So I’ll preface this by stating that the template was set for this article to be the actual review of Life is Strange: Remastered Collection, however a couple things had been bought to my attention today. So here’s the deal guys, and I’m going to be blunt here so you may consider this a quasi-review of sorts. The game on PC is unplayable right now. For content creators, if you’re considering the release on PC, I’d give it a wait or consider purchasing on other platforms for the time being as running it with capture software causes the game to considerably dip in performance overall. While attempting to stream the game on Friday, it crashed on me numerous times and would not show the game on OBS Studio. I had to circumvent some options in order to actually have the game display in the program. But that wasn’t the only issue I ran into.
The game only captured in Windowed mode, and making said Window active would drastically decrease the title’s framerate considerably. I did my best in playing the game off-stream hoping to capture the entire thing for YouTube but was unsuccessful. I gave Square-Enix a heads up on the matter, and the kind folk there were swift in responding to my qualms with a patch rollout that will address all these issues players seem to be running into. While I usually tend to produce a review-in-progress on the event of certain games having distinct issues toward its performance, I’ve decided that with the amount of fixes expected to hit the week of February 21, it would be counter-productive to do so, as it seems that the title will have most of my problems fixed.
I highlighted the following concerns with the team including; performance and framerate issues, lighting artefacts and constant bugs, facial animation issues that still seemed off, and the aforementioned crashes. The Patch rollout scheduled for next week will come in two parts (as per Square-Enix);
Patch A – Rollout due to begin on released platforms week commencing Feb 21st
See below for what we are working towards for Patch A
Before the Storm: Remastered
All Released Platforms
· Fixes to character miscoloration after extended play, removing the need to restart console
· Missing character accessory textures fix
· Zombie Crypt outfit selection and all outfits geometry improvements
· Character facial animation improvements
· UI, subtitle, and functionality improvements
· Updated credits
PC Steam
· Cloud saving now available
· Manual screen resizing in window mode
· Character movement and animation improvements
· Character accessory texture and outfit geometry improvements
PlayStation
· (PS4/Pro) Crash and stability fixes
· (PS4/Pro) UI, Game Launch and Loading screen improvements and fixes
· (PS4/PS4 Pro) Protection and stability improvements to save data
· (PS5) Texture improvements and sunlight visibility fixes
Stadia
· Coloration, lighting fixes, and missing detail added to characters
· Character movement and animation improvements
· Environment object fixes
· Zombie Crypt outfit availability fix
Life is Strange: Remastered
All Released Platforms
· Facial animation improvements
· Lighting fixes
· Further audio (including UI audio) and subtitle fixes
· UI localisation, UI highlight, text and menu improvements
· Character Bio and journal UI improvements
· Outline Effect improvements
· Tutorial implementation fixes
· Credits fixes
· Gameworld transition, interactivity, and loading screen improvements
· Keyboard/Mouse detectability fixes
PC Steam
· Animation improvements
· SMS and Journal user experience improvements
· Various Hotspot fixes
· Reflection and camera view fixes
· Rewind ability fixes
PlayStation
· (PS4) Friends Stats fixes
· (PS4) Fixes to cinematics, dialogue, and ambient audio
· (PS4/PS4 Pro) How to play improvements
· (PS5) Animation improvements
· (PS5) SMS and Journal user experience improvements
· (PS5) Reflection and camera view fixes
Xbox
· (All) Black and white screen fixes
· (All) Reflection and camera view fixes
Stadia
· Black and white screen fixes
· Various Hotspot fixes
· Fixes to cinematics, dialogue, and ambient audio
On top of this, whilst we cannot confirm that the following fixes will be in this patch instead of Patch B, if all goes to plan, we are working to get them in Patch A, also:
Life is Strange Remastered
· PC Steam – Instances of loading screens appearing dark/pixelated
· Stadia/Xbox – Photo Transition Scenes missing Audio
· Xbox – Save data changes after exiting the game on Ep 5 Parking Lot Focus
Life is Strange: Before the Storm Remastered
· All Released Platforms – Updated epilogue
· All Released Platforms – Instances of Visual Degradation
· PC Steam – Updated Farewell Episode
Patch B – Due Early March on all released platforms
See below for what we are working towards for Patch B
Life is Strange Remastered
All Released Platforms
· High gamma settings causing pixelation and blown out or incorrect colors fix
· Missing scene of chair moving and exiting bedroom window fix
· Lighting flickers fix
· Max animation improvements
PC Steam
· Specific cinematics with muted audio fixed
· Video resolution options are shown as DNL and game is windowed on Ultrawide monitors fix
· Sun is missing during end of eclipse scene fix
PlayStation
· (PS5) Implemented 60 FPS rendering mode for Gen 9 consoles
· (PS4/PS5) Specific cinematics with muted audio fixed
· (PS4/PS5) Solar Flare causing graphic corruption on Main Menu fix
· (PS4/PS5) Graphical corruption occurs at the edge of the screen fix
Xbox
· (XB Series X) Implement 60 FPS rendering mode for Gen 9 consoles
Stadia
· Specific cinematics with muted audio fix
Life is Strange: Before the Storm Remastered
· All Released Platforms – Character discoloration fixes
Life is Strange - Square-Enix
AVAILABLE NOW ON:
Return to Arcadia Bay and experience two award-winning Life is Strange games like never before! Remastered visuals and animation breathe new life into the great cast of characters and gripping stories.
