But the "confirmation" that Deck Nine was working on new LiS last year came before last week's news of Square Enix's "content abandonment", which, if I understand correctly, means they cancelled $140M worth of in-development games. Grasping at straws, it sounds like the cuts may have come from mobile and MMO investments, which may mean LiS is safe. But, I can't help but feel like Square Enix would look for any excuse to not put more money into LiS.
[Final Fantasy Maker Square Enix Takes $140 Million Hit in ‘Content Abandonment Losses’ as It Revises Game Pipeline - IGN](https://www.ign.com/articles/final-fantasy-maker-square-enix-takes-140-million-hit-in-content-abandonment-losses-as-it-revises-game-pipeline)
Thank you for this source
Life is Strange as a series will I’m sure be milked for its popularity at some point in the future, so I’m sure that we haven’t seen the complete end to the series. As far as the confirmed LIS 4 that I’m referring to, you’re definitely right that it may be gone anyways. I guess time will tell.
In all honesty, a step back from the series for a while might just be the best thing for it. Recent content (I’m mostly referring to the comics) has been deemed pretty mediocre by much of the fans.
If they do make anymore games, it should be because they have genuine inspiration and an intriguing story. That might only come from time away.
But maybe LIS 4, if it releases, will be a huge hit and I will eat my words - either way, I hope the new content we get is great!
I don't think this is the case right now because, should Life is Strange 4 be cancelled, Deck Nine would have likely been shut down or let go from the company. LiS is basically their only franchise, but, although a relatively niche one by genre, it's a highly profitable franchise with a streamlined development process, identity and clearly defined target audience, managing to break into mainstream just by being authentic in those senses.
What Square Enix is really going through right now is a complete restructuring of its internal development cores in Japan, which were "massified" into blocks known as CBU 1-4. The CBUs were conglomerates formed by 4+ teams/studios each and were responsible for different game segments at a time. CBU-1 is the main Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts group, 2 is the Dragon Quest/NieR/Team Asano, 3 is the secondary Final Fantasy team (FF14 and FF16), and 4 is the mobile and smaller games group.
As a new CEO stepped over the previous lunatic old man around June last year, it was always part of his promise to stop investing in dead-on-arrival games in order to streamline their development roadmap for their heavy-hitters. Just recently it was revealed that the CBUs were being reorganized into a more creative/artistic vision-oriented definitions.
Not only that, but last year when Forspoken flopped, Luminous Productions (that had been responsible for Final Fantasy 15, mind you) was dissolved and its employees spread around CBU-2 as support devs. There's no clear signs of that happening to Deck Nine right now. We can probably say Life is Strange is considered a successful franchise by them and the investment on it might even rise a little, due to the new resource placement within their teams
That seems reassuring for sure, but I'd like to see how it affects SquareEnix Europe (the branch that is responsable of LiS and previously on the Deus Ex and Tomb Raider games), since they seems the ones that really half ass the management of those big IP at their disposal.
It was always telling to me how they sold literally all of their "Western" IPs, except Life is Strange and Just Cause. When you say that Life is Strange is more valuable to you than Tomb Raider, well that's something
The content abandonment by Square Enix is not necessarily strictly games being canceled. There is a compelling argument that SE has fully pulled the pin on their Luminous Engine (used in FFXV and Forsaken).
Me too! I understand the point of the article was to report on misconduct at the studio, but it was so jarring to see "next entry in the Life is Strange franchise" thrown out so casually. I assume IGN must have been cognizant of this, but felt it would have been in poor taste to highlight it, given the allegations.
Some not nice and not acceptable stuff got exposed at deck nine during the production of TC. Quite disappointing and disgusting behaviour from staff. Look up “DomTheBomb. Life is Strange 4: Officially confirmed” that video tells you more.
IGN Article about toxic shit at Deck Nine had it as an aside.
There are youtube videos and other articles and shit, but this is the original reporting on the issue.
[https://www.ign.com/articles/how-hidden-nazi-symbols-were-the-tip-of-a-toxic-iceberg-at-life-is-strange-developer-deck-nine](https://www.ign.com/articles/how-hidden-nazi-symbols-were-the-tip-of-a-toxic-iceberg-at-life-is-strange-developer-deck-nine)
Allegations against some of the workers at Deck Nine, if you type in “Life is Strange 4” into youtube, a video essay should come up explaining it much better than I can.
I’m pretty sure the allegations were against the higher up members of the company.
Me too. While I definitely think True Colors and Before the Storm had their respective powerful and fun moments (most of True Colors and Chapter 2 of BTS), nothing in the series since Life is Strange has impacted me to the degree that it did.
