, Chloe has the butterfly photo. There is further proof throughout some episodes because Max is given the opportunity to look through Chloe's jacket and look through her wallet. In the wallet she finds a photo of Rachel Amber and the butterfly photo next to it. Max states "It's so touching that Chloe would put my photo right next to Rachel's." This can be seen in episode 3 and 4. So up until episode 4, Chloe still has the butterfly photo in her wallet, which should be in the jacket she was wearing when she gets shot at the end of episode 4.

Before she gets to Chloe's body, Max will need to escape from Mr Jefferson. Again, I am unsure how Max will do this because in the episode 5 teaser, Mr Jefferson is about to inject her with more drugs which will not allow her to use her powers effectively or at all for a certain amount of time. She may have to endure the torture that Mr Jefferson puts her through and then rewind when she gets the chance. Maybe someone comes to rescue her? I am totally unsure but I am quite sure that the
butterfly photo has a greater significance to the progression of the story.   

That's my theory so far. I don't claim this to be true, it is just a theory and I am hoping that Episode 5 brings a satisfying and question answering conclusion to the entire story. I'm positive that the creators of Life Is Strange will not disappoint us because they haven't disappointed us yet with the story so far.

Hope you enjoyed reading about my theory and Happy Gaming!   

Life Is Strange: Episode 4

 

(Warning! This post includes Spoilers!)

 

We all finally know what happened to Rachel Amber. Unfortunately, the outcome was what most people came to expect in terms of what happened to Rachel. In my opinion, while I was playing through the episodes, once we found the note Nathan wrote about Rachel in the Dark Room, I came to assume that she was still in there alive and just locked away for whatever reason. But sadly, that wasn't the case...

 

In episode 4, once Max gets back from the alternative reality and helps Chloe put all their clues together, they discover an abandoned barn holding old Prescott documents about the farmland and at first, seemed to hold nothing special. Until Max decides to dig through the hay. She finds a padlocked door which looked brand new compared to the barn. The best friends find a way to break the lock to the door and walk down some steps to find a big iron door, which needed a passcode to get in.

 

In order to get into the door, you must remember back when you were collecting the evidence and clues from Nathan's dorm room. On a small piece of paper, there are a collection of numbers. All the numbers are written in blue ink except for a 3 digit number in red ink. That one is the one to open the 'Dark Room'.

 

When I finally got into the room and saw all the water and cans of food, I thought that maybe Rachel was in there and that they were just keeping her there because she remembered what happened to her where people like Kate couldn't remember anything from the experience. But as we went further into the dark room, you could clearly see that no one was there and no one was being kept there.

 

By looking at the room, you could see that they would take random people and drug them so they didn't know what was going on and then took photos of them. Max searches through a cabinet and finds all the red folders that were shown in various moments during the episodes. They found Kate's file along with Rachel's and an empty folder that was labelled "Victoria". Chloe and Max looked at the pictures of Kate and saw what she was like and how drugged up she was. Then they moved to Rachel's folder. Hers were slightly different. She seemed very awake and angry in the pictures but was still tired up. Also she wasn't in the dark room, she was in another location outside. The final picture of Rachel, was of her in a dug up hole with Nathan laying next to her. Max response to this picture was "This is so staged." Chloe begins to panic. Rachel doesn't look alive in the last photo but she holds on to her sheer desperation to see her again, alive.

 

Chloe recognizes the place where the final photo was taken. It was the junkyard. They take off and head for the junkyard. This part was just truly heart breaking, you can tell that Chloe knows what she is going to find and I'm sure everyone knows too. They find the area and begin to dig with their bear hands. They soon find a small glimpse of Rachel and they know it's her because of the clothes she is wearing. Chloe is distort and cannot bear to look at her best friend's body. She begins to truly cry and yell Rachel's name and saying "Why her?! I loved her so much! Who does this? What world is this?!"

 

After that, they go to the Vortex Club party and try to find Nathan. Max also has the option to warn Victoria about the whole situation. They don't find him there but receive a text from Nathan saying "There won't be any evidence left, once I'm done." They run back to the junkyard and Chloe is ready, gun in hand. They run to Rachel's 'grave' to find the body still there. Chloe is in a daze still looking at Rachel. 

 

Suddenly, Max gets a needle in her neck and begins to pass out. She tries to rewind but the drugs are quick. With the last of her strength, she yells to Chloe. But it is too late. She notices too late and is shot in the head, right in front of Max.

 

Powerless, Max looks up at her attacker for it only to be her hero and idle, Mr Jefferson, looking down at her just as she fully blacks out.   

 

The episode ends there.

 

 

So much came out of this episode and it is the most tear-jerking episode out of them all so far. This episode was definitely worth the wait and delivered so many answers from previous episodes. I always saw speculation about Mark Jefferson being creepy and weird in his methods of teaching in photography and his style. But never did I think he would go this far to get the photos he wanted. It is also obvious that Nathan is in on all this and has a very similar photo style to Mr Jefferson's.

 

Big question is, What Happens Next? Max is captured and about to be drugged up according to the teaser to Episode 5: Polarized. This episode has been the most emotional and the most crushing episode. Every moment was just completely emotional and just over all feeling of sadness towards the end of the 5 part series.

 

I cannot wait for the next episode and really do not know what to expect for the final episode...

 

Hope you enjoyed and Happy Gaming!

Life Is Strange Episode 4: Release Date!

