The original Life is Strange saw the character Chloe Price in a fragile mental state. Still struggling to come to terms with her father’s death and without her best friend Rachel Amber, her story is filled with heartbreak from beginning to end. But what kind of a person was Chloe before Rachel went missing? We will begin to learn that information when Life is Strange: Before the Storm‘s first episode releases in August, and a new video diary with original voice actress Ashly Burch and newcomer Rhianna DeVries gives us some insight into the character.
“I think that Chloe is a compelling character because she’s pretty wounded in lots of ways,” Burch says in the video. “She’s gone through a lot of things.”
We can feel Chloe’s pain in many of Life is Strange‘s most powerful scenes, particularly when the subject of her father comes up in conversations. Many of these moments were made better by Burch’s excellent performance, but due to the terms of the ongoing voice actors’ strike, she was unable to play Chloe in Before the Storm. In her place is Rhianna DeVries, who is working directly with Burch in order to get the character right.
“I took Chloe very personally,” DeVries says. “I tried to play her as raw and as close to heart as possible. I think just the rawness of her hurt and her pain is the thing that makes her such a dynamic and lovable character.”
The video gives us a few glimpses of DeVries’ work in action and although she doesn’t sound identical to Burch, her performance still offers the dry, somewhat low-pitched tone that we come to expect from the character. It appears that Before the Storm will also expand on Chloe’s relationship with her stepfather, David, a no-nonsense and occasionally abusive character who struggles to demonstrate how much he cares about his family. It will also show us the somewhat symbiotic relationship between Chloe and Rachel — something we only hear about during the first game.
“Imperfection is something that we embrace with this story, for sure,” lead writer Zak Garriss adds. “Rachel Amber has a power, and a charisma, and a meaning to Chloe that is — you know from the first game if you’ve played it — incredible.”
The first episode of Life is Strange: Before the Storm will be available on August 31 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
