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Life Is Strange: Before the Storm

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Life Is Strange: Before the Storm
Life Is Strange: Before the Storm cover
Developers
Deck Nine
macOS (OS X) Feral Interactive[1]
Linux Feral Interactive[1]
Publishers
Square Enix
Engines
Unity 5[Note 1]
Release dates
Windows August 31, 2017
macOS (OS X) September 13, 2018[1]
Linux September 13, 2018[1]
Reception
Metacritic 77
OpenCritic 80
IGDB 77
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, DLC
Microtransactions None
Modes Singleplayer
Perspectives Cinematic camera
Genres Adventure, Puzzle
Themes Supernatural, North America
Series Life Is Strange
Life Is Strange: Before the Storm on HowLongToBeat
Life Is Strange: Before the Storm on IGDB
Life Is Strange: Before the Storm on MobyGames
Life Is Strange: Before the Storm on Wikipedia
Life Is Strange
Life Is Strange 2015
Life Is Strange: Before the Storm 2017
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit 2018
Life Is Strange 2 2018
Life Is Strange: True Colors 2021
Life Is Strange Remastered 2022
Life Is Strange: Before the Storm Remastered 2022

General information

Known issues and workarounds
GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Icon overlay.png
Limited Edition (includes Deluxe Edition).
Windows
Developer website
Icon overlay.png
Deluxe Edition
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Publisher website
Icon overlay.png
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
GOG.com
DRM-free
Deluxe Edition also available.
Windows
Green Man Gaming
Icon overlay.png
Deluxe Edition also available.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Deluxe Edition also available.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Mac App Store
Icon overlay.png
macOS (OS X)
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
All Linux versions require Steam DRM.[3]
Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM has been removed.[4][5]

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Deluxe Upgrade
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Classic Chloe Outfit Pack
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Japanese Language Pack Only available in Japan.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux

Essential improvements

Disable intro videos, chromatic aberration, and depth of field

Instructions[6]

Use modded .dll file. The manual procedure may also work.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Square Enix\Life is Strange: Before the Storm\
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Square Enix\Life is Strange_ Before the Storm\Saves\<user-id>\Preferences\PrefData.Save
macOS (OS X)
Linux
It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.
Config file is encrypted.

Save game data location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Square Enix\Life is Strange_ Before the Storm\Saves\<user-id>\SLOT_##\*.Save
macOS (OS X)
Linux $HOME/.config/unity3d/Feral Interactive/Life is Strange Before the Storm/Saves/<user-id>/SLOT_##/*.Save
Save files are encrypted. See LiS-BtS-Savegame-viewer.

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game video settings
In-game video settings

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
See Widescreen resolution if game won't change to another resolution in-game.
Multi-monitor
See the WSGF topic.
Ultra-widescreen
See the WSGF topic.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Check here
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
By default. Use -window-mode exclusive command line argument for exclusive fullscreen.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Visible jaggies and no temporal AA. See Anti-aliasing (AA).
Vertical sync (Vsync)
Frame lock only (none/30fps/60fps.) See High frame rate.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.
The game engine may allow for manual configuration of the game via its variables. See the Unity page for more details.

Widescreen resolution

16:10 resolution without black bars

See Removing black bars from 16:10 screens.

Force resolution / Fix DSR and VSR
  1. Run the Windows Registry Editor ('regedit')
  2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Square Enix\Life is Strange: Before the Storm\
  3. Double-click Screenmanager Resolution Width_h182942802 >> Change 'Base' to "Decimal" >> Change 'Value Data' to ## (ex. "3840" for 4K) >> Click 'OK'
  4. Double-click Screenmanager Resolution Height_h2627697771 >> Change 'Base' to "Decimal" >> Change 'Value Data' to ## (ex. "2160" for 4K) >> Click 'OK'
  5. Close the Registry Editor window. Changes were saved as they were made.
  6. Open Steam >> Library tab
  7. Right-click 'Life is Strange: Before the Storm' >> Properties
  8. Click 'Set Launch Options' >> Add "-window-mode exclusive -screen-width ## -screen-height ##" (ex. "3840" and "2160" for 4K) >> OK
  9. Run the game. See important notes below.

Notes

Forces the game to run full-screen at the desired resolution.
Fixes DSR/VSR (Dynamic Super Resolution / Virtual Super Resolution.)
Before using a DSR/VSR resolution, ensure you have it enabled in your video card's control panel.
Screen_tearing_fix. Screen tearing may need to be fixed when forcing resolution, even when the FPS counter shows a proper value.
Game reverts to the maximum current desktop resolution if not forced per above steps. While higher resolutions are selectable in-game and appear to apply, the resolution will not change (note that overlays like FPS counters and the Steam overlay will remain the same size.) Re-visiting the in-game video settings will show the selected resolution reverted to the current desktop resolution.

