‘Underwhelming’. That is the word that probably best describes my feelings for Hell is Empty, the season finale of Life is Strange: Before the Storm. But I should also add ‘touching’. Or ‘normal’, as in ‘not strange’. While the first two episodes could be setting us up for some exciting and batshit crazy revelations, Hell is Empty turned out to be something of a wasted opportunity. It also feels rushed, leaving some confusion up in the air.
Hell is Empty turned out to be soap opera time, instead of Life is Strange. Of course, spoilers abound in this review.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t despise this episode, and it managed to strike a chord with me at least once. But I feel that there could be a lot more done with it, in particular some kind of connection between Rachel Amber, the tornado or Max’s time rewinding powers. Alas, there was not. Even if the ending of both Episode 1 and Episode 2 clearly hinted at some kind of ‘wind powers’ that Rachel could possess, it turned out to be a red herring. A HUGE red herring, and quite frankly, I don’t know if this was intentional or if players misinterpreted this due to some badly placed visual cues.
Hell is Empty is not strange at all. It’s teenage drama all the way, with some clever moments, including a bit of car engine tinkering and stabby-stabby. I was extremely pleased with a certain breaking and entering moment, but only minutes later I was disappointed with the psycho behavior of one minor character that seemed mostly endearing until now. It felt like corners were cut and the whole thing didn’t quite gel as it should.
The focus of this episode is Rachel and Chloe’s search for Sera, and all the teen angst is a bit dialed down when compared to the previous episodes. In fact, even the girls’ relationship is extremely toned down, almost as if Rachel was a secondary character, just sitting there feeling sorry for herself, while Chloe was doing her biddings. Quite the contrast from the fierce and relentless Rachel we’ve known before.
Also, Backtalk. The feature which was supposed to be the big replacement to Life is Strange’s rewind power, is barely used here. I may be wrong, but if I remember correctly, I only stumbled across it once. Once! Did Deck Nine itself stopped believing in it halfway through? If they did, I don’t blame them, as it doesn’t bring anything really interesting to the story.
I won’t go in detail through some technical flaws – the episode feels rushed, with more glitches than usual and some odd audio issues, as well as voice acting that isn’t that great apart from the two main characters. But I had the feeling that Hell is Empty wasn’t a match for the previous episodes in terms of polish. It’s still playable and I didn’t find any game-breaking bug, so I won’t nitpick that much.
Hell is Empty feels more like a narrative unfolding, with most of the episode comprised of cutscenes and little in the way of actual puzzles. Don’t expect anything clever such as the stage play from Episode 2, for example.
And suddenly, bam, it ends! I almost couldn’t believe when the usual epilogue scenes started unfolding before my eyes; I couldn’t convince myself that this was all there is to it. Hell is Empty is officially the shortest episode of Before the Storm and ended with so many loose or rushed ends – just what the hell actually happened between Damon and Frank, for example, performers of a couple of the most thrilling and dark scenes of the episode? And then, in pure fan-service way, the final seconds try to make a slim connection to the events from season 1 of Life is Strange. It’s too late, guys, that boat has sailed.
I’ve done nothing but moan and bitch about Hell is Empty, but that’s because it could have been so much more. I don’t even know why characters such as Nathan or Victoria made an appearance at all, shallow as they were, or why David ‘the step douche’ almost comes across as one of the fairest, kindest guys in this entire season, when he was pretty much sold to us as an obnoxious and paranoid type during the first episodes of LiS season 1. It just… it doesn’t sound right.
Hell is Empty is the definition of wasted potential. The script is the main thing at fault here, but maybe if Deck Nine took some extra time to come up with a better third act, I wouldn’t be complaining this much. And when I signed up for this ride – which I don’t regret, still –, I was expecting a taste of ‘stranger things’ (not the show, but the actual Life is Strange with Max and Chloe) with my heavy dose of teenage drama soap opera.
Maybe Max’s Farewell episode will improve my opinion on Before the Storm – despite not being actually connected to Chloe and Rachel’s story –, but right now, I feel hella disappointed with Hell is Empty and its ‘un-strangeness’.
Final rating: 5.5 friend zoned psychos out of 10
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