The Life is Strange: Remastered Collection arrives next February

News
By published

Return to Life is Strange and Before the Storm with spruced-up visuals and new motion-captured animations.

I hope you're emotionally ready for a trip back to Arcadia Bay, folks. After a slight delay, Square Enix this week announced that the Life is Strange: Remastered Collection is set to arrive early next year.

Announced alongside new entry True Colors, the Remastered Collection revisits the original Life is Strange and spin-off, Life is Strange: Before the Storm. Textures and models have been redone, with a new lighting engine helping uplift a game that's starting to look a little flat. The motion capture process used in True Colors has also been brought in here, helping give the original LiS cast a bit more life.

It's not the most dramatic overhaul. But it's a welcome one, that largely keeps the spirit of the original while looking less like a game from 2015.

Life is Strange made a strong impression back then, though, and follow-up games have continued to follow that format of supernatural young-adult fiction. It's a playbook of teen drama and quaint American towns that this month's new entry True Colors follows faithfully, largely to its benefit.

"Although True Colors has its pitfalls, I have never had this much fun with a Life is Strange game," Rachel wrote in her Life is Strange: True Colors review. "Previous games in the series have dealt with some incredibly heavy topics, like convincing a friend not to jump off the roof of a building or experiencing horrendous racism, so even when there are happy moments, they often come across as bitter sweet, a fleeting moment in an unfair world. True Colors has its fair share of drama, but it also has moments of incredible joy.

Life is Strange: Remastered Collection launches on February 1, 2022.

Natalie Clayton
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.