Spoilers for Life Is Strange: Double Exposure
Please read before you filet me. Now… don’t kill the messenger but I am absolutely not surprised Chloe and Max breakup in LIS:DE. And I say this as someone who chose Bae over Bay and love Max and Chloe (individually) with allllll my heart.
For starters, they had a LOT - and I mean A LOT - of unresolved trauma from their past. I’m specifically talking about Max not talking to Chloe for five years after literally leaving town once Williams funeral was over.
It’s not Max’s fault she left but she was wrong for not staying in touch with Chloe. Again, I say this as someone who also sucks at staying in touch (it’s a big big character flaw of mine).
Next, the fact that for Chloe to live means everyone - including her fucking MOM - had to die. Suddenly and horribly. In a storm. That came from nowhere in their point of view.
There’s NO WAY both Chloe and Max don’t hold major guilt from that. Chloe with survivors guilt and Max with just guilt period. And the fact that they would have started their relationship right after that… how can a healthy relationship form with that as the foundation.
Next, Max has a habit of using her powers to kinda manipulate situations to go her way. In the game AND in the comics. And from what we have seen: she doesn’t stop doing that even after the storm. Chloe literally cannot SEE a future with them together because she doesn’t know if Max went back in time or not.
Im not saying Max is a manipulative sociopath - of course not - but, damn, isn’t that just a bit fucked.
It’s not like Chloe is innocent either. She pushes Max to use her powers so much, is selfish and abrasive, and lowkey guilt trippy AS FUCK in LIS.
I love them both down individually but together.. I’m just surprised they lasted more than a few months.
Last but not least, the game kinda centers on Max trying to have Chloe stay alive. It’s actually insane how many times my girl Chloe died and my girl Max had to rewind time to save her. It’s almost like the universe was saying “Hey Chloe gotta go” imho.
Now, if you were in Max’s shoes, you would probably choose your loved one over the town in a heartbeat. However, even with this ending the situation is still fucked and I’m not surprised at all they broke up.
They needed space from each other and their past. How can they do that when they’re trauma bonded?
(Again I love them down individually and they had many cute moments but let’s be realistic y’all. Life is Strange and life is ass)
(Also also some of y’all clearly have a bias towards Chloe that is kinda blinding you from the reality. I will agree though that them breaking up over a letter is fuckeddddd and unrealistic)