Life is Strange: Before the Storm

Manual

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Warnings & Ratings

Important Health Warning About Playing Video Games

Photosensitive Seizures

A very small percentage of people may experience a seizure when exposed to certain visual images, including flashing lights or patterns that may appear in video games. Even people who have no history of seizures or epilepsy may have an undiagnosed condition that can cause these “photosensitive epileptic seizures” while watching video games.

These seizures may have a variety of symptoms, including lightheadedness, altered vision, eye or face twitching, jerking or shaking of arms or legs, disorientation, confusion, or momentary loss of awareness. Seizures may also cause loss of consciousness or convulsions that can lead to injury from falling down or striking nearby objects.

Immediately stop playing and consult a doctor if you experience any of these symptoms. Parents should watch for or ask their children about the above symptoms—children and teenagers are more likely than adults to experience these seizures. The risk of photosensitive epileptic seizures may be reduced by taking the following precautions: Sit farther from the screen; use a smaller screen; play in a well-lit room; and do not play when you are drowsy or fatigued. If you or any of your relatives have a history of seizures or epilepsy, consult a doctor before playing.

Precautions to take during use

Sit a good distance away from the monitor.
Avoid playing if you are tired or have not had much sleep.
Make sure that the room in which you are playing is well lit.
Rest for at least 10 to 15 minutes per hour while playing a video game.

Life is Strange: Before the Storm © 2017, 2018 Square Enix Ltd. All rights reserved. Originally developed by Deck Nine Studios. SQUARE ENIX and the SQUARE ENIX logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. LIFE IS STRANGE and LIFE IS STRANGE: BEFORE THE STORM are registered trademarks or trademarks of Square Enix Ltd. Deck Nine is a trademark of Idol Minds, LLC. Developed for and published on macOS and Linux by Feral Interactive Ltd. Mac and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries. Feral and the Feral logo are trademarks of Feral Interactive Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Introduction

In Life is Strange: Before the Storm you play as Chloe Price, a rebellious sixteen-year-old who forms an unlikely friendship with Rachel Amber, a popular student seemingly destined for success.

When Rachel learns a family secret that threatens to destroy her world, it is her newfound friendship with Chloe that gives her strength. No longer alone, Chloe and Rachel must confront each other's demons and together find a way to overcome them.

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Installation

As part of the Steam download process, the game has already been installed on your computer. To start playing the game, read the Getting Started section.

Getting Started

If it is not already running, launch the Steam application.
If you are not already signed in, the Steam Login dialog will appear. Enter your account name and password, then select Login.
The Steam application will launch. Select Library.
In the library, select Life is Strange: Before the Storm, then select Play.
The Life is Strange: Before the Storm pre-game Options window will appear. Click on the Play button. The game will launch.
After the loading screens, the Title screen will appear. Press any button.
The Main Menu will appear. To start a new game, select Episodes → Episode 1: Awake → Start Episode.
After the opening video, you'll find yourself out past curfew in a dark forest with the sound of music in the distance…

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Main Menu

Episodes: Start a new game from the beginning of Episode One or continue your current saved game. You can also start playing from the beginning of any episode you have already completed.
Settings: View instructions on how to play the game, manage your saved games or change your audio, video and controls settings.
Extras: View the key choices you have made in each episode and view the credits for the game. If you bought the Deluxe Edition of Life is Strange: Before the Storm, you can also listen to music from the game in Mixtape Mode. For more information on key choices, see Episodes.
Square Enix Account: Link the game to your Square Enix account to receive exclusive Life is Strange: Before the Storm and Square Enix updates via email.
Exit Game: Quit the game and return to the desktop.

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Controls

You can play Life is Strange: Before the Storm using either a keyboard and mouse or a gamepad.

The instructions referred to throughout this manual are those for the default keyboard controls; if you have customized your controls or are using a gamepad, they will not apply.

Life is Strange: Before the Storm requires you to right-click in order to perform many commands. If you are using a Magic Mouse or Trackpad, your secondary click may not be activated by default. For detailed instructions on how to enable secondary click, see Can I play Life is Strange: Before the Storm using my Magic Mouse or Trackpad in the FAQs.

Keyboard and mouse

The default keyboard controls are detailed below. You can customize your keyboard configuration by selecting Settings → Game Settings → Edit Keybindings from the Main Menu.

Move	W/A/S/D
Jog	Shift (⇧) (hold)
Interact	Hold Left Mouse Button and W/A/S/D
Select dialogue choice	W/A/D
View current objective	Hold Right Mouse Button
Look Around	Mouse
Open Journal Menu	Tab (⇥)
Open Pause Menu	Escape (esc)
Reset Camera	Middle Mouse Button
Skip Cutscene	Space

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Gamepad

You can play Life is Strange: Before the Storm using a gamepad.

The diagram on this page is based on a standard controller layout; all gamepads have similar buttons but some may differ in layout from the gamepad shown here. For more information, see Can I play Life is Strange: Before the Storm with a gamepad? in the FAQs.

Please note that you cannot customize the default gamepad controls.

Gamepad control diagram

Move
Jog	(hold)
Look Around
Interact	///
Select dialogue choice	//
View current objective	(hold)
Open Journal Menu
Open Pause Menu
Reset Camera	(click)
Skip Cutscene

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How to Play

Interaction

As you explore the town of Arcadia Bay, you will encounter different objects with which you can interact.

When you are near such an object, a sketched outline will appear around it. As you approach, up to four options will appear along with an illustration of a mouse inside a circle. To select an action, click and hold down the Left Mouse Button, then press the W, A, S or D key corresponding to the desired action.