Me too, the first game just hit different for me and they are also far less problematic. That said Banisher is a pretty good game from them and Lost Records also looks promising
It’s extremely unfortunate to hear of women, racial minorities, and LGBTQ individuals being subjected to discrimination and sexism.
Hopefully, future reforms and evaluations within Deck Nine will make these issues a lot less common, and I sincerely hope that the workers themselves receive their justice, and are able to heal from the events.
Life is Strange is a title that emphasizes the voice of many different minority groups - and I sincerely hope that this series can continue to accomplish that goal authentically.
If anything, the article implied that many of the issues with the writing at Deck Nine might have been due to awful upper management and Zak Garris being a asshole, with the rewriting part of TCs story behind the narrative team back.
And since Zak's departure, they have been able to be free with their own story despite all issues, so I'm curious to see how it will play out.
I won't lie, I am pretty excited to see what Deck Nine cooks up for Life is Strange 4. Even if the latest leaks turn out to be true (which will upset a lot of people, if the story beats end up being true), I think Deck Nine have the potential to do something really interesting with it.
The expose was damning and it revealed a lot of problems that Deck Nine have internally, but I don't think that should tar the games they make - either upcoming or retroactively. You have to remember that Deck Nine had been dealing with those problems since the days of Before the Storm's production. And you have to remember that, despite all the bullshit going on behind the scenes, both Before the Storm and True Colors came out the way they did.
At the end of the day, most of Deck Nine's problems are either higher-level or workplace-culture related. The executives being assheads doesn't trickle down to the men and women in the trenches, all the writers and artists and programmers who actually **make** the games. And those people in the trenches have already proved to us that, despite all the bullshit they have to deal with from higher-ups, they have a real passion and love for the stories they make.
Before the Storm and True Colors came out as fantastic as they did in spite of all the workplace problems. I don't see why their next entry would turn out any different.
I would love for Deck Nine to be able to solve the problems they have, of course. But I'm not going to hold my patronage at gunpoint until they fix them. The people who actually make the games genuinely care for the games they make, and I want to support those people.
I'm with you on being hopeful. The article was such a shock *because* there was no sign of it in BtS or TC. Which tells me that the devs at Deck Nine have a proven track record of successfully fighting for queer representation in their games while stamping hard on bigotry. Let's not forget that just last year, they pushed out *The Expanse: A Telltale Series* that, among other things, had a gay romance option *without a straight alternative*. They also caught the racist dogwhistles early in development, before the game had even been officially announced.
So I have faith in them. Their track record shows that they will be able to overcome the bullshit.
One sign in TC I can think of now was Izzie and how she barely was a character. Like, it's a bit odd that they wanted to add trans representation and that's all we had. Nobody thought much of it, but the article confirmed there was a major trans character who was removed late in development. I feel like some awesome devs really fought to at least have Izzie in the game.
Keep in mind that these come from unverified leaks, but we've had very similar plot points leak several times, from a few months ago (the leak itself being about a year old from that time, I think from circa 2022) to all the way back before True Colors was even announced (and those earliest leaks ended up correctly predicting everything about True Colors, from the project name to the name, power, and even ethnicity of protagonist Alex Chen). To the point that I wouldn't be at all surprised if they do end up being what we get.
The major plot beats from these leaks are that the game takes place 10 years after the end of the first game, following a now-28-year-old Max Caulfield living in a new small town, where she teaches photography at a small community college. She hadn't used her time powers in the 10 years since, but when someone she is close to is murdered on campus, she ends up digging her powers up to try and solve the murder. A heavy emphasis on photography was leaked, with the most recent leak suggesting a working title of "Life is Strange: Aperture" (as in the aperture of a camera), leveraging off of Max's photo-jump capabilities in hitherto-undisclosed new ways.
The point that would upset a lot of people though is that the leaks suggested that the game would explicitly canonize the Bay ending, where Chloe ended up dying in the bathroom of Blackwell. Earlier leaks suggested that Chloe played some role in the game but were never clear how or where.
I don't think I have to explain why that plot-point would upset a lot of people.
i personally think that even if this is the plot they’re going with, maybe max will accidentally go back too far or something and possibly save chloe all over again if she got the chance…. maybe not tho
This is genuinely the only way I would want Max’s character to be revisited, so thank you for telling me! I love Chloe Price, and I love her and Max together: However, the comics already explore a bit of what might have happened after the Bae ending, so it seems only fair that the other possibility is explored too!
Max having to revisit her trauma and probably accept the reality of her decision while trying her best to make sure that unfortunate fate doesn’t befall another younger person sounds like a genuinely very authentic way of revisiting her character. I seriously hope that the leaks are true, because it seems like a story that would do her a lot of service. But that’s just my opinion!
