The episodic graphic adventure game Life is Strange was released in 2015 and became a huge hit. It consisted of 5 episodes and was developed by Dontnod Entertainment. Now the prequel is on the way and it will only have 3 episodes and is being developed by a different team, Deck Nine. The developers spoke about Beyond the Storm in a recent interview and explained to some fans who may have been upset about the shorter game, exactly why they chose to do it that way. According to the lead writer Zak Garriss, three episodes is all they needed to tell the story they wanted to tell.

“We were contemplating stories of all shapes and sizes. What really it came down to is: the story we found that, for Chloe in this chapter of her life, it genuinely felt like about a three-episode story. As opposed to taking what we were all really in love with and excited by and trying to try change it to fit a larger model, making it a three-episode story seemed like it. Ultimately, that’s what we decided to do.”

It seems like a good idea to just make a game you love, exactly how you want it, without worrying about filling a certain amount of time. Another good point that was brought up was about how this prequel won’t have the same rewind time mechanic as the first and therefore, will it still have re-play value or end up being a one playthrough kind of game? Garriss says that it will still be worth it to see how the story line can change depending on choices, whereas before you could just rewind and immediately see the difference.

“We’ve designed the concept to be a very branching in its complexity, and the farther along you go in the story the more and more different sort of scenes you might see versus what I might see. Based on that, we always focus on the relationships that you’ve developed with the characters versus their relationships that I’ve developed. So I think there is a lot of replayability in this experience. I am curious about the ways in which Max, as a character, is prone to second-guess, is prone to kind of rewind and try something else. And I think that encourages trying different solutions; where Chloe just barrels through a problem, she’s just going to deal with whatever the aftermath could be.”

Ah, classic Chloe. Now in the case of newbies to the series, or maybe even just players who never finished the first game, the guys at Deck Nine were asked which of the two should be played first. Do you start with the prequel or will it not be the same without the knowledge of the first? The producer David Hein says that it’s really up to you.

“It’s really intentional for us that no matter which title you come to first, you can play through it, enjoy it, and then go play the other title. Nothing in our game will spoil anything from the original game. And likewise if you’ve played the original game, you’ll find all sorts of familiar faces and characters and locations. It will be a lot of fun and are kind of Easter Eggs, in a way.”

What do you think about Before the Storm only having 3 episodes? Did you like reading what the dudes at Deck Nine had to say? Let us know in the comment section below and then head to the DFTG Twitter page to stay updated on all the hottest gaming and entertainment news 24/7!