What a shame this game hasn't reached its full potential because of those cut content. The lore around Arcadia Bay, the storm and the origins of Max's powers could've been explained much better in the game along with the Prescotts' deeper connection to the town. These things were literally what I was most curious about when I played years ago and I remember being mad none of these things were made clear at the end. It could have been much better :/ I'd LOVE to have more Prescott content, that powerful, twisted family was so intriguing for me and I always wished I could help Nathan in some way. Apparently he could have been much more than he seemed at surface level but sadly he remained a one dimensional villain for most people. I wish they could release all the episodes they planned, or made a DLC maybe. Thanks for the video, I didn't pay much attention to Tobanga when I played and I didn't know about Tillamook until now. The presence of a Native American tribe in Arcadia Bay and their legends being tied to the storm makes perfect sense.
There is an awesome fanfic that ties Arcadia Bay & the Prescott family to the storm so neatly (after sacrifice Chloe ending). "The Sense Of Me" by trecoolio on ao3 if anyone's interested. When I wasn't aware of little details like the Hopi prophecy on the wall, or any fan theories that point to the reason why all those supernatural stuff was happening at AB and I was unsatisfied with the ending.. this story was what put all the pieces together in my head. I can't recommend it enough.
thank you so much!! this theory is one of my favorites in the gaming universe. Nathan is one of my favorite characters just because of his lore alone. it couldve been much bigger and gone much deeper than what we had received. Even tho we will probably never get to see it, its still extremely fun to think and theorize about
THIS THEORY MEANS EVERYTHING. I HAVE BEEN WRITING STUFF BASED ON THIS GAME AND I LOOKED INTO THE LORE AND IT WAS SO COOL! IT INTERTWINES WITH THE LORE OF THE VORTEX CLUB!!
@@KitannaColumbine its so DEEP!!! Often times i wonder if its even possible for us to find ALL of the lore in the game just because theres so many hidden meanings and references 😭
@@Mateonaisewanna know what’s absolutely crazy? The colonialist roots of Nathan’s family tree also interact with Nathan’s mental health and Max’s power. I think Nathan’s dad was plotting to remove the sources of supernatural power from Arcadia Bay to either capitalize off of them or prevent anyone from stopping him from capitalizing off of the resources within Arcadia Bay. I think Max’s power originally surfaced so that she could stop the Pan Estates from being built! And Nathan KNOWS about this!
@@Mateonaise you can investigate Nathan’s whereabouts by looking at the coordinates of his car in episode 4 and map out how he handled Kate’s kidnapping too. He’s a smart kid who knows how to make himself an alibi
4:368:44 Actually, In Episode 4 when Max and Chloe go to the barn, before they find the dark room, there is an unskippable cutscene that suggests the Presscotts knew about the storm several decades before it happened ("The Prescotts bring bomb shelter boom to town"). And we can find old photos, letters and newspaper articles hinting at their family legacy/history, indicating this was originally supposed to be an important part of the game. Not to mention it doesn´t make any sense that Nathan´s father somehow didn´t know that Jefferson was using their bunker, because in Episode 1 Nathan says "That´s my family, not me" which suggests he has no control over his family money, not even enough to pay Chloe to keep her quiet. So how can he pay for the dark room and all those fancy equipment without his family knowing like Jefferson says in Episode 5? And in Episode 2, Jefferson receives a call from an unknown person. He couldn´t just end the call himself despite the fact he obviously didn´t want to talk, so it must have been someone who is a big shot/his superior and he also promises to do something this person wants. Even early "What if" builds from 2014 show that originally we were meant to stop by the Prescott estate after Jefferson kidnapped us. Why would he go there if Sean didn´t know what was happening in his bunker? So, I´m pretty sure Sean not knowing anything was just a last-minute change that happened because they had to cut the rest of the Presscott storyline. I think the Prescotts were originally intended to be the main villains of the story since they´ve the motivation to destroy the town (Pan estates), and Jefferson was supposed to be a twist antagonist for the middle part of the game who works for them. Also, I recall the devs said the doe was indeed Rachel´s spirit animal and her spirit likely gave Max her powers, but I don´t think she had powers when she was alive or that she was the storm. Even the devs said that "We knew for a lot of players, there was this fantasy of finding her alive or that she was a time traveler or she was something else. But the most logical outcome was that maybe she's dead".
@@foxial5358 i fully believe the prescotts were the original villains intended for the game. I could definitely see Jefferson working for them especially since the prescotts are the reason for him being at blackwell in the first place. I could see it being possible that they did know about the dark room, just not exactly what jefferson was doing in it. I believe he coulve gave false intentions for his purpose for it. On the other hand, jefferson and nathan were working together for these shoots and i could see this scenario as well. Jefferson manipulating nathan to convince his family to get the equipment for the bunker to “help” his future and and doing so in a way to live up to the family’s legacy success wise
@@Mateonaise Agreed. I´d add that storywise the game as a whole is now weirdly fragmented since the Dark Room/Rachel plot ended up being pretty much just a random side story that takes most of our time anyway because the storm/Chloe plot didn´t have enough content for the entire game. The missing Prescott plot could´ve eventually united these separate storylines together. And Sean writing to Nathan that "I´ll guide you into this room step by step" could mean the dark room. Just like Nathan´s "Rachel in the Dark Room" paper that we find. And the Prescotts giving Jefferson the bunker and helping him to realize his twisted artistic "vision" could explain why someone as famous as Jefferson would want to work in a small town high school. Perhaps the dark room would´ve served some other purpose for the Prescotts, if they were somehow linked to mystical/supernatural forces? I remember seeing an old YT video with a theory that they could´ve somehow used it to find a girl with time travel powers and kill her so she can´t prevent the storm from happening.
Also if you go downstairs in episode 3- when you are wearing Rachel’s outfit and you can go talk to Joyce in the kitchen and listen to the answering machine, if you turn around at the end of the stairs where it puts you there’s mail you can snoop through along with a flyer that says “THE END IS NOW- Arcadia bay is the final battle ground for Pazuzu” followed by Isaiah 66:15-16 which is a quote that mentions a “whirlwind to render his anger with fury and fire.” Which was really interesting to me that they purposefully put that there.