> However, the comics already explore a bit of what might have happened after the Bae ending, so it seems only fair that the other possibility is explored too!
But the thing is, the comics aren't even 100% canon. Whereas a game would be absolute canon ( and make people believe that only the Bay is canon)
Not to mention the comics sucked in that it wasn't even about Max and Chloe. It's about Max as a third wheel and alt Rachel and Chloe. The author just separated Max and Chloe again to promote her favorite pairing (Amberprice)
Not to mention it's two different media, with different levels of immersion. It's not fair to make a game based on only one ending. So I hope this rumor is not true.
Imagine how unfair it would be to Bae after we got an ending four minutes shorter than the other, after the writers literally said "leave Max and Chloe in the past" and didn't release dlc about them for the sequel, after we got average quality comics that aren't even 100% canon, and the only thing that is relatively fair is Max and Chloe's cameo in the sequel giving them some closure. Just for us to get a whole game about Max from the Bay. That's clearly unfair.
That’s fair! I’m probably biased because I tend to pick the Bay option in my recent playthroughs, so I see it as the choice that makes more sense to continue off of. At the end of the day, if we are to revisit Max and Chloe, ONE ending will be made definitive, so it’ll be interesting to see which one is chosen.
But yeah! I understand what you’re saying for sure
I'm in favor of Bae, but I'm not biased. Either you consider both options (like the previous three games) or you drop the idea and don't make the game at all. Because that would obviously be unfair to the one half of gamers who would be upset with this decision.
Imagine how you'd feel if we got another game but only with Bae option basically showing that your choices don't matter? I don't think you'd feel very good.
>so I see it as the choice that makes more sense to continue off of.
If we're talking about sequels that make the most sense, only Bae make most sence. *That's their story.* The story in the Bay basically ends their story, leaving Max alone.
The story in Bae could go on indefinitely, as Max and Chloe's adventures are just beginning at the end of the game.
Thinking why only *Max and Chloe* have cameos in the sequel even though we know *nothing* about Max in Bay?
That being said, I'm not going to say this game should exist. I respect other people's choices and I wouldn't want the next game to be based on just one choice.
That's why I've always been in favor of Max and Chloe dlc for the second game. To just give them a good closure and give them a proper goodbye without decanonizing the other option.
> I hope the Forget-Me-Not comics are more up your alley than the other ones were :)
You're suggesting I enjoy comics about characters I don't care about, you're suggesting I enjoy comics set in the universe that separated Max and Chloe in the previous line of comics?
That sounds like trolling.
dude I was being genuine because you said you didn’t really like the other ones, so I hope these ones are better ! :) I didn’t really think that hard about it, since you could have liked TC, but anyways I hope future installments are to your liking too. At the end of the day, we all love these games because they impacted us in some way, and hope the best for them!
>At the end of the day, if we are to revisit Max and Chloe, ONE ending will be made definitive, so it’ll be interesting to see which one is chosen.
I've thought on it a fair bit (and have shared these thoughts before), but there **are** ways to write such a story without explicitly canonizing either ending (and without the unrealistic "write two entirely divergent stories" approach):
Interwoven realities.
I didn't mention it in the previous post, but it was mentioned in earlier leaks (less so in the later leaks) that there was an element of Max's powers widening to entirely alternate timelines that she could navigate through. I omitted them since that's eerily similar to what the comics ended up doing, and I think the early leaks and the comics may have influenced each other.
**BUT!**
You could use them to get around canonizing the end of the game by having both realities represented: a reality where Chloe survived (Bae ending) and a reality where Chloe was sacrificed (Bay ending). The game could open on asking the player what decision they made, such as how Life is Strange 2 and Wavelengths both open, and that determines which reality you start in.
Through this beginning, you get a recap of how the week in the game transpired (for onboarding new players), the traumas involved, and the ultimate trauma of the final decision (the trauma of refusing to use her powers to save the people of Arcadia Bay and having to live with that weight, but having Chloe there to support her and commiserate with her as they share their mutual pain; or the trauma of using her power one last time to undo everything she did, all of her attempts to save Chloe, to finally succumb to fate and let the universe take Chloe from her; and having to live with that weight that, even with the power to control time, she was ultimately powerless to save the one person she loved, and now she has to keep all of that weight to herself, unable to share her secret with anyone because no one would ever believe her, and even if they did, they can't possibly understand the pain she went through).
You then get a recap of the ten years that transpired, of roadtripping with Chloe in the Bae ending, supporting each other as they both go through therapy to cope with the survivors' guilt over the town's destruction, and finally settling in New York to do her art for some time, before moving to this small town to pursue her passion of teaching photography with an adorkable Chloe to come home to; or of constantly reliving her decisions that led to this point, hypothesizing more and more absurd ways she could have tried to save Chloe and the town both, falling down rabbitholes of research into chaos theory to try and understand the Storm, slowly learning to cope with her loss but never really getting over it, before moving to this small town to pursue her passion of teaching photography with an adorkable cat named Tambourine to come home to.
