The original Life Is Strange was a powerful telling of friendship and love between two girls named Max and Chloe. The story was so beloved by fans that the team at Square Enix decided to make a prequel series for them to help flesh them out even more. Now though, they’re getting ready to launch Life Is Strange 2, but this season of the game will feature two male characters instead of Max and Chloe, leaving some fans a little heartbroken. So that begs the question, why did they do the swap?
Well, in an interview with IGN at Gamescom, the team noted that Life Is Strange isn’t about Max and Chloe, or even the setting of Arcadia Bay. So…what is it about?
“It’s a question we asked ourselves at the beginning,” co-director Raoul Barbet. “Is it Max and Chloe, Arcadia Bay? No it’s about everyday characters, relatable characters with stories you can involve yourself in, because it reflects your own experiences. With some supernatural stuff on the top.”
They went on to note:
“For us it’s really important to talk about social themes that we think are sometimes not maybe shown enough in video games and it was also important for us to start a new story with brand new characters, so we could also tackle different things,”
Still, while Life is Strange 2 will get a lot of attention, many people will cling to the three main characters, and Square Enix knows it:
“Everyone loved Max, Chloe, Rachel from Before The Storm. But [their story]…it’s done,” says co-director Michel Koch. “We three have nothing more to tell. We don’t want to. Other people will do it, and it’s okay. There is a lot of fan fiction and that’s perfect. When the audience appropriates those characters, it’s the most wonderful thing when you create something, it’s perfect. But for us, we have nothing more to do. Take [them] and do whatever you want.”
Life Is Strange 2 will release next month.