You deserve more views!! People shit on Life is Strange too much because of its “cringe” or “dorky” but I hope they would someday remake the first game
@@TheMoment127 thank you so much!! :) and yes i agree it gets way too much hate. Its a fantastic game!! I would love if they remade it one day in the way dontnod intended on but i fear that probably wont happen since square enix owns the ip and dontnod doesnt want to work with them. The reasons are understandable but still it sucks we may never get to see it :/
As somebody who was immersed in fan theories when the game was first coming out, it did seem like there was going to be a lot more to the Prescotts and their involvement with the storm, Tobanga, the Hopi prophecy, Samuel, and so on. Around the time of episodes 3 and 4, it felt like the game had so much mystery and potential. When all that stuff was dropped entirely in episode 5 it was like... was that really ALL a red herring? I always thought the game would end up being truly mind-bending near the end, and I was a bit surprised at the ending we got. I'm still hoping Double Exposure does some of that. I want to mention also that I think references from the nightmare sequence, and the stealth sequence in particular, might actually be counterevidence. This is where the devs poked fun at a lot of the prevailing fan discussion at the time, like, it's also why you hear Warren being wildly creepy, see Chloe shipped with random characters, etc. It's less "here's more supporting evidence for this theory" and more "haha is this really what you thought was important?" I'm not sure if it was really intended to be mocking, but it definitely contributed to people not really liking the ending at the time.
@@sig9779 i do like chapter 5 in a lot of ways and the ending don’t get me wrong, but i agree that episodes 3 and 4 specifically were hinting at something more and not just a red herring. Just that the developers had more ideas to seek out but ended up cutting the game short due to its popularity at the time. I so wouldve loved to see more of the tobanga and dive into the prescott lore and even samuel lore much more. Definitely a missed opportunity there with how they couldve hone with things. And I absolutely hope they go a similar route with double exposure. Ive only played the first chapter ago far but it feels promising!! Definitely more going on imo than true colors
@@Mateonaise Ah that's a fun one. There's a portion of a Hopi prophecy scrawled on a bathroom wall somewhere, I think at Two Whales. The idea is that if you look up the full prophecy, you can find links to much of the symbolism found in the game. The best summary is probably this old Geek Remix video: ruclips.net/video/d0kyxF8erAg/видео.html They also said that at the end of the world, the earth would be shaken three times before the great cataclysm. Three is the number of bullets on Chloe's necklace, and it's the number of times she's guaranteed to die during the game without your intervention. This stuff is always a reach, but we had 6-12 weeks between episodes to create theories. Oldschool LiS theorycrafting was pretty wild...
@@sig9779 WOW thats so cool!! Thank you for this information i love learning about connections and theories like this its so fascinating!!! At the time i hated having to wait between episodes releases but now i wish we still had it like that. Maybe like two weeks between episodes (lis2 wait was WAY too long) but it would help give us time to craft theories and build anticipation!!!
@@Mateonaise Agree 100%, the wild theorizing between episodes was almost as fun as the game. I'd love a week or two to sit with each episode before the next one is out.
Nobody remembers it but when Life is Strange first released it was marketed as a time travel mystery with supernatural elements. It released with just the first two episodes but I swear after Pricefield got popular the game's developer totally switched gears on everything they originally had planned.
It’s interesting to see that Chloe isn’t planned to make an actual appearance in Double Exposure (at least from current news) and they went back to that type of marketing.
It would be a possibly fun twist that only sean survived the storm and then upon being unable to find his son the “heir” to the prescott legacy dug deeper, learned max interfered and in his mind killed nathan through her actions and tried to catch her but couldn’t (or if you chose to save the town not chloe finds out max got nathan arrested and was angry about her damaging the Prescott name) until SPOILER AHEAD FOR LIS DOUBLE EXPOSURE she started teaching at the school in double exposure got into contact with safi for some reason or somehow or someone related like vihn and manipulated her to do his bidding, max from a different timeline or whatever it is we see at the end of chapter 2 discovers all this and decides to kill safi for some reason or we see some of this spiritual storyline bit and nathans dad manipulates alternate max somehow and max has to fix things by going back to where this all began. Arcadia bay where she has to wrap up the mystery there to solve what happened with safi, the return of her altered powers and just everything, maybe get help from alternate reality chloe. Idk Imo that’d be a pretty interesting storyline, i can’t wait to see what they do for double exposure
It quite unfortunate, it would have been really cool if instead of releasing a remaster, after seeing the success of the cut version they decided to take on the full story.
Man, ever since I played this game for the first time last year, I always theorised that Rachel was the one who caused the storm because of her anger but now with this information and theory, there’s a deeper lore that is within Life Is Strange! Nice work dude
personally, as far as im aware chapter 5 simply had an alternate version where Nathan was still alive after chapter 4, basically having his death as a part of the chapter instead of being offscreen between episodes, which is why his line about the storm is there, its the alternate sequence of his voicemail in the car, where hes still alive, aware of the storm coming, and basically giving up and saying "it doesn't matter what happens to me now, the storm is coming, you're all gonna die anyway" after realizing Jefferson didnt care about him either way... quite depressing
@@Mateonaise fr!!! I think there was MANY iterations of cuts from the game... I really do think we had a version somewhere like the current one where the last 2-3 hours of gameplay were starkly different story wise, as I mentioned Nathan being alive and killed mid episode makes a lot more sense also, because it gives us a perfect reason to keep finding jefferson, and either way I would say the final phone call would've been "good" (the one we have always now where Nathan is apologetic) or "bad" (where Nathan is spiteful still, and angry at everyone regardless of the fact that Jefferson is turning on him) depending on choices
I think it makes sense for the Prescotts to be the whale planning to destroy the town to then "save" it with their money later. Then the thunderbird can be the tobanga/tribal spirits and perhaps Rachel giving Max powers to be the force of good against this outcome, making saving Chloe the evil ending lol.