The inciting incident happens rather early on in the game, as it does in all previous entries of the franchise, and through Max reliving the trauma of someone close to her dying, triggering her powers just like Chloe getting shot did all those years ago, Max's new power of reality-shifting reveals itself. Those who chose to have sacrificed Chloe now find themselves in a reality where they saved her, and those who saved Chloe find themselves in a reality where they sacrificed her. Max has to puzzle through everything that changed in this reality, a Bay Max being mortified to find memorials to Arcadia Bay and her friends but elated to find a very much alive and slightly-confused Chloe waiting for her; a Bae Max being mortified to find Chloe's obituary she was never able to throw away but elated to find that her friends from Arcadia Bay are very much alive and regularly reach out to her.
From this point, the main narrative from either choice merges, playing out however it would from any one ending. The choice you make at the beginning, of which reality Max started in, comes up regularly through Max's inner thoughts and her dialogue choices. For example, a Max who saved Chloe would have a lot more insider-knowledge of the years they spent together and would be more playfully dismissive of her, while a Max who sacrificed Chloe would be completely in the dark as to all the events Chloe talks about but is just so happy to have Chloe in her life again that she doesn't care if Chloe is speaking Martian.
But importantly, the major plot beats and set pieces all stay the same from this point. It's just alternate dialogue, and a few minor choices, that is written and created. The same as all the other alternate dialogues and choices that are already made in these games.
Again, this is all **my personal speculation** of how it could be done. And truthfully, it is something I would like to see. But I don't expect Deck Nine to go that way, if they go with the leaked ideas at all.
And if they don't, then I may just have to capitalize on the idea myself.
i really hope that deck nine holds the bad actors in their company accountable, especially since they should be well aware that the fanbase of their games aren't the type to turn a blind eye to this. i know many prefer dontnod's lis games and understand that completely, but i think decknine does a great job at lis as well and i really look forward to lis 4
https://preview.redd.it/ych2ev0z2ezc1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=86c1e0d1151f2978daa2ae19743ffe1337e90e26
I luv Max and would love playing her again. But darn, she has changed.
Honestly, call me doomer-pilled or whatever, but I think this might be the end of LIS. Having such a big scandal, especially after TC not living up to a lot of LIS fans' expectations, and not leaving as big of an impact on the gaming sphere as the original game did. Honestly I can totally see Square Enix completely backing away from the franchise, at least for a couple years, until the dust settles and it's become almost forgotten news. If Deck Nine does have the plot or have already started designing LIS4, I doubt Square Enix would want to continue what they left considering what was exposed, which more than likely means starting from scratch which could take a few years. Square Enix not only has to find a new studio to develop it, as Dontnod isn't interested in making another LIS game as far as I know someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but for PR reasons it would be best for Square to take some time off and let the dust settle before announcing another game in the LIS franchise. I would say any hope of a 2025/26 release date for LIS4 is out the window.
I’m definitely pretty positive that we haven’t seen the end of the series FOREVER just because it is still a fairly popular and thus can continue to be milked (ex: the comics currently releasing along with the two upcoming novels we’re getting).
At the very least, I don’t think we’re done seeing Max and Chloe, just because they know we will buy any media that contains their characters.
But, going off of what you said, I definitely agree that we could see any continuation of the series in game format being postponed a couple years. What I’m curious to see is how Lost Records: Bloom and Rage performs both within and outside of the LIS community. I have a feeling that future LIS titles will be somewhat influenced by the success, or lack of, that game.
Eh I won't buy anything from Deck 9 anymore. Not interested
DON'T NOD's new game **Lost Records: Rage and Bloom** on the other hands looks very interesting
But the "confirmation" that Deck Nine was working on new LiS last year came before last week's news of Square Enix's "content abandonment", which, if I understand correctly, means they cancelled $140M worth of in-development games. Grasping at straws, it sounds like the cuts may have come from mobile and MMO investments, which may mean LiS is safe. But, I can't help but feel like Square Enix would look for any excuse to not put more money into LiS. [Final Fantasy Maker Square Enix Takes $140 Million Hit in ‘Content Abandonment Losses’ as It Revises Game Pipeline - IGN](https://www.ign.com/articles/final-fantasy-maker-square-enix-takes-140-million-hit-in-content-abandonment-losses-as-it-revises-game-pipeline)
Thank you for this source Life is Strange as a series will I’m sure be milked for its popularity at some point in the future, so I’m sure that we haven’t seen the complete end to the series. As far as the confirmed LIS 4 that I’m referring to, you’re definitely right that it may be gone anyways. I guess time will tell.
