This article contains some minor spoilers regarding the ending for Life is Strange: Before the Storm Episode 1. Please read at your own discretion.
So I recently finished Life is Strange: Before the Storm Episode 1 and I have a jumble of thoughts on the ending of it. It’s something I sort of saw coming – there was a lot of emphasis on the subject early on, and then right before it happened I just knew what was coming.
The subject I’m talking about, the subject of Before the Storm’s Episode 1 ending, is wildfires. In the end of Episode 1, a character sets a picture on fire, throws it into the trash which sets that on fire, and then tips it over starting a wildfire. This is an especially touchy subject for me, considering what is going on right now in the Pacific NW, especially in my home state of Montana.
I do highly appreciate the game bringing to the front the subject of fires – unless it’s in certain areas, wildfires are largely ignored by the media. These are an absolutely devastating disaster, affecting people with the threat of home loss and just the smoke. Manmade fires are even worse, since they are typically caused by human negligence.
While I do appreciate the fact Before the Storm delved into fires – as I just said – I do also wonder if there’s anything they could’ve done to better go into it. Now of course Episode 2 is not out yet, and that will probably go into more details on it.
Unfortunately, while it was definitely out of their control as this was planned beforehand, the timing of the release of this game with current events is hard. Fires ARE devastating the Northwest & California right now. To date this year, 7.8 million acres have burned from both human caused and natural fires, with 1.4 million of this being active fires. In Montana, the state currently hit the hardest by fires, there is a staggering 574,552 acres of land burnt by active fires, and to date this year there’s been over 900,000 acres burnt.
My hope and wish is that the developer and publisher will donate a portion of the proceeds from the game to those affected by wildfires. The game ended up being really badly timed with current disasters in the United States of America, but of course it’s always hard to predict this sort of thing.
As another note, the title screen that comes up after you beat Episode 1 really doesn’t help matters much.
If you would like to find more information on how to assist those affected by the wildfires in Montana, please check out this article written by one of the major state newspapers.