This is awesome -- I had forgotten that I thought a lot of similar things about these clues during my first playthrough many years ago. I remember being disappointed that the fifth episode spent so much time on the teacher, and didn't reveal a larger story such as this.
YES!! In my opinion chapters 3 and 4 were masterpieces and then 5 came ( which i still really like) however it seemed rushed and cut short. Definitely missing a LOT
Nate had to make multiple sacrifices to stop the storm and to keep the family’s wealth that’s the Prescott family secret/ why they were so successful, failure to make the sacrifice quota results in a huge storm that destroys the family. Each of the missing girls was a sacrifice which is why he is constantly fighting with his father and why he’s self medicating, he is not okay with the idea but is being forced. Jefferson possibly found out and began blackmailing Nathan to let him “use” his sacrifices for his “art”. However when max stops Nathan from killing chloe he didn’t have his final sacrifice which explains why saving chloe=storm and not saving chloe=no storm. He possibly was going to try to take Victoria instead but ran out of time.
Honestly great theory! The number of sacrifices needed would make sense especially if he knew about the storm. The only thing is that when he shoots chloe he panics because he didn’t mean to do it. Unless he was just afraid of getting in trouble. And maybe thats what happened to his “love interest” in before the storm and why she wouldnt be there in the future
Interesting theory. There are some things that don't add up but it could have been the original plan. Given that DN are fans of many shows including BtVS, I wouldn't be surprised if this is something they actually had in mind at first. Buffy had many plots involving sacrifices in its 7 seasons run, but 3 of them seem particularly relevant to me as they deal with sacrifices to demons in order to obtain power and riches: Machida (2x05), Lurconis (3x06) and Avilas (7x04). That's a theme that has been recurrent. Machida and Avilas both were tied to a group of boys wanting status and riches, and Lurconis to the Mayor who was slowly becoming invulnerable and wanted to "ascend" to pure demon form. Anyway, as someone from DN guys' gen I thought I'd mention this because it might very well be something that crossed their mind.
I recently got into Life Is Strange walkthroughs, and stumbled across this video. I now completely agree with this theory, and I can't wait to see what you do next!!!
thank you so much i really appreciate it!! i spent so much time doing research and writing this video out so im really glad you liked it!! :) I have plans to make more after i get more double exposure videos out! Also the song is just "chilled mood" that was available on clipchamp so unfortunately idk if its available on streaming or if thats the actual name of the song
@@sophiablackwell hey thank you so much that means a lot!!! ❤️ and yes i have many videos for double exposure planned and im working on one right now for chapters one and two!!! :)
Wait you were cooking with the what if the Prescott's survived and were coming after max in double exposure. That would have been a great concept! The background music was fire 🔥
As someone who has a passing interest in Life is strange but never played the games, help me make sure I got this right: Basically this cut content and theory is saying that the Prescott family were committing sacrifices to the Tobanga because they knew without them a horrible storm was coming that would wipe out the town, naturally Nathan isn't onboard with just killing people so it's really messing him up, and does this mean Max got her time travel powers because of the Tobanga, whether intentionally or not, and she ruined the last sacrifice because it just so happened to be her friend Chloe?
@@Jman92854 i think the fun thing about this theory is it could be interpreted in so many different ways!! Personally i see it as the prescotts knowing about the tobangas past and being tied to its history somehow. Following that i see it as the tobanga or this “higher power” giving max the ability to time travel to see if she can make the right choices to either stop the prescotts or just to see how worthy humans are of living and max being the deciding factor due to her decisions throughout the game. im not sure that it was for the need a sacrifice and max messing it up. The way i see it is the prescotts summoned the storm as its been hinted they new of it coming anyway. But thats not to say sacrificing wasnt a possibility! The outcomes are endless!!
@@BigNerd111 supposedly it was budget cuts. Its clear dontnod had a vision with the game but when it blew up in popularity the publisher square enix told them to go a different route focusing more on max and chloe
I personally knew that the totem had some influence on max’s powers. I’m wondering why it chose her instead of Chloe since she wanted revenge for Rachel’s disappearance. Max was just wanting to finish her photography classes. I also think that the town is cursed bcuz of the totem. I believe that there is some entity, like a time god or paradoxical being that gives certain people abilities to see what they would do with them. It’s like moral responsibility for their town or themselves. The totem choosing max was probably the right decision considering Chloe was very reckless and emotional cuz of her dad’s death. Max had her head on straight and she was more sympathetic and caring for people. It’s not impossible to think that the Prescotts might’ve conjured the tornado to appear since they want to “change” Arcadia for worse. Even tho it was probably Rachels wrath against the Prescotts. I recently made a de fanfic that you can find on the pricefield subreddit, it might be a bit old but it’s there. Really good video about the totem, not a lot of people have touched on it. Maybe one day when don’t nod are financially stable and they get back the lis ip then we can get the after the storm sequel and a redo on lis 1 with the full 8 episodes and no cut content too. Pls make more theory videos on lis 1 as well, this was a fun one 😅
@@engagingweirdo im glad you enjoyed and i definitely will make more on lis 1!! :) I agree i think chloe would’ve been wreckless with her power. I see max as the perfect person to have been given the powers. Just a regular girl trying to graduate and nothing crazy going on in her life! It seems people wirh powers in movies or games they almost always seem to be this genre of “regular” person but with super powers!
@@MateonaiseI also just wanted to say, you may not read this at all, but do some theory vids on nightmare max. I really love her character since she’s a variant of Maxine. Plus there’s not a ton of content revolving around her. For example, just explain who she is and go in depth about her character. We already know she’s evil but explain her origins. Imo, she’s like a demon in a way. Just a suggestion
@ yeah, I didn’t know if you saw it or not lol. But definitely do a video on nightmare max, cuz she is scary and intimidating. I think you would do a pretty good job of explaining her origins and what she is. Your video was great tho!