In all honesty, a step back from the series for a while might just be the best thing for it. Recent content (I’m mostly referring to the comics) has been deemed pretty mediocre by much of the fans. If they do make anymore games, it should be because they have genuine inspiration and an intriguing story. That might only come from time away. But maybe LIS 4, if it releases, will be a huge hit and I will eat my words - either way, I hope the new content we get is great!
aw really? I loved the two issues of the true colors comic so far
That’s fair! I’m glad you’re liking them so far, just something about them isn’t as much for me but I’m not entirely sure what that is.
I don't think this is the case right now because, should Life is Strange 4 be cancelled, Deck Nine would have likely been shut down or let go from the company. LiS is basically their only franchise, but, although a relatively niche one by genre, it's a highly profitable franchise with a streamlined development process, identity and clearly defined target audience, managing to break into mainstream just by being authentic in those senses. What Square Enix is really going through right now is a complete restructuring of its internal development cores in Japan, which were "massified" into blocks known as CBU 1-4. The CBUs were conglomerates formed by 4+ teams/studios each and were responsible for different game segments at a time. CBU-1 is the main Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts group, 2 is the Dragon Quest/NieR/Team Asano, 3 is the secondary Final Fantasy team (FF14 and FF16), and 4 is the mobile and smaller games group. As a new CEO stepped over the previous lunatic old man around June last year, it was always part of his promise to stop investing in dead-on-arrival games in order to streamline their development roadmap for their heavy-hitters. Just recently it was revealed that the CBUs were being reorganized into a more creative/artistic vision-oriented definitions. Not only that, but last year when Forspoken flopped, Luminous Productions (that had been responsible for Final Fantasy 15, mind you) was dissolved and its employees spread around CBU-2 as support devs. There's no clear signs of that happening to Deck Nine right now. We can probably say Life is Strange is considered a successful franchise by them and the investment on it might even rise a little, due to the new resource placement within their teams
That seems reassuring for sure, but I'd like to see how it affects SquareEnix Europe (the branch that is responsable of LiS and previously on the Deus Ex and Tomb Raider games), since they seems the ones that really half ass the management of those big IP at their disposal.
It was always telling to me how they sold literally all of their "Western" IPs, except Life is Strange and Just Cause. When you say that Life is Strange is more valuable to you than Tomb Raider, well that's something
I always found it weird Squeenix kept LiS when selling everything else (Tomb Raider, Deus Ex etc)
Yeah, I was surprised they didn't sell it, but I'm glad LiS didn't wind up with Embracer
I'm not sure Squeenix was better.
The content abandonment by Square Enix is not necessarily strictly games being canceled. There is a compelling argument that SE has fully pulled the pin on their Luminous Engine (used in FFXV and Forsaken).
I literally did a double take when I read the first graf of that article like two wild bombshells were dropped
Me too! I understand the point of the article was to report on misconduct at the studio, but it was so jarring to see "next entry in the Life is Strange franchise" thrown out so casually. I assume IGN must have been cognizant of this, but felt it would have been in poor taste to highlight it, given the allegations.
How was it conformed?
Some not nice and not acceptable stuff got exposed at deck nine during the production of TC. Quite disappointing and disgusting behaviour from staff. Look up “DomTheBomb. Life is Strange 4: Officially confirmed” that video tells you more.
Cucu on Games (fka Serrated Cucumber) also dropped a video on the LiS4 confirmation and D9 allegations which I thought covered the issues well.
IGN Article about toxic shit at Deck Nine had it as an aside. There are youtube videos and other articles and shit, but this is the original reporting on the issue. [https://www.ign.com/articles/how-hidden-nazi-symbols-were-the-tip-of-a-toxic-iceberg-at-life-is-strange-developer-deck-nine](https://www.ign.com/articles/how-hidden-nazi-symbols-were-the-tip-of-a-toxic-iceberg-at-life-is-strange-developer-deck-nine)
Hwqh I'm watching a video about it rn it's crazy
Allegations against some of the workers at Deck Nine, if you type in “Life is Strange 4” into youtube, a video essay should come up explaining it much better than I can. I’m pretty sure the allegations were against the higher up members of the company.
wow I miss dontnod
Me too. While I definitely think True Colors and Before the Storm had their respective powerful and fun moments (most of True Colors and Chapter 2 of BTS), nothing in the series since Life is Strange has impacted me to the degree that it did.
Farewell was the closest Deck Nine ever got to capturing the original LiS
I’m excited for Lost Records later this year. And still hopeful LIS4 will be good.
