Life Is Strange Remastered Collection Gameplay Clip Shows Off Enhanced Visuals

Square Enix has released a new clip for the upcoming Life Is Strange Remastered Collection, comparing the upgraded graphics to the original game.

The five-minute sneak peak revealed the enhanced versions of the first two games in the series, Life Is Strange and Life Is Strange: Before the Storm. The video features 4K-ready character models and improved motion capture, showing protagonists Max and Chloe displaying more emotive and expressive animations with the help of increased polycounts and additional bones that are visible throughout.

The collection will render in native 4K in Unreal Engine 4 with a rebuilt lighting pipeline that wasn't present in the original games. The character's hair physics are also updated to mimic movement, as well as tears, injuries, and more subtle details to bring the world to life.

Nathan and Chloe's eyelines have also been revamped, while new lip-sync animation has been introduced to match the updated character models and motion capture. New and upgraded scenic materials for reflectivity and texture are also present, along with models and materials for key props that are shown in cutscenes--for example, the memorable bathroom scene containing the bucket and the blue butterfly.

Life Is Strange Remastered Collection is set to launch on February 1 for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Google Stadia. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One version will be playable through backwards compatibility on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, while the Nintendo Switch version--which was recently delayed--will release at a later date.

The Life is Strange Remastered Collection was originally set to launch on September 30. However, the game was delayed to early 2022 due to development difficulties.