Technically yes! If we are going on the tobanga theory, i think the storm would still happen no matter what you do. Had they gone i to the lore of it more extendedly then i couldve seen that being the outcome. Since it was unfortunately cut short its just left as this “red herring”
some theory you mentioned are meh btw the 8 episodes its because they used same engine they made game "remember me" which had 8 episodes they just forgot to edit that file
@@SeifWL2 i was not aware of them using the remember me engine. However it definitely seems like they wanted to do more originally. Episodes 3-4 are so long and full of lore and then episode 5 kinda feels rushed
I believe theres still a chance we will see chloe!! A leaker from a few years ago revealed the games main plot and has been pretty spot on but one thing they mention is that if you keep her alive she can make an appearance!
What a fcking shame. I remember watching LIS through RDC's playthrough and their perspective really shows how boring the game feels and incomplete and uninteresting the story was. Hearing that this new version of the story you've introduced, shows how much better this game's story was supposed to be.
@@axelaranha1929 nope! Its actually been confirmed by developers dontnod that rachel is in fact the doe! When youre in the junkyard earlier in the game you can see the doe on the spot where rachel is buried and then it disappears after you find her until the storm at the end!
This stuff is cool but I honestly like how the game focused more on Max and Chloe than the storm and supernatural indian powers and such. I don't think that would have made for as good a story. I just wish that we had a way to 'new game plus' with Max's powers and go back and do a 2nd (or 3rd) run through Max's story where this time we warn the town of the storm anonymously (and with the help of Max's friends, ((she uses her powers to convince them to help spread awareness))) AND save Chloe. The storm comes but way less people die and nobody that Max and Chloe know die. OORRRRRR.... I wish LiS2 would have been about the Bae ending, Max and Chloe on the road traveling all over America, that WOULD HAVE BEEN SO DOPE! Instead we got random DEI Woke OMG every white person in America except for fat neckbeard activists are ultra racists the game, staring two brothers that are about as sympathetic as a muddy puddle! And also we got 'omg religion bad' too. Such a terrible game in comparison to LiS1 and a waste of Dontnod's last chance with the franchise. Captain Spirit was good tho.
Minority opinion here: Kinda glad this didn't become the story of Life is Strange. It goes against the whole "Kids learning hard lessons and teaching some of there own" vibe that the final game had.
Deciding Chloe´s fate was likely meant to be one of the endings from the beginning (the scrapped hospital ending suggests so), so Max learning to let go and accepting she can´t "fix" everything could´ve still been part of the original plotline as well, but I guess we could´ve had a more fleshed out version of the Prescott storyline that explores the mystery/mystical aspects of the game more together with Max and Chloe´s friendship.
@@foxial5358 i could see a world where both endings are possible, we get to see how the prescotts were involved in it and choose to save chloe at the end! side note but i really wish we got that hospital scene it wouldve been so cool!!
@@Mateonaise We do see the room that was intended for the hospital ending in Episode 4 when we visit Kate though. :) I read that the hospital ending where Chloe falls into a coma and Max visits her was the original "sacrifice Chloe" ending, but they changed it because "it would reduce the impact of your choice". It´d have been cool if they were able to make multiple endings where your choices actually matter, and perhaps in one of them you can save both Chloe and Arcadia Bay, but the price you have to pay is that, for example, the Prescotts and Jefferson get to walk away scot-free.
@@foxial5358 i remember reading about the chloe in a coma ending! But i agree that choice would be less dire. I think it would be really cool to have seen arcadia bay a few years after. I really wanna know who did survive and how the prescotts revamped the town after the storm
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
What a shame this game hasn't reached its full potential because of those cut content. The lore around Arcadia Bay, the storm and the origins of Max's powers could've been explained much better in the game along with the Prescotts' deeper connection to the town. These things were literally what I was most curious about when I played years ago and I remember being mad none of these things were made clear at the end. It could have been much better :/
I'd LOVE to have more Prescott content, that powerful, twisted family was so intriguing for me and I always wished I could help Nathan in some way. Apparently he could have been much more than he seemed at surface level but sadly he remained a one dimensional villain for most people. I wish they could release all the episodes they planned, or made a DLC maybe.
Thanks for the video, I didn't pay much attention to Tobanga when I played and I didn't know about Tillamook until now. The presence of a Native American tribe in Arcadia Bay and their legends being tied to the storm makes perfect sense.
There is an awesome fanfic that ties Arcadia Bay & the Prescott family to the storm so neatly (after sacrifice Chloe ending). "The Sense Of Me" by trecoolio on ao3 if anyone's interested.
When I wasn't aware of little details like the Hopi prophecy on the wall, or any fan theories that point to the reason why all those supernatural stuff was happening at AB and I was unsatisfied with the ending.. this story was what put all the pieces together in my head. I can't recommend it enough.
thank you so much!! this theory is one of my favorites in the gaming universe. Nathan is one of my favorite characters just because of his lore alone. it couldve been much bigger and gone much deeper than what we had received. Even tho we will probably never get to see it, its still extremely fun to think and theorize about
I want explanations for LiS character’s powers. Like Daniel too
THIS THEORY MEANS EVERYTHING. I HAVE BEEN WRITING STUFF BASED ON THIS GAME AND I LOOKED INTO THE LORE AND IT WAS SO COOL! IT INTERTWINES WITH THE LORE OF THE VORTEX CLUB!!
@@KitannaColumbine its so DEEP!!! Often times i wonder if its even possible for us to find ALL of the lore in the game just because theres so many hidden meanings and references 😭
@@Mateonaisewanna know what’s absolutely crazy? The colonialist roots of Nathan’s family tree also interact with Nathan’s mental health and Max’s power. I think Nathan’s dad was plotting to remove the sources of supernatural power from Arcadia Bay to either capitalize off of them or prevent anyone from stopping him from capitalizing off of the resources within Arcadia Bay. I think Max’s power originally surfaced so that she could stop the Pan Estates from being built! And Nathan KNOWS about this!
@@Mateonaise you can investigate Nathan’s whereabouts by looking at the coordinates of his car in episode 4 and map out how he handled Kate’s kidnapping too. He’s a smart kid who knows how to make himself an alibi
@@KitannaColumbine I honestly forgot about that!!
