Max and Chloe are back, and this time, the stakes are higher than ever
Life is Strange: Reunion launched on March 26, 2026, and it carries the weight of an entire franchise on its shoulders. Developed by Deck Nine and published by Square Enix, this is the game that closes out Max Caulfield and Chloe Price's story for good. Set at Caledon University, where Max now works as a photography teacher, the game drops you into a three-day countdown before a catastrophic fire destroys the campus and kills everyone inside. Max escapes only because of her time-rewinding ability — and then has to go back and figure out how to stop it.
Max's Rewind in action
What is the story of Life is Strange: Reunion?
The game picks up roughly a year after the events of Life is Strange: Double Exposure. Max has settled into university life at Caledon, but things unravel fast. She witnesses the campus in flames, her powers fail in the present, and she is forced to use a three-day-old selfie to rewind back to before the disaster.
Chloe's arrival at Caledon complicates everything. She has been experiencing disturbing visions — fragments of a past she never actually lived, including the lighthouse from the original game, glimpses of Safi, and unsettling images involving Max herself. These nightmares are destabilizing her grip on reality. So Max is not just racing to prevent an arson tied to a group called the Abraxas cult — she is also trying to help Chloe hold it together.
The opening sequence does something clever: before the story begins in earnest, the game asks you to make five choices that define the shared history between the characters. These cover the nature of your past relationships with Vin, Amanda, and Chloe (friendly or romantic), whether you saved Chloe or Arcadia Bay in the original Life is Strange, and whether you helped Safi in Double Exposure. Your answers shape the dialogue trees and relationship dynamics throughout the whole game.
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Deck Nine confirmed the game "isn't just for people who sacrificed Arcadia Bay" — the story adapts to your prior choices, so both endings from the original game are accounted for.
How do Max's and Chloe's abilities work?
For the first time in the series, you swap between two playable characters, each with a distinct ability set.
Max's Rewind power
Max can reverse time at any point during gameplay — not just in scripted moments. The ability has more flexibility than in the original Life is Strange, including a fast-skip option that jumps directly to the last action you performed. The catch: you can only rewind a few minutes at most, and you cannot undo events that happened before Max arrived on the scene. This keeps the puzzles grounded and prevents the power from feeling like a cheat code.
The game's Time Dojo sequence, which Moses uses to test Max's abilities early on, walks you through three practical applications:
- Observation puzzles — rewinding to catch a drawing mid-creation and reading clues to identify who defeated the villain Sword Master Frostbite (the answer is Mina Hiramatsu, though you can rewind and retry if you get it wrong)
- Environmental manipulation — using rewind to set up a pillow before a mug falls from a cabinet
- Reactive intervention — catching a falling mug while simultaneously preventing a kettle fire by rewinding and switching it off upstairs
These three scenarios teach you that Rewind is not just about undoing mistakes. It is about creating the right conditions before an event happens.
Chloe's Backtalk ability
Chloe uses Backtalk, a charisma-driven ability that first appeared in Life is Strange: Before the Storm. In practice, this means quick-witted verbal sparring during tense confrontations, using confidence and attitude to get past people or into areas Max simply cannot access. Backtalk is time-sensitive — you need to react quickly during these exchanges, which gives Chloe's sections a different rhythm from Max's more methodical puzzle-solving.
The two abilities genuinely complement each other. Max can rewind to investigate and gather information; Chloe can talk her way into spaces Max cannot enter. Deck Nine designed them to feel like two halves of the same toolkit rather than two separate games stitched together.
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During Backtalk sequences as Chloe, pay attention to the emotional tone of the conversation before picking your response. Aggressive comebacks do not always land — reading the other character's mood first gives you a better shot at success.
Chloe's Backtalk in dialogue
How does the chapter structure unfold?
