Life is Strange : Before the Storm

So for those who haven't heard, Life is Strange : Before the Storm was announced over the weekend at E3 on the Microsoft Stage!

It's a prequel series to Life is Strange which was released episodically over 2015. There will be 3 episodes, the first one being released on the 31st of August 2017. The series will follow 16 year old Chloe Price as she battles her grief over the loss of her father and probably more (I'm getting this from the trailer and the articles I've read on the subject). It's important to note that Chloe is 19 in the main series so we know that this prequel is set 3 years before.

Chloe will be voiced by Rihanna DeVries, instead of her original voice actor Ashly Burch. This was decided due to the age difference between the stories. Don't fret though, Ashly is now on the writing team and is still involved in the creative process.

******SPOILERS*******

Do not read ahead of you have not played/ aren't aware of the events that take place in Life is Strange

Rachel is present in the game! She accompanies Chloe through her journey - other familiar faces include Frank and Joyce. It is unclear if David will be present, but I would of thought he would be judging by the flashback images in LIS (Chloe and David arguing over the birthday cake - chloe has a blue strip in her hair) or he may just be ing the family.

Max won't be in the story, as she was in Seattle until the events of LIS. However I have seen it mentioned that there is a special episode called 'Farewell' where they player controls Max as a child. This is more so fans of the original series can enjoy being Max again, rather than having story relevance.

Since Max isn't in the game, there will be no rewinding mechanics. Each choice will be permanent and unchangeable so choose wisely! This was confirmed by DONTNOD.

Something I'm curious about is whether Mr. Jefferson will play a role in the story or not. I doubt it would be major or related to Rachel's kidnapping and death, as she went missing 6 mints before the events of LIS. But is it stated that Rachel and Mark had some sort of connection as Mark says "Rachel was in love with me" and hints that their may have been multiple photo shoots.

Another interesting thing I've seen floating around tumblr, is the potential for Rachel to have a supernatural ability. There is a scene in the trailer and in official images of the game, that depict chloe being in William's car as it crashes. Before this happens though, we see a hand on the car window, against Chloe's hand on the inside of the window. It's strongly insinuated that it's Rachel's hand. After this, the crash happens.

However we know that Chloe wasn't in the crash. She has long hair and was at home with Max when the accident took place. So how is Chloe present? Maybe Rachel has an ability that allows Chloe to experience this.

I'm also excited to see if there will be any love interests in this prequel. As Max in LIS, we had the option of pursuing Chloe or Warren. If we go for Chloe, it's hinted that she had romantic feelings towards Rachel. It would be interesting to see if this is present in the prequel, and if Rachel reciprocated.

My last question, what is going on with the crow? It makes a prominent appearance in the trailer and as we know, animals are more than they seem in the LIS universe. My guess is that it's someone's spirit animal, maybe William's? Since Chloe's dad seems to play a role in the story it would make sense if he was guiding her - in the same way Rachel was guiding Max as the Doe.