Dialogue Choices

As you play the game, you will have frequent opportunities to speak with other residents of Arcadia Bay. To start a conversation with someone, walk up to them and select the Speak action. Dialogue works in the same way as interacting with the environment. At particular points in a conversation, you will be given a choice of up to three responses.

Your dialogue choices will affect how a conversation ends and may also alter events later in the story.

Backtalk

In some conversations you have the option to Backtalk, indicated by a dialogue choice accompanied by blue speech bubble icons. In Backtalk encounters you use sarcasm and wit to get the other character to do what you want. To succeed, pay attention to what they say, then pick a response that reflects their words back at them.

A meter at the bottom of the screen indicates your performance during each encounter. Every time you succeed, one of the circles on the left will fill in, moving you closer to the larger central circle. Every time you fail, one of the other character's circles fills in. Reach the central circle first to convince the other character to do what you want.

In Backtalk encounters, each dialogue choice is time-limited. The hourglass on the Backtalk meter indicates how much time you have remaining.

In some Backtalk encounters, even if you initially fail to persuade, you will be given numerous further chances to do so. In others, there will be fewer opportunities.

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Current Objective

You can check your current objective (which you'll need to complete to progress the story) by holding down the Right Mouse Button.

Consequences

Your actions and dialogue choices impact your relationships with other characters and how the story develops. When you perform an action that will make a lasting impact, the all-seeing eye icon will appear in the top-left corner of the screen.

There are also key decisions that will profoundly alter the course of the story. When you reach one of these points, the scene around Chloe will freeze entirely and you will have just two options to choose between.

Checkpoints

Your progress through the game is punctuated by checkpoints. When you reach a new checkpoint, a cassette tape icon will appear in the bottom-left corner of the screen.

You can restart from the most recent checkpoint at any time by selecting Reload Last Checkpoint from the Pause menu. If you select this option, you will lose all progress you have made since that checkpoint.

If you wish to alter your choices prior to the last checkpoint, you must go back and replay the current episode from the beginning. You can do this by selecting Episodes from the Main Menu. Click the episode you want, then click Restart. For more information, see Episodes.

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Journal

Your journal contains entries, character profiles, records of the graffiti you have drawn, mementos you have collected and any SMS messages you have received. To access your journal, press the Tab key.

Journal Entries

New journal entries are added as you progress through the game. Access your journal to see the latest entry and review the events that have taken place since the last entry.

journal

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Character Profiles

As you meet new people, their biographies will be added to the character profiles tab (indicated by a drawing of a stick figure).

bios

Graffiti

In each episode of Life is Strange: Before the Storm, there are 10 objects you can graffiti. The graffiti tab (indicated by a drawing of a pen) will give you hints as to what each object is; it's up to you to seek these out.

You will encounter some of these graffiti opportunities in the normal course of play. However, sometimes you will need to perform particular actions to create graffiti opportunities for yourself.

graffiti

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Mementos

As you play through an episode, you will come across posters, flyers and other mementos. These will be added to your journal under the mementos tab (indicated by a drawing of a folder), and are sorted by location. Select a location to view the mementos that you have found there.

mementos

SMS Messages

Occasionally, you will receive SMS messages from your friends and family. You can view these messages at any time under the SMS tab in your journal.

When you receive a new SMS message, an envelope icon will appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen. When it appears, press the Tab key to view the new message. Your replies, and any further messages in the conversation, will appear automatically.

sms

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Episodes

Life is Strange: Before the Storm comprises three episodes. In each episode, you will make choices that alter the events depicted in later episodes.

The Deluxe Edition of the game also includes a bonus stand-alone episode, Farewell.

Choices

When you complete the first episode of Life is Strange: Before the Storm, the Choices option will become available on the Extras menu.

For each episode, the most important choices you made are displayed on the first page of the Choices menu. The second page displays a number of less significant choices that you made.

A percentage figure appears next to each of your choices and this indicates what proportion of other Life is Strange: Before the Storm players made which decision. You may limit this to display just the statistics for those on your Steam friends list by selecting the Friends' stats option in the bottom-right corner.

Replaying Episodes

You can replay previous episodes by selecting Episodes from the Main Menu. You may only select episodes that you have already started.

When you select an episode, you have the following options:

Restart using current Save Slot: Restart your game from the selected episode. If you choose to do this, any progress that you have already made beyond that episode will be deleted from the current save slot.

Restart using Save Slot 2: Restart your game from the selected episode using Save Slot 2. This allows you to restart from a particular episode without overwriting your current saved game.

Restart using Save Slot 3: Restart your game from the selected episode using Save Slot 3. This allows you to further experiment with Life is Strange: Before the Storm's choices without overwriting the saved games in slots 1 and 2.

Collector Mode: This allows you to replay an episode to graffiti any items and find any mementos that you may have missed first time through. Playing in Collector Mode will not alter any of your saved choices from that episode.

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Technical Support

Every effort has been made to make Life is Strange: Before the Storm as compatible with current hardware as possible. However, if you are experiencing problems when running Life is Strange: Before the Storm, please read on.

The FAQs for this version of the game can be found by following the link below:

http://support.feralinteractive.com/docs/en/lisbeforethestorm/latest/linux/faqs/

Contacting Feral

If the FAQs and/or updates do not solve your problem, then please feel free to contact us via email.

In your email, please include a brief description of the problem you have experienced with Life is Strange: Before the Storm. We will do our best to help you.

email: linuxsupport@feralinteractive.com

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