4:36 8:44 Actually, In Episode 4 when Max and Chloe go to the barn, before they find the dark room, there is an unskippable cutscene that suggests the Presscotts knew about the storm several decades before it happened ("The Prescotts bring bomb shelter boom to town"). And we can find old photos, letters and newspaper articles hinting at their family legacy/history, indicating this was originally supposed to be an important part of the game.
Not to mention it doesn´t make any sense that Nathan´s father somehow didn´t know that Jefferson was using their bunker, because in Episode 1 Nathan says "That´s my family, not me" which suggests he has no control over his family money, not even enough to pay Chloe to keep her quiet. So how can he pay for the dark room and all those fancy equipment without his family knowing like Jefferson says in Episode 5?
And in Episode 2, Jefferson receives a call from an unknown person. He couldn´t just end the call himself despite the fact he obviously didn´t want to talk, so it must have been someone who is a big shot/his superior and he also promises to do something this person wants. Even early "What if" builds from 2014 show that originally we were meant to stop by the Prescott estate after Jefferson kidnapped us. Why would he go there if Sean didn´t know what was happening in his bunker?
So, I´m pretty sure Sean not knowing anything was just a last-minute change that happened because they had to cut the rest of the Presscott storyline. I think the Prescotts were originally intended to be the main villains of the story since they´ve the motivation to destroy the town (Pan estates), and Jefferson was supposed to be a twist antagonist for the middle part of the game who works for them.
Also, I recall the devs said the doe was indeed Rachel´s spirit animal and her spirit likely gave Max her powers, but I don´t think she had powers when she was alive or that she was the storm. Even the devs said that "We knew for a lot of players, there was this fantasy of finding her alive or that she was a time traveler or she was something else. But the most logical outcome was that maybe she's dead".
@@foxial5358 i fully believe the prescotts were the original villains intended for the game. I could definitely see Jefferson working for them especially since the prescotts are the reason for him being at blackwell in the first place. I could see it being possible that they did know about the dark room, just not exactly what jefferson was doing in it. I believe he coulve gave false intentions for his purpose for it.
On the other hand, jefferson and nathan were working together for these shoots and i could see this scenario as well. Jefferson manipulating nathan to convince his family to get the equipment for the bunker to “help” his future and and doing so in a way to live up to the family’s legacy success wise
@@Mateonaise Agreed. I´d add that storywise the game as a whole is now weirdly fragmented since the Dark Room/Rachel plot ended up being pretty much just a random side story that takes most of our time anyway because the storm/Chloe plot didn´t have enough content for the entire game. The missing Prescott plot could´ve eventually united these separate storylines together.
And Sean writing to Nathan that "I´ll guide you into this room step by step" could mean the dark room. Just like Nathan´s "Rachel in the Dark Room" paper that we find. And the Prescotts giving Jefferson the bunker and helping him to realize his twisted artistic "vision" could explain why someone as famous as Jefferson would want to work in a small town high school.
Perhaps the dark room would´ve served some other purpose for the Prescotts, if they were somehow linked to mystical/supernatural forces? I remember seeing an old YT video with a theory that they could´ve somehow used it to find a girl with time travel powers and kill her so she can´t prevent the storm from happening.
🤯🤯🤯
Also if you go downstairs in episode 3- when you are wearing Rachel’s outfit and you can go talk to Joyce in the kitchen and listen to the answering machine, if you turn around at the end of the stairs where it puts you there’s mail you can snoop through along with a flyer that says “THE END IS NOW- Arcadia bay is the final battle ground for Pazuzu” followed by Isaiah 66:15-16 which is a quote that mentions a “whirlwind to render his anger with fury and fire.” Which was really interesting to me that they purposefully put that there.
@@Myosotis.journaling oh wow i never noticed that!! Thats a cool little foreshadowing moment!
You deserve more views!! People shit on Life is Strange too much because of its “cringe” or “dorky” but I hope they would someday remake the first game
@@TheMoment127 thank you so much!! :) and yes i agree it gets way too much hate. Its a fantastic game!! I would love if they remade it one day in the way dontnod intended on but i fear that probably wont happen since square enix owns the ip and dontnod doesnt want to work with them. The reasons are understandable but still it sucks we may never get to see it :/
Who has ever said it’s cringey or dorkey bro are you an ai
@@user-ee1lr4lk6e many people, do you live under a rock?
@@user-ee1lr4lk6e i have definitely heard people refer to it as cringey even within recent days
@@TheMoment127 🤣🤣🤣
As somebody who was immersed in fan theories when the game was first coming out, it did seem like there was going to be a lot more to the Prescotts and their involvement with the storm, Tobanga, the Hopi prophecy, Samuel, and so on. Around the time of episodes 3 and 4, it felt like the game had so much mystery and potential. When all that stuff was dropped entirely in episode 5 it was like... was that really ALL a red herring? I always thought the game would end up being truly mind-bending near the end, and I was a bit surprised at the ending we got. I'm still hoping Double Exposure does some of that.
I want to mention also that I think references from the nightmare sequence, and the stealth sequence in particular, might actually be counterevidence. This is where the devs poked fun at a lot of the prevailing fan discussion at the time, like, it's also why you hear Warren being wildly creepy, see Chloe shipped with random characters, etc. It's less "here's more supporting evidence for this theory" and more "haha is this really what you thought was important?" I'm not sure if it was really intended to be mocking, but it definitely contributed to people not really liking the ending at the time.
@@sig9779 i do like chapter 5 in a lot of ways and the ending don’t get me wrong, but i agree that episodes 3 and 4 specifically were hinting at something more and not just a red herring. Just that the developers had more ideas to seek out but ended up cutting the game short due to its popularity at the time. I so wouldve loved to see more of the tobanga and dive into the prescott lore and even samuel lore much more. Definitely a missed opportunity there with how they couldve hone with things.
And I absolutely hope they go a similar route with double exposure. Ive only played the first chapter ago far but it feels promising!! Definitely more going on imo than true colors
@@sig9779 also what is this Hopi prophecy? I have not heard of that one!
