The team behind Life is Strange are no strangers to parallel timelines. Don’t Nod’s original narrative adventure ended with a binary choice – you could save the life of your closest companion, or doom them to protect the town you both grew up in. It was a decision that rippled through the stories of subsequent sequels, and remains an emotional peak the franchise has since struggled to surpass. Now, after years of silence, the team behind that ending are finally back with a new game – Lost Records: Bloom & Rage – ready to talk about why their time working on Life is Strange ended.
Much has changed for Don’t Nod over the past decade, with the original Life is Strange team now an ocean away and under a brand new roof at the recently-established Don’t Nod Montreal. Their time with Life is Strange is long over, following the conclusion of Life is Strange 2 at the end of 2019. Just over a year later, Eurogamer reported that Deck Nine Games, developer of the excellent Life is Strange prequel Before the Storm, was now the series’ main developer – and it was indeed this studio that made 2021’s enjoyable Life is Strange: True Colors.
“We really love what we did on Life is Strange and Life is Strange 2 but, as you know, the IP is owned by Square Enix, and at a point, we can only do what they want to do with the franchise,” Don’t Nod studio creative director and game director Michel Koch told me of the split between Don’t Nod and the franchise they created. “We worked with them as the publisher, we sold them the franchise when we created it, and now they own it and decide how it evolves and where it goes.”
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