Anti-aliasing (AA)

Use SMAA with ReShade[7]

Install the ReShade post-processing injector:

  1. Download ReShade
  2. Run the downloaded file >> Click 'Select game...' >> Browse to <path-to-game>
  3. Select DirectX 10+
  4. Agree to download standard effects.
  5. Ensure SMAA and any other desired plugins are selected.
For sharpening at monitor resolution, "LumaSharpen" is recommended.
For sharpening DSR/VSR resolutions, "AdaptiveSharpen" is recommended to survive downsampling.
The "FXAA" plugin will likely not improve things when combined with SMAA and in-game anti-aliasing; however, it will allow more control.

Enable SMAA:

  1. Run the game.
  2. Press the Home key to toggle the ReShade menu.
  3. Enable SMAA by clicking the chekbox.
  4. Click the Performance Mode checkbox to toggle the ability to modify plugin settings. Turn back on when done modifying settings to improve performance.

Change in-game settings:

  1. Video Settings >> Set 'Anti-Aliasing' to Medium to complement SMAA.
Higher settings will increase blur and reduce game performance.
Lower settings will result in noticeable aliasing even with SMAA, but raise game performance.

Notes

VSR/DSR is recommended to address lack of temporal anti-aliasing.
Higher in-game anti-aliasing settings contribute significant blur.
Jagged edges even using the in-game "Hella High" anti-aliasing setting.
No temporal anti-aliasing.

High frame rate

Higher frame rate / Screen tearing fix (V-Sync)
  1. Change in-game Settings >> Video >> Frame Rate Limit option to OFF. (See Notes below.)
  2. Set V-Sync from your graphics card control panel for this game to ON.
  3. Run the game with -window-mode exclusive command line argument for locking FPS at monitor refresh rate.

Notes

Game may perform much smoother with both V-Sync ON and the in-game Settings >> Video >> Frame Rate Limit option set to 60.
Recommended for those who want more FPS, but also V-Sync/G-Sync option to work.
Fixes screen tearing that may appear when >60fps or when the in-game Frame Rate Limit is set to 60/30.

Chromatic aberration

Disable chromatic aberration[6]

Use modded .dll file. The manual procedure may also work.

Depth of field

Disable depth of field[6]

Use modded .dll file. The manual procedure may also work.

Input

In-game input settings
In-game input settings

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Cannot bind mouse buttons to movement actions.
Mouse acceleration
Enabled by default.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
If controller is not working, try the fixes listed here.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion
Controller types
XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration
PlayStation controllers
PlayStation button prompts
DualShock prompts appear when using a DualShock controller, despite the game only supporting XInput.
Light bar support
Adaptive trigger support
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes

Tracked motion controllers
Tobii Eye Tracking support
Button/gesture prompts
Generic/other controllers
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Additional information
Button prompts
Controller hotplugging
Some buttons don't work after hotplugging.
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M
Rapidly changes button prompts.[8]

Audio

In-game audio settings
In-game audio settings

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Music, Voices, SFX.
Surround sound
5.1. Speaker number and type not selectable (uses system default.)
Subtitles
Adjustable size. Overlay toggle.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
French
German
Hungarian
Fan translation. Available to download.
Indonesian
Fan translation by IGTC Team, download.
Italian
Japanese
Steam DLC available from Japan; Released on June 7, 2018.[9]
Korean
Fan translation by Teamhipsterkanarias ("Farewell").
Polish
Fan translation by GPP community.
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Fan translation by Tolma4 Team (Subtitles), PG Team (Subtitles) and ElikaStudio (Audio and Textures).
Spanish
Latin American Spanish

VR support

3D modes State Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision
See Helix Mod: Life is Strange: Before the Storm.
vorpX
G3D, Z3D
Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.
Devices
Tobii Eye Tracking
Supports: Extended View - Only Head Tracking, Head Pose Mirroring, Interaction at Gaze.

Issues unresolved

Stuttering

Enable 60 FPS cap from the video setting menu[citation needed]

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 11
OpenGL
macOS/Linux only
Metal support
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio Criware
Cutscenes Criware

System requirements

Windows
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 7
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i3-2100 3.1 GHz
AMD Phenom X4 945 3.0 GHz
System memory (RAM) 3 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 14 GB
Video card (GPU) AMD Radeon R7 250
Nvidia GeForce GTX 650
DirectX 11 compatible
A 64-bit operating system is required.
macOS (OS X)
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 10.13.5
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i5 2.0 GHz
System memory (RAM) 8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 28 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GT 650M
AMD Radeon R9 M290
Intel Iris 5100
1 GB of VRAM
This game is not currently supported on volumes formatted as Case-sensitive.
A 64-bit operating system is required.
Linux
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) Ubuntu 18.04
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i3-4130T 2.9 GHz
System memory (RAM) 4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 28 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GTX 670
AMD Radeon R9 270
2 GB of VRAM
AMD GPUs require Mesa driver 18.1.6, Nvidia cards require driver 396.54 or better.
Intel GPUs are not supported at time of release.
A 64-bit operating system is required.


Notes

  1. Unity engine build: 5.5.3p1[2]

References