I think I speak for everyone, when I say "Finally!". The long awaited episode 4 has now got a confirmed release date which is...

JULY 28th, TUESDAY

 

I have waited so long for this episode and I cannot wait to sink my teeth into this part of the story! I will be writing a review of the episode when it comes out on Tuesday so keep an eye out for that. Also I will be able to see if my theory I came up with in my last post comes true.

 

If you would like to see the release trailer for Episode 4, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFgtBOGSBSo  

 

This was just a quick notification about the movements of Life Is Strange's progress and current happenings. Also I am letting you know that I was wondering if I could get some feedback from any of you, just so I can get a rough idea on how I'm doing currently.

 

Thank you so much for reading and hope you have a great summer!

 

Happy Gaming! 

 

P.S.

 

Follow Life Is Strange on...

 

Twitter - @LifeIsStrange

 

Facebook - Life Is Strange

 

"The Worst Is Still To Come..."

 

 

 

Life Is Strange Episode 4: My Theory

 

(Warning! There are Spoilers!)

 

As we all know, Life Is Strange Episode 4 is due to come out any day this week and there are millions of fans speculating theories and stories about what is to come in the following episode. There is a lot of speculation about the next events that are to play out. I will mention a few now.

 

Some people have questioned whether Max will still have her powers, considering in the alternative time line, Chloe would have never been in the situation in the toilet and thus this wouldn't have caused the event which lead to Max discovering her power. In my opinion, in the teaser for episode 4, Max is seen to be wearing her original outfit, which is the jacket, top and jeans. This could mean she might have decided to go back in time again to stop Chloe from ever getting into the accident that causes her to be in a wheelchair. (I think the accident is a car crash, due to the last picture we see of Chloe once the time line is changed is her getting a new truck for her birthday.) This would mean that she still has her powers. Another theory is that you might be given a choice as to what time line you want to live in. Again, in my opinion, this is a very loose theory, due to the fact that if this was the case,  the alternative timeline might be too much to accommodate for compared to the original timeline. For example, Chloe wouldn't have met Rachel and the events that happened with Kate might not have happened and this could be loads of other events as well. In turn, this would turn the entire story around and the rest of the episodes would mean nothing. So, I doubt that the creators of Life Is Strange would do that to their story at this point.

 

These are just a few theories going round on the internet. So now I'm going to explain my theory.  So I think that Max will try to rewind back to when William should have had his accident and it is still possible to travel back using the photo William took of Chloe and Max. This photo would still exist because Max changed the future after the photo was taken so all she would need to do is find the photo in the album again. She could acquire the picture while at Chloe's house because that was where the episode was left at the end of episode 3. So it is completely possible that the episode could play out this way. Just before Max goes back she could possibly explore what has changed by looking at newspapers around the house and TV etc. She might even get to look in Chloe's room and see how much it has changed due to her interests wouldn't be the same in this timeline. There is so much Max can discover but not only that, this gives Max a huge wake up call to show how something that can be considered can be quite little, can create a huge impact on the timeline.

 

So that's my theory. I don't claim for this to be true, it is simply my theory as to what might happen in Episode 4 of Life Is Strange.

I would love to hear any theories you might have or your thoughts on my theory.

 

Hope you enjoyed and Happy Gaming!  

Life Is Strange: How To Save Kate Marsh

This particular event happens in Episode 2 Out Of Time.

(This Contains Spoilers for Episode 2! You have been warned!)

 

So towards the end of episode 2 you are presented with the dilemma, where the bullying and harassment has driven Kate Marsh to try and commit suicide. She is going to jump off the top of the dormitory clock tower. Max manages to use her powers to pause time to reach the top of the tower just before she jumps. However, in pausing time she used up a lot of her powers and couldn't rewind anymore in that particular moment. You now to select the right answers to save Kate's life and there are no second chances in this particular moment.

 

This is possibly one of the most pressured moments in the entire game so far due to that is the first, and only moment, in the episodes that make you deal with your consciences and choices in one moment instead of later. In other words, instead of your choices coming back to bite you later, they actually bite you in the here and now.

 

So, while you are on the roof Kate will bring up a few moments in the past that caused Kate distress and cause her situation to worsen. For example, whether you stood up to David or not and when she asks you about whether to go to the police. Most of the things you need to know and do are found in the girls dorm.

 

First, do all the erasing on Kate's slate outside her room and the web link to her video in the girls bathroom on the mirror. This gives Max something to show to Kate as proof that she cares. When you are in Kate's room giving back the copy of the 'October Country' have a look through her things in the room. Near the rabbit cadge, there is a postcard from Kate's father. It says how he cares deeply for her still and quotes the bible about having a light at the end of the tunnel. Further along on in her room their is a letter from her auntie. It is not a good letter. She shames her in the letter and says that Kate should "Pray for forgiveness." This means that when it comes to the part for saving Kate you will be given the option as to who will miss her if she follows through with the suicide. Choose her father because she refers to the postcard and brings you one step closer to stopping her from jumping.

 

 

Finally, you must mention gathering proof and hunting down Nathan Prescott's involvement in drugging her. Every chance you get to benefit Kate in your choices, make that choice if you want the best chance in saving her. You don't have to do everything that benefits toward Kate to save her, but by making all the choices benefit Kate, you have a much better chance in stopping her from jumping.

 

So those are the main points on how to save Kate Marsh. Hope you enjoyed and hope this helps.

 

Happy Gaming!