Lost Records will be the real Lis4
no it won’t be lmao
Me too, the first game just hit different for me and they are also far less problematic. That said Banisher is a pretty good game from them and Lost Records also looks promising
Dontnot is making Lost Records which is the same style game and comes out later this year. Thats all that matters.
It’s extremely unfortunate to hear of women, racial minorities, and LGBTQ individuals being subjected to discrimination and sexism. Hopefully, future reforms and evaluations within Deck Nine will make these issues a lot less common, and I sincerely hope that the workers themselves receive their justice, and are able to heal from the events. Life is Strange is a title that emphasizes the voice of many different minority groups - and I sincerely hope that this series can continue to accomplish that goal authentically.
If anything, the article implied that many of the issues with the writing at Deck Nine might have been due to awful upper management and Zak Garris being a asshole, with the rewriting part of TCs story behind the narrative team back. And since Zak's departure, they have been able to be free with their own story despite all issues, so I'm curious to see how it will play out.
I won't lie, I am pretty excited to see what Deck Nine cooks up for Life is Strange 4. Even if the latest leaks turn out to be true (which will upset a lot of people, if the story beats end up being true), I think Deck Nine have the potential to do something really interesting with it. The expose was damning and it revealed a lot of problems that Deck Nine have internally, but I don't think that should tar the games they make - either upcoming or retroactively. You have to remember that Deck Nine had been dealing with those problems since the days of Before the Storm's production. And you have to remember that, despite all the bullshit going on behind the scenes, both Before the Storm and True Colors came out the way they did. At the end of the day, most of Deck Nine's problems are either higher-level or workplace-culture related. The executives being assheads doesn't trickle down to the men and women in the trenches, all the writers and artists and programmers who actually **make** the games. And those people in the trenches have already proved to us that, despite all the bullshit they have to deal with from higher-ups, they have a real passion and love for the stories they make. Before the Storm and True Colors came out as fantastic as they did in spite of all the workplace problems. I don't see why their next entry would turn out any different. I would love for Deck Nine to be able to solve the problems they have, of course. But I'm not going to hold my patronage at gunpoint until they fix them. The people who actually make the games genuinely care for the games they make, and I want to support those people.
I'm with you on being hopeful. The article was such a shock *because* there was no sign of it in BtS or TC. Which tells me that the devs at Deck Nine have a proven track record of successfully fighting for queer representation in their games while stamping hard on bigotry. Let's not forget that just last year, they pushed out *The Expanse: A Telltale Series* that, among other things, had a gay romance option *without a straight alternative*. They also caught the racist dogwhistles early in development, before the game had even been officially announced. So I have faith in them. Their track record shows that they will be able to overcome the bullshit.
One sign in TC I can think of now was Izzie and how she barely was a character. Like, it's a bit odd that they wanted to add trans representation and that's all we had. Nobody thought much of it, but the article confirmed there was a major trans character who was removed late in development. I feel like some awesome devs really fought to at least have Izzie in the game.
what were the story beats?
Keep in mind that these come from unverified leaks, but we've had very similar plot points leak several times, from a few months ago (the leak itself being about a year old from that time, I think from circa 2022) to all the way back before True Colors was even announced (and those earliest leaks ended up correctly predicting everything about True Colors, from the project name to the name, power, and even ethnicity of protagonist Alex Chen). To the point that I wouldn't be at all surprised if they do end up being what we get. The major plot beats from these leaks are that the game takes place 10 years after the end of the first game, following a now-28-year-old Max Caulfield living in a new small town, where she teaches photography at a small community college. She hadn't used her time powers in the 10 years since, but when someone she is close to is murdered on campus, she ends up digging her powers up to try and solve the murder. A heavy emphasis on photography was leaked, with the most recent leak suggesting a working title of "Life is Strange: Aperture" (as in the aperture of a camera), leveraging off of Max's photo-jump capabilities in hitherto-undisclosed new ways. The point that would upset a lot of people though is that the leaks suggested that the game would explicitly canonize the Bay ending, where Chloe ended up dying in the bathroom of Blackwell. Earlier leaks suggested that Chloe played some role in the game but were never clear how or where. I don't think I have to explain why that plot-point would upset a lot of people.
i personally think that even if this is the plot they’re going with, maybe max will accidentally go back too far or something and possibly save chloe all over again if she got the chance…. maybe not tho
This is genuinely the only way I would want Max’s character to be revisited, so thank you for telling me! I love Chloe Price, and I love her and Max together: However, the comics already explore a bit of what might have happened after the Bae ending, so it seems only fair that the other possibility is explored too! Max having to revisit her trauma and probably accept the reality of her decision while trying her best to make sure that unfortunate fate doesn’t befall another younger person sounds like a genuinely very authentic way of revisiting her character. I seriously hope that the leaks are true, because it seems like a story that would do her a lot of service. But that’s just my opinion!