@@Mateonaise Ah that's a fun one. There's a portion of a Hopi prophecy scrawled on a bathroom wall somewhere, I think at Two Whales. The idea is that if you look up the full prophecy, you can find links to much of the symbolism found in the game. The best summary is probably this old Geek Remix video: ruclips.net/video/d0kyxF8erAg/видео.html
They also said that at the end of the world, the earth would be shaken three times before the great cataclysm. Three is the number of bullets on Chloe's necklace, and it's the number of times she's guaranteed to die during the game without your intervention. This stuff is always a reach, but we had 6-12 weeks between episodes to create theories. Oldschool LiS theorycrafting was pretty wild...
@@sig9779 WOW thats so cool!! Thank you for this information i love learning about connections and theories like this its so fascinating!!!
At the time i hated having to wait between episodes releases but now i wish we still had it like that. Maybe like two weeks between episodes (lis2 wait was WAY too long) but it would help give us time to craft theories and build anticipation!!!
@@Mateonaise Agree 100%, the wild theorizing between episodes was almost as fun as the game. I'd love a week or two to sit with each episode before the next one is out.
Nobody remembers it but when Life is Strange first released it was marketed as a time travel mystery with supernatural elements.
It released with just the first two episodes but I swear after Pricefield got popular the game's developer totally switched gears on everything they originally had planned.
RIGHT like its pretty clear the game changed direction when it got popular
It’s interesting to see that Chloe isn’t planned to make an actual appearance in Double Exposure (at least from current news) and they went back to that type of marketing.
@@aikuaic i think they are just trying to keep it a surprise
It would be a possibly fun twist that only sean survived the storm and then upon being unable to find his son the “heir” to the prescott legacy dug deeper, learned max interfered and in his mind killed nathan through her actions and tried to catch her but couldn’t (or if you chose to save the town not chloe finds out max got nathan arrested and was angry about her damaging the Prescott name) until SPOILER AHEAD FOR LIS DOUBLE EXPOSURE
she started teaching at the school in double exposure got into contact with safi for some reason or somehow or someone related like vihn and manipulated her to do his bidding, max from a different timeline or whatever it is we see at the end of chapter 2 discovers all this and decides to kill safi for some reason or we see some of this spiritual storyline bit and nathans dad manipulates alternate max somehow and max has to fix things by going back to where this all began. Arcadia bay where she has to wrap up the mystery there to solve what happened with safi, the return of her altered powers and just everything, maybe get help from alternate reality chloe. Idk Imo that’d be a pretty interesting storyline, i can’t wait to see what they do for double exposure
@@Violet_Raine is that really what happens? I heard there were leaks
love the life is strange lore, this story will forever have a special place in my heart, especially during this time of year
@@sharanski same here!! Its incredibly fascinating and really goes so deep!
i wish instead of making all these spinoffs they would remake the full 8 episodes, or even do a spin-off solely based on the prescotts
@@stubby.stubbs the prescotts truly could have a game of their own with all of the lore they have!!
Now I really want them to release the full story/script, please!
SAME i would lose my marbles if they did
same. I wish they release all the unused content
It quite unfortunate, it would have been really cool if instead of releasing a remaster, after seeing the success of the cut version they decided to take on the full story.
Man, ever since I played this game for the first time last year, I always theorised that Rachel was the one who caused the storm because of her anger but now with this information and theory, there’s a deeper lore that is within Life Is Strange! Nice work dude
@@lasagnafield thank you so much!! :)
personally, as far as im aware chapter 5 simply had an alternate version where Nathan was still alive after chapter 4, basically having his death as a part of the chapter instead of being offscreen between episodes, which is why his line about the storm is there, its the alternate sequence of his voicemail in the car, where hes still alive, aware of the storm coming, and basically giving up and saying "it doesn't matter what happens to me now, the storm is coming, you're all gonna die anyway" after realizing Jefferson didnt care about him either way... quite depressing
@@NerdsPsychoticInterlude it is a really sad character storyline, i just wish they went deeper with it!
@@Mateonaise fr!!! I think there was MANY iterations of cuts from the game... I really do think we had a version somewhere like the current one where the last 2-3 hours of gameplay were starkly different story wise, as I mentioned Nathan being alive and killed mid episode makes a lot more sense also, because it gives us a perfect reason to keep finding jefferson, and either way I would say the final phone call would've been "good" (the one we have always now where Nathan is apologetic) or "bad" (where Nathan is spiteful still, and angry at everyone regardless of the fact that Jefferson is turning on him) depending on choices
I wouldve LOVED to see that! We beed more choices that actually branch out to different outcomes like that!!
I always thought there was more with the Tobanga when playing the game! This was a super interesting watch thank you for making this video
@@MossyDroid thank you!!! Im glad you enjoyed!!!
I think it makes sense for the Prescotts to be the whale planning to destroy the town to then "save" it with their money later. Then the thunderbird can be the tobanga/tribal spirits and perhaps Rachel giving Max powers to be the force of good against this outcome, making saving Chloe the evil ending lol.
Exactly!! And they did say they want to give the town a rebrand!
This is so fascinating! Thanks for uploading. Never forget the Tobanga
@@annavictoriaberezovskiy thank you!! Im glad you found it fascinating as well! #neverforgettobanga
I’m Native American to Oregon and this is good research
@@marielaleonn thank you!! It was many hours of research but it was well worth it!!
This is awesome -- I had forgotten that I thought a lot of similar things about these clues during my first playthrough many years ago.
I remember being disappointed that the fifth episode spent so much time on the teacher, and didn't reveal a larger story such as this.
YES!! In my opinion chapters 3 and 4 were masterpieces and then 5 came ( which i still really like) however it seemed rushed and cut short. Definitely missing a LOT
Nate had to make multiple sacrifices to stop the storm and to keep the family’s wealth that’s the Prescott family secret/ why they were so successful, failure to make the sacrifice quota results in a huge storm that destroys the family. Each of the missing girls was a sacrifice which is why he is constantly fighting with his father and why he’s self medicating, he is not okay with the idea but is being forced. Jefferson possibly found out and began blackmailing Nathan to let him “use” his sacrifices for his “art”. However when max stops Nathan from killing chloe he didn’t have his final sacrifice which explains why saving chloe=storm and not saving chloe=no storm. He possibly was going to try to take Victoria instead but ran out of time.
