Game: Death Stranding
Game: Life Is Strange: Before the Storm Episode 3: Hell Is Empty
Release date: 2017
Platform: PC
Date started: May 2018
Date finished: May 15 2018
Spoiler Warning!
The revelation at the end of the last episode shook Rachel's world and completely shifted the direction of the story. The plan to leave Arcadia Bay is temporarily shelved until they find Rachel's biological mother. The search crosses their path with a criminal Damon Merrick who doesn't like people asking questions about his clients and things get far more complicated when he finds out Rachel is a daughter of a district attorney...
Episode 3 wants you to answer one question: What is better- a convenient lie or the ugly truth? It is an omnipresent theme intertwined within the main story, random conversations and even the puzzles of the game. For the first time in a Life is Strange game I had to really think before making a decision because the choices presented didn't feel so black and white anymore. Even the dialogue felt more mature and less cringey than usual. Unfortunately, just like the finale of the season 1, the conclusion of
Before the Storm appears to be rushed and unfinished. Near the end of
the game Chloe misses some important story moments, and therefore we as
players don't get to experience them. We only get told what happened later. I
can't imagine it was a narrative design choice, it felt like a
compromise to solve a budget issue or to meet the target release date.
The episode starts with surreal imagery as the girls are literally looking into the past through a telescope. It somewhat reminded me of the nightmare sequence from the season one finale. Dreams play an important role in Before the Storm and this episode goes further as Chloe is having imaginary conversations with her dead father. All the dreamy imagery threw me off a little bit and at one point when Chloe was having an important real conversation near the end, I was questioning whether it was really happening or was it just another dream. In truth it was just sloppy storytelling.
But how is the gameplay?
Come on! Despite of it being an annoying tedious busywork I gave it a
pass last time because at least they let us personalize it in some way.
No more! Here it started as a cut scene and it should've ended as one, but instead they turned it into a pointless and insultingly
simple puzzle. When Warren Spector said a video game should be interactive whenever possible, I'm pretty sure he didn't mean this.
In the past episodes Deck Nine gave us some cool memorable moments by combining gameplay with dialogue. The tabletop mini game in the episode 1 and the school play in the episode 2 were some of my favorite moments of the game. I was looking forward to what they can come up with for the finale, only to find there's no new creative interaction like that. We only got an option to finish the tabletop session, which was still nice.
I also expected more scenes of Chloe and Rachel together and their relationship explored further so I thought it was an odd choice to have them separated during the entire second half of the game. Despite of me knowing how the things are going to turn out, the antagonist Damon Merrick still felt like a real threat. Chloe's stepfather David got one moving scene that gave him much needed humanity and I liked how they found a way to include her real dad into the story as well. Flawed fathers was an underlying theme of the story after all. On the other hand I didn't like the stalker Elliot subplot. Seems like they wanted a character that acts as a dark mirror to Warren from season one but his inclusion felt forced and made the story formulaic.
The way they handled final conflict was very odd. The fact that the main character wasn't the one who saved the day was somewhat refreshing but at the same time it ended up feeling quite uneventful because she passed out and missed what happened. The final decision wasn't easy to make during my playthrough but looking back at it now, it seems pretty obvious which choice was the right one. I liked the uplifting montage at the end and I wish they would leave it at that. Ending on a positive note and letting us remember what's coming would make for a perfect bittersweet ending. Unfortunately they ruined it with a post-credit scene that pushes it right in our face.
 |
 |
|---|
 | |
| Only 4% of players got to experience the best part of the game? :P |
| + less cringey dialogue + harder choices |
- rushed - unsatisfactory conflict resolution -post-credits scene |
6/10
|
What really made this game unique was the use of Newton Game Dynamics physics engine which allowed players to interact with objects in a way that mimics real life motions. In order to open a drawer you grab it, then move a mouse toward yourself as if you are actually pulling it. To hit something, you perform a swinging motion across the mouse pad. You can partially open doors and peak behind them. You can stack up objects and use them to climb or barricade the doors to slow down enemies. The result is very natural interaction with objects but incredibly clumsy combat due to camera locking. It is so bad that it is better not to engage in it at all. And maybe that's the point. If you even stare at the monsters for too long, you start to lose sanity. So sneaking around is pretty much your only true option. I beat the whole game without fighting once and the only enemy I did kill was by luring it into a trap. The stealth is a bit too easy. When you crouch in the shadows or behind objects, your vision gets a blueish tint indicating that you are hidden. If you are "hidden", the enemy AI won't notice you even if it literally stands right next to you. Positional audio doesn't always work as intended and can be quite deceiving. Sometimes you'll hear enemy growl as if they are right next to your ear but in reality they are behind a wall 10 meters away.
All puzzles in the game are logical and generally well done. Some of the things to do include mixing chemicals, combining items in inventory to create bombs, fixing and operating complex machinery using instruction manuals, obtaining a keypad combination through the Morse code recording etc. There are quite a bit of physics-based puzzles and solving most of them will make you feel smart. A stark contrast against a single bad puzzle in the game where a note literally spells the answer in all caps.
 |
| Fixing the generator was one of my favorite puzzles in the game |
After all is said, it is a horror game, so everything comes down to a simple question: is it scary?
Well...no. But they did some horror aspects right. First of all they created horror through atmosphere. There are no jump scares in the game. Entrance collapses behind you and there's no going back. The feeling of dread and finality increases as you descent deeper and deeper into the mine. There's this particular moment in the game where you walk over wooden planks across an endless pit after encountering a certain creature.You think about the implications and wonder what kind of colossal creatures may lurk down bellow. That is Lovecraftian horror at its finest.
Throughout the game you get a feeling that developers are taking their time and holding back the scares but after encountering the same creatures over and over again, you start to develop a sense of security, which is never a good thing in a horror game. There are only few types of monsters and none of them are scary. Zombie dogs and large spiders? Very original, haven't seen those before..
Although a bit formulaic and cliche, the story is well told and interesting enough to keep you playing. The ending sets up the sequel, which is fine since they envisioned Penumbra as a trilogy from the very beginning.
| + physics-based interaction + logical puzzles + good atmosphere + exciting chase sequences + well written notes and diaries |
- monsters are more annoying than scary - terrible combat |
7/10 |
 |
| Rachel's dad is Elon Musk?! |
| + school play + ending + soundtrack + harder choices + Chloe / Rachel relationship |
- busywork - bad puzzle design |
7/10 |
 |
| Although there's not much room for exploration, from time to time you can find something interesting, like this betting note in front of an old mill. I think it might be connected to dog fights briefly mentioned in the first game |
 |
| I was busy leaving a mark |
| + emotional moments + Rachel/Chloe relationship + D&D minigame |
- struggling to marry storytelling with gameplay - fetch quests - less exploration - continuity errors - (lack of) puzzles - actors couldn't reprise their roles due to voice actor strike |
6/10 |
