Coming in hot from eurogamer.

Weird. Seems like that might be in addition to whatever DONTNOD has planned? Just like with actual LiS 2 though, I'm cautiously intrigued. I also don't think they are that limited by the fact people roughly know what happened prior to LiS. That game wasn't about the story so much as it was about the characterizations within it. And there'd be plenty of room for that in a prequel.

That seems really odd. And very unnecessary.

That does seem very weird, but I suppose if you're going to revisit that world and characters a prequel like this is the only way it has a chance of working. There obviously won't be any time travel (I hope) so I wonder how it would play.

This thing seems like it could crash and burn very easily, but I'm definitely more intrigued by this idea than a direct sequel with the same characters.

The leaked images seem pretty legit but this whole thing reeks of Square Enix wanting to squeeze more money out of the Life Is Strange name since it's reportedly being developed by a different studio while Dontnod is off working on the sequel. If it's not done by Dontnod I ain't interested.

Hey, I'm down for other developers trying their hand in that universe. Seems like there's a lot of potential for all sorts of visions with that one.

I could absolutely see a prequel in the "LiS Universe" so I'm all for this, if true.

I'd certainly love to see more Life is Strange games, but a prequel isn't exactly what I had in mind. What would it even be? Felt like we got the important parts of the characters' back stories in the original game, and if the new game doesn't involve them, why bother calling it a prequel rather than another story in the same universe? Whether it takes part before or after the events of the original game doesn't really matter in that case.

While I loved the characters in the original game, I can't see any ways to explore them further without it getting really contrived.

@fisk0: I don't know, I feel like Chloe's life before Amber's death was one area that was left very unexplored. They gave you enough information to suit its purpose in the original game, but there's definitely potential to build an interesting story out of it.

Deck Nine, the devs for this game, were originally Idol Minds, who have a pretty sketchy resume. Interested to see what becomes of this but I don't have high hopes.

Deck 9/Idol Minds looks like this developer that hasn't gotten their break yet, doing port work and android titles for the last decade.

I'm not instantly opposed to a prequel. Dontnod never explained shit about the supernatural stuff, and they left the details of Rachel and Chloe's relationship open besides a few key details. You don't even know all that much about Rachel. On the other hand, another developer coming in and doing this just to earn a few more bucks on the established setting isn't exactly who I'd want to flesh out the details of this universe. It could easily feel like fanfiction. Like, maybe Rachel gets the same time travel ability somehow and you play as her? I hope it's cool, but it's not exactly what I was looking for, and I already know how Rachel's story ends.

Yeah, I don't think I'm too interested in this, but I'm not much a fan of prequel stuff to begin with. I would have preferred having the first game as the standalone thing that it is, I never felt the need to revisit it at all.

A story from Rachel's perspective where she acquires Max-like time travel powers would make sense. Whilst we know what happened to her in the end, there's still this loose end as to how she became such a mythologized idol around Arcadia Bay, especially when said myth doesn't align especially well with some of her bigger life decisions that we discovered later in the original season. I think there could be a rewarding tale to be told here, that could reconcile the disparate things we know about Rachel by telling a tale of an insecure teenager using her newfound power to curry the favor of a community, and we could get a deeper exploration of some of the themes that I felt the original season didn't explore fully. (Max abusing her powers to learn and recite the things that'd make people like her, the social dynamics at Blackwell in general, etc.)

That said, the fact that I'm chalking Rachel's situation up to time travel powers on the info I already have suggests that maybe the payoff from the prequel would stop at "hey, I was right," and then maybe it wouldn't have so much more to offer. (Not to mention that if it turned out that she didn't have powers I'd probably retcon it out of my headcanon.) Also, it could be awkward trying to tell the tale of a Rachel who made those bad decisions, or even one who you could imagine being later drawn into making those decisions, in a way that would respect player agency. Dontnod did a good job of coaxing players into abusing time travel to get people to like Max by aligning Max's desire to be liked with the player's desire to "win" or solve the puzzle, but can that work for some of Rachel's decisions?

I'll wait for the anime

I just don't want to see anything more from anyone at all involved in the first game. That's all done tell a new weird story somewhere completely different.

So this is going to be like Fire Walk With Me?

Yea, I'm not interested in this. Some stories don't need to be told.

No thanks. I'd love another game like this, but it should be an anthology series if the IP continues. No crossover, barring the odd easter egg or tertiary character. Even the Time manipulation mechanic isn't required, it could be replaced with another inventive one.

Hard pass.

Anyone else hope that a LiS sequel has nothing to do with the characters in the first game, and is instead set in the same universe with an all new cast? I feel like things wrapped up pretty good and I kinda want to leave it at that.