Honestly great theory! The number of sacrifices needed would make sense especially if he knew about the storm. The only thing is that when he shoots chloe he panics because he didn’t mean to do it. Unless he was just afraid of getting in trouble. And maybe thats what happened to his “love interest” in before the storm and why she wouldnt be there in the future
Interesting theory. There are some things that don't add up but it could have been the original plan.
Given that DN are fans of many shows including BtVS, I wouldn't be surprised if this is something they actually had in mind at first. Buffy had many plots involving sacrifices in its 7 seasons run, but 3 of them seem particularly relevant to me as they deal with sacrifices to demons in order to obtain power and riches: Machida (2x05), Lurconis (3x06) and Avilas (7x04). That's a theme that has been recurrent. Machida and Avilas both were tied to a group of boys wanting status and riches, and Lurconis to the Mayor who was slowly becoming invulnerable and wanted to "ascend" to pure demon form.
Anyway, as someone from DN guys' gen I thought I'd mention this because it might very well be something that crossed their mind.
@ i do know dontnods games are often influenced by certain tv shows ive just never dived into them myself!
I am so shocked to see that you only have 240 subscribers? great video i really enjoyed it :) great music choice too very calming
@@NK-qg2cv thank you so much that means a lot!! Im glad you enjoyed it :))
I recently got into Life Is Strange walkthroughs, and stumbled across this video. I now completely agree with this theory, and I can't wait to see what you do next!!!
Thank you so much!!! It means a lot to hear that!! I have many ideas that i cant wait to share :))
praying for the full eight episode game to be released one day ❤
@@alexandrias-amalgamation SAME HERE
omg please do more analysis of things i will watch for hours
you got it! ;)
Oh wow this is so interesting! Good reasearch :) Nice video!
@@Sarah-tf3fv thank you!! It was A LOT of research haha but it was so worth it! :)
YESSS more lis theories and mythology tie ins in 2024 im so happyyyy
thank you so much i really appreciate it!! i spent so much time doing research and writing this video out so im really glad you liked it!! :)
I have plans to make more after i get more double exposure videos out!
Also the song is just "chilled mood" that was available on clipchamp so unfortunately idk if its available on streaming or if thats the actual name of the song
Wow been a fan of lis since 2014-2015, never knew about that! Thanks
@@kelv5754 it was my pleasure researching and writing this. I’ve always wanted to make a video on it. Im glad you enjoyed!!
Yes they have to connect all of the mystical powers to the tobanga statue and the powers it held.
@@amickoamora7844 they have to!!!
I just saw this video and I absolutely love it! Subscribed ❤😊
@@ohara_sloth4554 this means so much!! Thank you!!! :) ❤️
i love this theory !!!! really well made video, great job
@@sophiablackwell hey thank you so much that means a lot!!! ❤️ and yes i have many videos for double exposure planned and im working on one right now for chapters one and two!!! :)
Wow, this game could've been so much better, and it would have made a lot more sense. great video👏🏻🙌🏻
@@notyourfavlena thank you so much!! Im glad you enjoyed! :)
WOW this is a really interesting theory!!!! I love it!
@@CrunkPhreek seriously!! Its so fascinating 🤤
Great video !
@@sunny...3602 thank you!!! :)
Never heard about this before but this is so cool like this theory just fits so well!
@@kate777_ right!? Like its PERFECT for the story!!
@@Mateonaise it is!
Wait you were cooking with the what if the Prescott's survived and were coming after max in double exposure. That would have been a great concept! The background music was fire 🔥
@@FreshPokemonHunter thank you so much!! :) it would be so incredible wouldnt it?!
As someone who has a passing interest in Life is strange but never played the games, help me make sure I got this right: Basically this cut content and theory is saying that the Prescott family were committing sacrifices to the Tobanga because they knew without them a horrible storm was coming that would wipe out the town, naturally Nathan isn't onboard with just killing people so it's really messing him up, and does this mean Max got her time travel powers because of the Tobanga, whether intentionally or not, and she ruined the last sacrifice because it just so happened to be her friend Chloe?
@@Jman92854 i think the fun thing about this theory is it could be interpreted in so many different ways!! Personally i see it as the prescotts knowing about the tobangas past and being tied to its history somehow. Following that i see it as the tobanga or this “higher power” giving max the ability to time travel to see if she can make the right choices to either stop the prescotts or just to see how worthy humans are of living and max being the deciding factor due to her decisions throughout the game. im not sure that it was for the need a sacrifice and max messing it up. The way i see it is the prescotts summoned the storm as its been hinted they new of it coming anyway. But thats not to say sacrificing wasnt a possibility! The outcomes are endless!!
Why, WHY COULDN'T WE HAVE GOTTEN THIS?!
@@BigNerd111 supposedly it was budget cuts. Its clear dontnod had a vision with the game but when it blew up in popularity the publisher square enix told them to go a different route focusing more on max and chloe
@@Mateonaise Indeed
I personally knew that the totem had some influence on max’s powers. I’m wondering why it chose her instead of Chloe since she wanted revenge for Rachel’s disappearance. Max was just wanting to finish her photography classes. I also think that the town is cursed bcuz of the totem. I believe that there is some entity, like a time god or paradoxical being that gives certain people abilities to see what they would do with them. It’s like moral responsibility for their town or themselves. The totem choosing max was probably the right decision considering Chloe was very reckless and emotional cuz of her dad’s death. Max had her head on straight and she was more sympathetic and caring for people. It’s not impossible to think that the Prescotts might’ve conjured the tornado to appear since they want to “change” Arcadia for worse. Even tho it was probably Rachels wrath against the Prescotts. I recently made a de fanfic that you can find on the pricefield subreddit, it might be a bit old but it’s there. Really good video about the totem, not a lot of people have touched on it. Maybe one day when don’t nod are financially stable and they get back the lis ip then we can get the after the storm sequel and a redo on lis 1 with the full 8 episodes and no cut content too. Pls make more theory videos on lis 1 as well, this was a fun one 😅
@@engagingweirdo im glad you enjoyed and i definitely will make more on lis 1!! :)
I agree i think chloe would’ve been wreckless with her power. I see max as the perfect person to have been given the powers. Just a regular girl trying to graduate and nothing crazy going on in her life! It seems people wirh powers in movies or games they almost always seem to be this genre of “regular” person but with super powers!
