The Life Is Strange series is one that has a place in the heart of many who have visited the franchise. Combining ensemble character pieces with moments of magic realism, Life Is Strange has found success over the course of its many entries, with developers Don’t Nod and Deck Nine finding success with a formula that has been expanded over time. Now, the first story arc of the series is available via Life Is Strange: Arcadia Bay Collection for the Nintendo Switch.
Life Is Strange: Arcadia Bay Collection includes the original Life Is Strange and prequel Life Is Strange: Before The Storm in their remastered forms. The games tell the interweaving stories of the characters of Arcadia Bay, centered around Max Caulfield, Chloe Price, and Rachel Amber, and the dark secrets hidden underneath the surface of the supposedly sleepy town. The collection includes upgraded visuals and animations for the Nintendo Switch release, to freshen up a pair of games from 2015 and 2017 respectively.
From a storytelling perspective, neither of the Life Is Strange games are showing their age. Both Life Is Strange and Before The Storm are emotionally weighted stories told in a dynamic way, emphasizing the importance of their strong characters like Joyce Price and player choices in a way that correctly builds the facade of player agency as things reach their conclusions. It’s understandable why Life Is Strange grew into such an impressive series with such excellent sequels in their own right.
For those that who have yet to play Life Is Strange: Before The Storm, this is a neat way to explore the prequel. Although some may be skeptical of Don’t Nod’s step away from the title, and the voice actor strike that meant Ashly Burch did not reprise the role of Chloe Price in the core game, it is a solid prequel that very much ties into what the original Life Is Strange created while still having a personality of its own. For those who have maybe been hesitant to play the prequel, this is a good opportunity after the first Life Is Strange has been replayed.
As far as the Nintendo Switch port goes, both Life Is Strange and Before The Storm work absolutely fine. Players may notice a couple of frame rate drops here and there in comparison to punchier hardware, and the load times may feel a little long, but overall they are smooth ports that serve the excellence of the games well. Meanwhile, the control is just as expected on the platform in comparison to other console versions of the titles.
When it comes to handheld mode, Life Is Strange: Arcadia Bay Collection is also without major fault, meaning that the positive of being able to play the games on the go is something that players could very much appreciate. There are similar issues to those seen with the otherwise strong strong Life Is Strange: True Colors on the platform in terms of required downgrades to work in handheld, but since the Life Is Strange series is not one that has ever relied on performance to have an impact it’s an easy trade-off for the added portability.
As such this is a rather seamless port all in all. One of the key things to point out is that the soundtracks are still here in all their glory, and it was particularly good to revisit the fantastic Daughter score to Before The Storm, meaning that there has been no shift in the overall atmosphere of the games because of licensing issues. Given that some ports and remasters have not been quite as lucky, this is a definite boon due to how music is such a key component in both games.
At the end of the day, the value of Life Is Strange: Arcadia Bay Collection comes down to whether the Nintendo Switch release is a worthy and required port. If players haven’t had the chance to experience Life Is Strange and the Switch is their platform of choice, then it is an obvious choice to go make – particularly as it’s then a jumping off point to also enjoy the brilliance of Life Is Strange 2 and True Colors. Meanwhile, long-time fans may have a bit of hesitancy, as it’s not an entirely necessary upgrade on the original games, but the portability of the Switch version could make it a useful way to play a much-loved game once again.
Life Is Strange: Arcadia Bay Collection is out now for Nintendo Switch. Screen Rant was provided with a Switch download code for the purposes of this review.
