Deck Nine’s prequel Life Is Strange: Before the Storm returned players to Arcadia Bay and the troubled Chloe Price, but it came with one major change: her voice. Due to a SAG-AFTRA strike, original voice actor Ashly Burch was unable to portray the character in the game, instead only working as a story consultant. The strike recently ended, though, opening the way for Burch to return to the character in a new bonus episode.
“We’re very excited to tell you that Before the Storm‘s bonus episode “Farewell” will be releasing in early 2018 and in even more exciting news, Hannah Telle and Ashly Burch will be returning to play Max and Chloe!” said a post on the game’s Tumblr page. “As you are all aware, Ashly has been working with the writing team at Deck Nine and we’re ecstatic that she will be returning to play the role of young Chloe.”
Rhianna DeVries, who voiced Chloe in the main Before the Storm episodes, will also be involved in production. She’ll provide motion capture work to go along with Burch’s voice acting in “Farewell.”
Telle’s character Max was not a focus of Before the Storm, though she was the protagonist of the original 2015 game. You’ll be playing as Max in “Farewell,” and it will likely be the last time we see Max and Chloe together in the series.
“I think the fans are really going to love this episode, because it shows a side of Chloe and Max’s friendship that we’ve never gotten to see before,” Telle said in the video. “You really get to see this relaxed best friend ‘back and forth.'”
Original developer Dontnod Entertainment is currently developing a second season of Life Is Strange, but it’s expected to feature an entirely different cast of characters and story. Given the ending to the first season, it’s unlikely that the game will return to its time-travel mechanic. The studio is also currently developing Vampyr, an action-role-playing game planned for release in 2018.
“Farewell” will be available next year as part of the Life Is Strange: Before the Storm “Deluxe Edition” on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The game’s first two episodes are available now.
