Life Is Strange – Episode 5: Polarized Review

A polarising finish?

Life is Strange has had a rollercoaster first few episodes, but does the season end strongly enough for those who have still been undecided?

Story:

Episode 5, Polarised sets off immediately after the cliffhanger finish to the last episode, Dark Room, which certainly lived up to the first word of the name – it had a seriously dark ending. Polarised continues to be pretty disturbing in terms of some of the content, although there are at least opportunities to put right many of the sins of the other residents of Arcadia Bay, and for other characters to redeem themselves. There’s some tough choices to make on the way though, especially at the very end, where you’ve got to choose whether the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many. There’s a huge amount of properly strange stuff going on, that sometimes gets too triply for its own good, but thankfully the denouement is both strong, and ties up the vast majority of the loose ends, whilst leaving an opportunity for future series.

Gameplay:

There’s not a huge amount to actually do in the last episode though. Most of the game is told through cut-scenes and through slight differences in repeated scenes to imply the major effects your small choices are having on parallel universes. It’s also not even the longest episode in the series, and is a fairly slight piece of content, clocking in at easily less than two hours from start to finish.

There’s the usual mix of light puzzling, altering time, and decisions to make in conversation, but also a reasonably long stealth section. It falls a bit flat, really, and without the rewind mechanic, would have been incredibly frustrating. I’d certainly want to see a fair bit more refinement before playing anything like that again.

Presentation:

Polarised has plenty of quick location changes, which is nice from a variety perspective, but highlights the weaknesses of the Unreal 3 engine, which suffers from serious texture pop-in, especially on loads. However, the art style looks great throughout, and copes well with the scenes of destruction; Arcadia Bay really looks impressive during the storm.

Life is Strange has always had a (mostly) excellent script, which has been really well voiced, and Polarised is no exception. Chloe and Max’s relationship continues to be really well explored, whilst the other characters also have some further depth revealed to them over the course of the episode. I was pretty impressed as to how a surprising amount was saved up for the final episode, and how well voiced so much of it was,never from some of the more minor characters.

Conclusion:

“Life Is Strange: Episode 5: Polarised” is a pretty weird final episode; I guess fairly appropriate for the way that Life is Strange has played out to date. Some of the new gameplay elements fall flat, and there’s just not much content full stop, but the strong end to the story and the tough choices, especially at the end, more than make up for any deficiencies that exist. It’s by no means the perfect adventure game, but I don’t have any hesitation in continuing to recommend Life is Strange to anyone willing to listen.