Eight thousand concurrent players. Eighty-three percent positive reviews. One very surprised fanbase.

Life is Strange: Reunion launched today with none of the disaster signs that followed its predecessor. After Double Exposure’s financial flop and the franchise’s stumble through studio layoffs and toxic workplace allegations, Deck Nine somehow shipped a game that players are actually recommending to each other.

The Steam numbers tell a story nobody expected: #4 on Top Sellers, 8,083 concurrent players at launch, and an 83% positive rating from 48 early reviews. Not earth-shattering by AAA standards, but for a narrative adventure game that costs $39.99 and got announced just two months ago? That’s a win.

“Scratches the Itch”

The most telling player review comes from someone with 3.5 hours in the game: “No Life is Strange game will ever capture the lightning-in-a-bottle magic of the original, but if you enjoy the deep narrative, engaging mystery, fun characters, and slow exploration, you’ll find this game as enjoyable as the others.”

That’s the consensus forming around Reunion. Nobody’s calling it a masterpiece. Nobody’s claiming it restores what Dontnod built in 2015. But fans who stuck with the series through True Colors and Double Exposure are finding what they came for.

“Scratches the itch so far. Good vibes,” wrote another player after an hour.

ButWhyTho gave Reunion an 8.5/10, calling it “a truly special tale worthy of the franchise’s best.” The review highlights the dual protagonist system as a genuine innovation—players control both Max and Chloe, even during their conversations with each other, guaranteeing the central relationship unfolds exactly as players want.

The Deck Nine Era

This is Deck Nine’s fifth Life is Strange game. The Colorado studio took over the franchise with 2017’s Before the Storm and has been its sole developer since True Colors in 2021.

That stewardship hasn’t been smooth. According to Wikipedia, the studio laid off 30 employees in May 2023, another 20% of staff in February 2024, and more in December 2024. IGN reported on toxic workplace culture allegations in April 2024. The franchise’s original developer, Dontnod, has moved on to create Lost Records: Bloom & Rage—a game IGN describes as having “emotional unpredictability that has been stripped out of Life is Strange’s DNA.”

The question hanging over Reunion was whether Deck Nine could recover from Double Exposure’s reception. That game brought Max back for the first time since 2015 but failed to find its audience. Metro.co.uk reported that Double Exposure proved to be “a significant financial flop,” and Square Enix’s quick announcement of Reunion just over a year later raised eyebrows about the franchise’s direction.

Red Flags and Recovery

Metro.co.uk also noted that review copies for Reunion only went out at launch—a move the outlet called “highly suspicious” and “almost always a red flag.” Usually, that signals a publisher trying to hide a bad product.

The early returns suggest otherwise. ButWhyTho’s review acknowledges some issues: the villain reveal “ultimately feel[s] like they were chosen solely for their potential as plot twists,” and visual glitches include a bizarre bug that turns characters’ hair white. But the core emotional beats land.

IGN’s preview took a harder line, arguing that Reunion’s entire premise—bringing Max and Chloe back together—contradicts the original game’s message about moving forward. The piece frames the game as “eating its own tail for fan service and sales.”

But here’s the thing: the fans playing it seem fine with that trade.

What Fans Actually Want

Reunion doesn’t try to recapture what made the 2015 original special. It can’t. That game was a cultural moment—indie-developed, episodic, tackling themes mainstream games wouldn’t touch. Deck Nine isn’t trying to make lightning strike twice.

Instead, they’re giving longtime fans closure. For the first time, players control both Max and Chloe in the same game. The rewind powers are back. The choice-driven narrative lets players shape the relationship they’ve invested in for over a decade.

At $39.99, Square Enix seems to understand what this game is: fan service, executed competently, for an audience that’s been waiting since 2015 to see these characters together again.

The 8,083 concurrent players at launch suggest that audience is smaller than it used to be. But they showed up. And they’re leaving positive reviews.

Sometimes that’s enough.

Sources