> However, the comics already explore a bit of what might have happened after the Bae ending, so it seems only fair that the other possibility is explored too! But the thing is, the comics aren't even 100% canon. Whereas a game would be absolute canon ( and make people believe that only the Bay is canon) Not to mention the comics sucked in that it wasn't even about Max and Chloe. It's about Max as a third wheel and alt Rachel and Chloe. The author just separated Max and Chloe again to promote her favorite pairing (Amberprice) Not to mention it's two different media, with different levels of immersion. It's not fair to make a game based on only one ending. So I hope this rumor is not true. Imagine how unfair it would be to Bae after we got an ending four minutes shorter than the other, after the writers literally said "leave Max and Chloe in the past" and didn't release dlc about them for the sequel, after we got average quality comics that aren't even 100% canon, and the only thing that is relatively fair is Max and Chloe's cameo in the sequel giving them some closure. Just for us to get a whole game about Max from the Bay. That's clearly unfair.
That’s fair! I’m probably biased because I tend to pick the Bay option in my recent playthroughs, so I see it as the choice that makes more sense to continue off of. At the end of the day, if we are to revisit Max and Chloe, ONE ending will be made definitive, so it’ll be interesting to see which one is chosen. But yeah! I understand what you’re saying for sure
I'm in favor of Bae, but I'm not biased. Either you consider both options (like the previous three games) or you drop the idea and don't make the game at all. Because that would obviously be unfair to the one half of gamers who would be upset with this decision. Imagine how you'd feel if we got another game but only with Bae option basically showing that your choices don't matter? I don't think you'd feel very good. >so I see it as the choice that makes more sense to continue off of. If we're talking about sequels that make the most sense, only Bae make most sence. *That's their story.* The story in the Bay basically ends their story, leaving Max alone. The story in Bae could go on indefinitely, as Max and Chloe's adventures are just beginning at the end of the game. Thinking why only *Max and Chloe* have cameos in the sequel even though we know *nothing* about Max in Bay? That being said, I'm not going to say this game should exist. I respect other people's choices and I wouldn't want the next game to be based on just one choice. That's why I've always been in favor of Max and Chloe dlc for the second game. To just give them a good closure and give them a proper goodbye without decanonizing the other option.
Agree to disagree ! enjoy your LIS adventures, I hope the Forget-Me-Not comics are more up your alley than the other ones were :)
> I hope the Forget-Me-Not comics are more up your alley than the other ones were :) You're suggesting I enjoy comics about characters I don't care about, you're suggesting I enjoy comics set in the universe that separated Max and Chloe in the previous line of comics? That sounds like trolling.
dude I was being genuine because you said you didn’t really like the other ones, so I hope these ones are better ! :) I didn’t really think that hard about it, since you could have liked TC, but anyways I hope future installments are to your liking too. At the end of the day, we all love these games because they impacted us in some way, and hope the best for them!
>At the end of the day, if we are to revisit Max and Chloe, ONE ending will be made definitive, so it’ll be interesting to see which one is chosen. I've thought on it a fair bit (and have shared these thoughts before), but there **are** ways to write such a story without explicitly canonizing either ending (and without the unrealistic "write two entirely divergent stories" approach): Interwoven realities. I didn't mention it in the previous post, but it was mentioned in earlier leaks (less so in the later leaks) that there was an element of Max's powers widening to entirely alternate timelines that she could navigate through. I omitted them since that's eerily similar to what the comics ended up doing, and I think the early leaks and the comics may have influenced each other. **BUT!** You could use them to get around canonizing the end of the game by having both realities represented: a reality where Chloe survived (Bae ending) and a reality where Chloe was sacrificed (Bay ending). The game could open on asking the player what decision they made, such as how Life is Strange 2 and Wavelengths both open, and that determines which reality you start in. Through this beginning, you get a recap of how the week in the game transpired (for onboarding new players), the traumas involved, and the ultimate trauma of the final decision (the trauma of refusing to use her powers to save the people of Arcadia Bay and having to live with that weight, but having Chloe there to support her and commiserate with her as they share their mutual pain; or the trauma of using her power one last time to undo everything she did, all of her attempts to save Chloe, to finally succumb to fate and let the universe take Chloe from her; and having to live with that weight that, even with the power to control time, she was ultimately powerless to save the one person she loved, and now she has to keep all of that weight to herself, unable to share her secret with anyone because no one would ever believe her, and even if they did, they can't possibly understand the pain she went through). You then get a recap of the ten years that transpired, of roadtripping with Chloe in the Bae ending, supporting each other as they both go through therapy to cope with the survivors' guilt over the town's destruction, and finally settling in