Impending disaster still looms over Arcadia, but Max has more immediate concerns building off the huge cliffhanger that ended episode 3.
Several long running story lines reach culmination here, with a number of strong, impactful reveals and surprises. Given the nature of where Episode 3 left off, I can’t talk about any details without major spoilers. The plot is building extremely well though.
The gameplay is again solid here. The immersion is as good as ever with the atmosphere getting creepier and and more intense. One of the biggest mysteries is largely wrapped up here, which is a good move because it let it get focus here while leaving the other major mystery to hopefully come to the front in the final episode. There were a couple of points where the characters made poor choices for the sake of the plot, but it can reasonably be chalked up to the emotional turmoil they’re going through.
The puzzles were fine, but the story and dialog choices are the big draw here. The important choices have much less of a “no right answer” feel then in previous episodes, but I guess that’s a bit inevitable as the series comes to a close. Choices from previous episodes still matter a great deal in terms of dialog choices and certain scenes, which is something that is usually weak in these types of games and the thing I love most about this series.
Dark Room cranks up the tension and emotional impact to fitting levels for the penultimate episode of Life is Strange. I’m a little worried about how much is left to address and explain with only one episode left, but at the same time I’m looking forward to it as overall I’ve enjoyed the series thus far.
Derailments of Thought 