Life Is Strange: Remastered Collection coming later this year

Life Is Strange Remastered art
(Image credit: Square Enix)

Has it really been six years since Life Is Strange first walked into town, jumping through time, squeezing "hella" into every other sentence? This year, Dontnod's original superpowered teen drama and Deck Nine follow-up Before The Storm are getting spruced up as the Life Is Strange: Remastered Collection.

Arriving both standalone and as part of the Life Is Strange: True Colors Ultimate Edition this September, the Remastered Collection touches up the first two games with updated visuals across characters and environments. Character animations, in particular, have been "vastly improved" with the full facial mocap techniques added in True Colors, while the lighting system and engines have been brought more up-to-date.

The first Life Is Strange was a five-part, Telltale-style episodic adventure following Max Caulfield, an awkward teen who discovers she can rewind time. Two years later, Before The Storm gave us a three-part prequel following Chloe Price, the blue-haired hothead from the base game, ditching the supernatural elements for a heaping dose of teenage angst.

Phil might've felt the original was a little shaky in his Life Is Strange review, but the game carried through with a powerfully earnest teen drama. The series very much set the format for the kind of folksy, supernatural small-town stories Dontnod would continue to explore with Life Is Strange 2 and last year's Tell Me Why.

Frustratingly, the developer is yet to show the Remastered Collection in action. Expect to see more closer to release on September 10th.

Natalie Clayton
Features Producer

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.