Life Is Strange Ep.4: Darkroom Review

You do not often see a narrative in gaming like you do with Life Is Strange. It is a series that has continuously made a name for itself as not only an experience like no other in the world of video games, but also an experience that pushes the boundaries of how to tell a great story, interactive or otherwise.

Ever since episode one of its indie movie-inspired series, developer Dontnod have continuously surprised us with the twists and turns unfolding with our heroine Maxine Caulfield’s story in Arcadia Bay.

Prepare to face some tough moral choices

Episode 4 Darkroom continues on the whirlwind of moral choices and teen angst once more, but cranks the dial to eleven in what kind of choices are thrown our way. If you thought the sucker punch of an ending to episode 3 was tough, Darkroom presents us with an even harder reality (and choice to make) right from the get-go, and it just gets more tense from there.

Each episode thus far has had an underlying mood and theme, and have explored some pretty controversial subject matter, but nothing could prepare me for just how dark the latest entry is. 

As Max and Chloe have continued to unravel the mystery of the ‘end of the world’ and the disappearance of student Rachel Amber, we have seen the girls grow and develop just like real people would. It’s such a refreshing thing to see in a video game and the subject matter of Darkroom really pushes these relationships to the limit. How Dontnod have presented our lead characters to face these times ahead is quite commendable.

Familiar faces return from previous episodes depending on how you have handled certain situations previously, but our antagonist Nathan Prescott remains front and centre as the biggest suspect in the disappearance.

Darkroom has a wonderful structure to its opening act that is probably the most well-paced of the series so far in how it advances the story and presents returning characters. The puzzles return and play a much more prominent role in the middle act and rely heavily on some super sleuthing (and a good memory). For the first time playing the series I found myself genuinely scratching my head to solve some of the riddles. Hints are given but it felt as though the length of these puzzle segments were perhaps a little long, and slightly drew me out from the main story which was what I really wanted to see.

Seeing Max pushed to her limit is heartbreaking

Once you do piece the puzzle together the episode’s third act goes into some pretty dark places with its subject matter and the finale, while not as hard as the emotional gut punch of episode 2 or 3, was still a complete mind fuck. The ending of Episode 4 leaves the door for the finale wide open with so many unanswered questions. I have faith that the developers will manage to tie up all the loose ends and give us the answers we crave in the final chapter. Dontnod have truly delivered once again, with a tale that weaves together the intricate plot strands of the previous events and creates a path for the final road we are about to take.

Seemingly gone are the innocent undertones and the happy-go-lucky life of an Art school student who enjoys hanging out and getting high with friends. The game has hit full adulthood mode and is not holding our hands any longer.

The final road is going to be a tough one.

Reviewed on PS4.