Square Enix Announces Life Is Strange Episode 3

Square Enix announced on May 13th the release date of the third episode of five of its popular episodic game, Life Is Strange. On Tuesday, May 19th, fans will be able to continue their journey as Max Caulfield through her strange world at Blackwell Academy full of tough decisions and time manipulation.

Titled “Chaos Theory,” this episode comes on the heels of episode two, “Out of Time,” which ended with a heart-wrenching bang. Although it can be debated whether that bang will have significant repercussions in later episodes and whether that is good or bad, it certainly set a dire tone for episode three that will have to be answered.

According to an article by Scott Blows on the Square Enix website, “In the next installment of Life is Strange, Max & Chloe ramp up their investigation to find out what exactly is going on at Blackwell Academy and the whereabouts of Rachel Amber. Secrets will be uncovered and Max will find another use for her power!”

(Some minor spoilers ahead, if you haven’t played episodes one and two yet.)

What can this use possibly be? I guess we’ll find out on Tuesday. In previous episodes, Max’s powers have come in handy in quite the variety of ways already. Multiple times she’s used them to save Chloe, her reckless friend from childhood with whom Max reunites to cause trouble and be a do-gooder. But Max’s ability to rewind time has also been crucial in less straight-forward matters. In terms of allowing the player to go back and make a different choice on, say, whether you water Max’s plant or not, or whether you do or don’t accuse one character instead of accusing another, an infinite amount of gray area exists surrounding the repercussions of your decision. And you only have so many chances to rewind. The reality that Max’s powers can unwittingly have negative side effects, as players certainly saw after playing through episodes one and two, potentially has frightening (but wonderful) implications for episode three. “Max will find another use for her power,” you say? Well, the speculation and the eager wait will be over shortly.

In the meantime…

If you find yourself bursting with Life Is Strange fanfare, it might amuse you to check this out: While it still seems unavailable for purchase (a promise of the ability to pre-order was made on April 1), the team at Square Enix has vowed to release the first bit of official Life Is Strange merchandise: It is the “Life Is Strange Official Plant.” It’s not necessarily new news, but it may be new to you as it was to me, and its still no less hilarious and sweet an idea today than it was back in April.