Life is Strange Remastered Collection

Life is Strange Remastered Collection combines on Xbox Series X and S reworked versions of the first Life is Strange game and its prequel, Life is Strange: Before the Storm, into a single Square Enix package, without touching the series' later standalone entries. Playing as student Max Caulfield, gifted with the ability to rewind time, the player unravels both personal and supernatural mysteries in the small American town of Arcadia Bay, with choices in dialogue and key situations influencing the direction of the story, the relationships between characters, and the fates of supporting characters, right up to a dramatic finale branching into two possible endings. Before the Storm goes back to before the events of the first game and follows a younger Chloe Price, her rebellious teenage years, and her fragile friendship with Rachel Amber, this time without the ability to manipulate time, but with a system of defiant dialogue responses.

The remaster on Xbox Series brings reworked character models, facial expressions, hair, and lighting, which greatly benefits narrative-focused games built mainly on emotions, dialogue, and facial expressions. The unmistakable indie and alternative soundtrack featuring licensed songs, which helped build the melancholic atmosphere of both games and accompanied key emotional scenes as well as quiet moments between characters, has been preserved and remains among the most cherished aspects of the entire series.

When it was released in the mid-2010s, Life is Strange helped popularize episodic narrative adventures focused on sensitive topics of adolescence, friendship, bullying, and loss, becoming one of the most influential and widely discussed titles in its genre, one that inspired numerous other narrative games centered on choices and their consequences. The remastered collection gives this pair of games a new visual coat and makes them accessible to players who know the series only from its later sequels and spin-offs.

Why play it: For players who only know the series from its later entries, this collection is an ideal opportunity to experience, in a new visual coat, the titles that fundamentally shaped narrative adventures about sensitive coming-of-age themes.