Max Caulfield and Chloe Price will reunite for (possibly) the last time early next year, and it’ll be special for a couple of reasons. Notably, it marks the return of voice actress Ashly Burch, who will reprise her role as Chloe. Hannah Telle, the voice of Max, is also back, as part of a prequel episode set when Max and Chloe were very young.Square Enix announced the surprise in a video earlier today.There’s one more episode left in Life If Strange: Before the Storm, a prequel to the original game. It’s been a complicated game to enjoy because its development overlapped with the recently concluded voice actor strike, whose presence prevented Burch from reprising her celebrated role as Price. Instead of waiting for the strike to conclude, Square Enix chose to move forward with a different, non-union voice actress.“I'm really sympathetic to the sadness that comes about when you hear that Ashley Burch isn't voicing Chloe,” said lead writer Zak Garris during an interview at E3 earlier this year. “We all went through that. That was heartbreaking for us. We loved what she did in the first game. The strike is very complicated, and it really challenged us in the middle of our development process, having to make a tough call about that. We even contemplated not making the game.”An agreement to end the strike, allowing the return of Chloe, was reached in September. The benefits of the strike were limited—new bonus structure for additional recording sessions, new requirements on disclosure and transparency for how companies pitch projects, an "employer commitment" to work on the "issue of vocal stress during the term of the agreement—but was seen as an encouraging step.When Danielle wrote about the game’s second (and strong) episode, she pointed out how the game’s external politics weighed on her, while trying to enjoy the story:
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It’s not ideal. In a just world, Square Enix would have waited until the strike was over and stood by people who helped make Life Is Strange a breakout, instead of tossing them to the wind. But with the strike concluded, and the future of Max and Chloe in doubt, it’s nice to know they—the characters, the fans, the voice actors—will finally get some closure.Follow Patrick on Twitter. If you have a tip or a story idea, drop him an email: patrick.klepek@vice.com.Have thoughts? Swing by Waypoints forums to share them!“I'm writing about the game because it means a great deal to me, as a queer woman, to see this level of representation. I'm a fan of the series, and I think that Before The Stormis a stronger game than the first, which was one of my favorites back in 2015. But it hurts to see it in this context: it's a game whose developers made a point of hiring scab labor and undercutting union solidarity in order to tell their story. And so a game that is inclusive and sensitive about an often marginalized or ignored community also carries a poison of self-interest over economic justice and labor decency.”