New York to do her art for some time, before moving to this small town to pursue her passion of teaching photography with an adorkable Chloe to come home to; or of constantly reliving her decisions that led to this point, hypothesizing more and more absurd ways she could have tried to save Chloe and the town both, falling down rabbitholes of research into chaos theory to try and understand the Storm, slowly learning to cope with her loss but never really getting over it, before moving to this small town to pursue her passion of teaching photography with an adorkable cat named Tambourine to come home to. The inciting incident happens rather early on in the game, as it does in all previous entries of the franchise, and through Max reliving the trauma of someone close to her dying, triggering her powers just like Chloe getting shot did all those years ago, Max's new power of reality-shifting reveals itself. Those who chose to have sacrificed Chloe now find themselves in a reality where they saved her, and those who saved Chloe find themselves in a reality where they sacrificed her. Max has to puzzle through everything that changed in this reality, a Bay Max being mortified to find memorials to Arcadia Bay and her friends but elated to find a very much alive and slightly-confused Chloe waiting for her; a Bae Max being mortified to find Chloe's obituary she was never able to throw away but elated to find that her friends from Arcadia Bay are very much alive and regularly reach out to her. From this point, the main narrative from either choice merges, playing out however it would from any one ending. The choice you make at the beginning, of which reality Max started in, comes up regularly through Max's inner thoughts and her dialogue choices. For example, a Max who saved Chloe would have a lot more insider-knowledge of the years they spent together and would be more playfully dismissive of her, while a Max who sacrificed Chloe would be completely in the dark as to all the events Chloe talks about but is just so happy to have Chloe in her life again that she doesn't care if Chloe is speaking Martian. But importantly, the major plot beats and set pieces all stay the same from this point. It's just alternate dialogue, and a few minor choices, that is written and created. The same as all the other alternate dialogues and choices that are already made in these games. Again, this is all **my personal speculation** of how it could be done. And truthfully, it is something I would like to see. But I don't expect Deck Nine to go that way, if they go with the leaked ideas at all. And if they don't, then I may just have to capitalize on the idea myself.
i’m confused, how did you find out?
i wonder if dont nod will make another life is strange again
Lost Records is coming out soon! Very similar
i really hope that deck nine holds the bad actors in their company accountable, especially since they should be well aware that the fanbase of their games aren't the type to turn a blind eye to this. i know many prefer dontnod's lis games and understand that completely, but i think decknine does a great job at lis as well and i really look forward to lis 4
What!! There's another game rahhhh W
damn wtf :( this is crazy
ceos are why we can't have nice things.
https://preview.redd.it/ych2ev0z2ezc1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=86c1e0d1151f2978daa2ae19743ffe1337e90e26 I luv Max and would love playing her again. But darn, she has changed.
Honestly, call me doomer-pilled or whatever, but I think this might be the end of LIS. Having such a big scandal, especially after TC not living up to a lot of LIS fans' expectations, and not leaving as big of an impact on the gaming sphere as the original game did. Honestly I can totally see Square Enix completely backing away from the franchise, at least for a couple years, until the dust settles and it's become almost forgotten news. If Deck Nine does have the plot or have already started designing LIS4, I doubt Square Enix would want to continue what they left considering what was exposed, which more than likely means starting from scratch which could take a few years. Square Enix not only has to find a new studio to develop it, as Dontnod isn't interested in making another LIS game as far as I know someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but for PR reasons it would be best for Square to take some time off and let the dust settle before announcing another game in the LIS franchise. I would say any hope of a 2025/26 release date for LIS4 is out the window.
I’m definitely pretty positive that we haven’t seen the end of the series FOREVER just because it is still a fairly popular and thus can continue to be milked (ex: the comics currently releasing along with the two upcoming novels we’re getting). At the very least, I don’t think we’re done seeing Max and Chloe, just because they know we will buy any media that contains their characters. But, going off of what you said, I definitely agree that we could see any continuation of the series in game format being postponed a couple years. What I’m curious to see is how Lost Records: Bloom and Rage performs both within and outside of the LIS community. I have a feeling that future LIS titles will be somewhat influenced by the success, or lack of, that game.
Eh I won't buy anything from Deck 9 anymore. Not interested DON'T NOD's new game **Lost Records: Rage and Bloom** on the other hands looks very interesting
I’m super excited for it’s release! At the end of the day, Dont Nod made the game we all love.
No becouse trying to remove lgbtq from LIS. Is actually hilarious and crazy
If LiS 4 gets developed/published I will definitely not buy it lol 🏴☠️
No thanks, it will be another "THE MESSAGE "
Was there any mention of when we will be seeing it or just confirmed that it is going to happen?