The game moves through a series of named chapters that alternate between Max and Chloe's perspectives. Here is a breakdown of the major beats without spoiling the resolutions:
- Start — Chloe collapses before a performance, wakes in a vision mixing locations from across the series, then decides to find Max
- Max's Return — Max photographs a sunset, receives Moses's emergency message, arrives at the burning campus, finds evidence of arson and Abraxas cult involvement, and uses a selfie to rewind three days
- Meeting with Moses — Max locates her colleague and proves her abilities through the Time Dojo before learning the timeline has already shifted
- University — Max teaches a photography class, discovers Safi in disguise among the students, and begins piecing together the arson investigation
- Party — Both characters gather intel; Chloe's contact with Safi triggers another vision involving the lighthouse and Max holding a gun
- Fermont House — Max investigates an abandoned building, finds an altar in the basement, defuses an explosive device while holding a door against unknown attackers, and reunites with Chloe
- House in Hellerton — The morning after, Max and Chloe process the previous night's events in a quieter, more personal chapter
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The Fermont House basement sequence requires you to manage two tasks simultaneously — holding the door and cutting the correct wires to defuse the explosive. If you are not quick, the situation escalates. Prioritize the door first, then focus on the wires once the immediate pressure is managed.
Which edition of Life is Strange: Reunion should you buy?
There are three editions available across PC (Steam and Microsoft Store), PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Every edition includes the Max & Chloe Classic Outfit DLC if purchased before May 5, 2026 — after that date, the DLC will be sold separately.
The Standard Edition covers everything you need to play. The Deluxe Edition adds the soundtrack, artbook, comic, and a behind-the-scenes documentary — solid value if you care about the series' creative process. The Twin Pack bundles Reunion with Double Exposure, which makes it the obvious pick for anyone who has not played the immediate prequel yet. A Collector's Edition is also available physically, including a vinyl soundtrack, Polaroid art cards, and exclusive artwork, according to GamesRadar+.
For a deeper breakdown of story details and what to expect going in, the Green Man Gaming blog's full Reunion overview covers the narrative setup well.
What is the Life is Strange: Reunion soundtrack?
Music has always been one of the series' strongest elements, and Reunion goes bigger than any previous entry. Deck Nine confirmed during a Q&A session that the game features all-new original songs, commercially licensed tracks, and a fully instrumental score. The studio is again partnering with Feel For Music, the music consultancy that has been part of the franchise since the original 2015 release.
According to NME, the full soundtrack contains 28 tracks, making it the largest in the franchise's history. For context, the original Life is Strange had 14 licensed songs and 8 original compositions by composer Jonathan Morali — a total of 22 tracks across both categories.
Highlighted artists on the Reunion tracklist include:
- Holly Humberstone — 'Embers In The Sky'
- Daughter — 'Isolation'
- Foals — 'Spanish Sahara'
- Girl In Red — 'I'll Die Anyway'
- IDLES & LCD Soundsystem — 'Dancer'
- Sparklehorse & PJ Harvey — 'Piano Fire'
- Tessa Rose Jackson — multiple original compositions including 'Past Life', 'I Miss You Baby', and 'Through the Middle'
- Luciano Rossi — original score contributions including 'Fall Montage' and 'Saying Goodbye'
The Deluxe Edition includes the full digital soundtrack if you want to listen outside the game.
Is Life is Strange: Reunion the last game in the series?
Possibly. According to reporting by EGW News, there is speculation that Reunion could be the final entry in the Life is Strange universe entirely — not just the end of Max and Chloe's arc. Deck Nine and Square Enix have not confirmed this, so treat it as an open question for now.
Separately, Amazon is developing a TV adaptation of the original 2015 game. Tatum Grace Hopkins is cast as Max Caulfield and Maisy Stella as Chloe Price, with Karyn Kusama directing the first two episodes. Production dates and a release window have not been announced.
For everything else coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC this year, you can browse more gaming guides and coverage at GAMES.GG to stay across the latest releases. And if you want a thorough breakdown of what GamesRadar+ has been tracking on Reunion since its announcement, their Life is Strange: Reunion everything we know guide is regularly updated with new details as they surface.
Caledon University campus