@@MateonaiseI also just wanted to say, you may not read this at all, but do some theory vids on nightmare max. I really love her character since she’s a variant of Maxine. Plus there’s not a ton of content revolving around her. For example, just explain who she is and go in depth about her character. We already know she’s evil but explain her origins. Imo, she’s like a demon in a way. Just a suggestion
i see every comment!! haha and great suggestion!! i will note it down! :)
@ yeah, I didn’t know if you saw it or not lol. But definitely do a video on nightmare max, cuz she is scary and intimidating. I think you would do a pretty good job of explaining her origins and what she is. Your video was great tho!
@@engagingweirdo yes i have just been super busy lately haha. its going down on my list! and thank you!! i appreciate that :)
Jettro was right on trying to avoid it
Cool pfp
LMAO thanks!!
Man that is a crazy profile picture lol
@@chikentendersandfries LMAOOO
Great theory, but that would mean even if Max sacrificed Chloe the strom would come, right? 🤔
Technically yes! If we are going on the tobanga theory, i think the storm would still happen no matter what you do. Had they gone i to the lore of it more extendedly then i couldve seen that being the outcome. Since it was unfortunately cut short its just left as this “red herring”
I loved Life is Strange!
Same here!! 🙌🙌
some theory you mentioned are meh
btw the 8 episodes its because they used same engine they made game "remember me" which had 8 episodes
they just forgot to edit that file
@@SeifWL2 i was not aware of them using the remember me engine. However it definitely seems like they wanted to do more originally. Episodes 3-4 are so long and full of lore and then episode 5 kinda feels rushed
Do you agree with the 'mr Jefferson killed Safi' theory?
i have not heard of that theory! i am intrigued tho, what is it?
Well good theory but out of context it hurts to see chloe leaving in DE.
I believe theres still a chance we will see chloe!! A leaker from a few years ago revealed the games main plot and has been pretty spot on but one thing they mention is that if you keep her alive she can make an appearance!
@@Mateonaise i wish..
BRO WTF IS UR PFP 😭😭😭
@@buffmonkey. LMAOOO its thick luigi 😭😭
Hahaha so funny I was just working on a Life is Strange theory video and im sick too 🤧
Awww noooo!!! I hope you feel better!! Im 3 weeks into it and its still lingering 😭
8 EPISODES?!
@@darlinqjinx YES!!
@ IM CRYING WTF THATS SUCH WASTED POTENTIAL 💔
@ RIGHT! You would think when a game blows up in popularity they would ADD MORE 😭
What a fcking shame. I remember watching LIS through RDC's playthrough and their perspective really shows how boring the game feels and incomplete and uninteresting the story was.
Hearing that this new version of the story you've introduced, shows how much better this game's story was supposed to be.
Bazinga
3:22 HAHAHAHA
I DIED when i found out this was the only picture of her 😭😭😭
I still like the idea of Rachel Amber being the storm and before the storm made it more believable
i love the concept of rachel having powers and being intertwined with the storm as well!!
Wait isn’t Max the doe?
@@axelaranha1929 nope! Its actually been confirmed by developers dontnod that rachel is in fact the doe! When youre in the junkyard earlier in the game you can see the doe on the spot where rachel is buried and then it disappears after you find her until the storm at the end!
Swag
This stuff is cool but I honestly like how the game focused more on Max and Chloe than the storm and supernatural indian powers and such. I don't think that would have made for as good a story.
I just wish that we had a way to 'new game plus' with Max's powers and go back and do a 2nd (or 3rd) run through Max's story where this time we warn the town of the storm anonymously (and with the help of Max's friends, ((she uses her powers to convince them to help spread awareness))) AND save Chloe. The storm comes but way less people die and nobody that Max and Chloe know die.
OORRRRRR.... I wish LiS2 would have been about the Bae ending, Max and Chloe on the road traveling all over America, that WOULD HAVE BEEN SO DOPE!
Instead we got random DEI Woke OMG every white person in America except for fat neckbeard activists are ultra racists the game, staring two brothers that are about as sympathetic as a muddy puddle! And also we got 'omg religion bad' too. Such a terrible game in comparison to LiS1 and a waste of Dontnod's last chance with the franchise. Captain Spirit was good tho.
Minority opinion here: Kinda glad this didn't become the story of Life is Strange. It goes against the whole "Kids learning hard lessons and teaching some of there own" vibe that the final game had.
I understand that! I do like the way the game went. I just find it interesting to think about what if they went a different direction is all!
Deciding Chloe´s fate was likely meant to be one of the endings from the beginning (the scrapped hospital ending suggests so), so Max learning to let go and accepting she can´t "fix" everything could´ve still been part of the original plotline as well, but I guess we could´ve had a more fleshed out version of the Prescott storyline that explores the mystery/mystical aspects of the game more together with Max and Chloe´s friendship.
@@foxial5358 i could see a world where both endings are possible, we get to see how the prescotts were involved in it and choose to save chloe at the end!
side note but i really wish we got that hospital scene it wouldve been so cool!!
@@Mateonaise We do see the room that was intended for the hospital ending in Episode 4 when we visit Kate though. :) I read that the hospital ending where Chloe falls into a coma and Max visits her was the original "sacrifice Chloe" ending, but they changed it because "it would reduce the impact of your choice". It´d have been cool if they were able to make multiple endings where your choices actually matter, and perhaps in one of them you can save both Chloe and Arcadia Bay, but the price you have to pay is that, for example, the Prescotts and Jefferson get to walk away scot-free.
@@foxial5358 i remember reading about the chloe in a coma ending! But i agree that choice would be less dire. I think it would be really cool to have seen arcadia bay a few years after. I really wanna know who did survive and how the prescotts revamped the town after the storm