The storyline for the original Life is Strange continues in a Wavelengths. Starring Stephanie Gingrich it follows her life after the events of Before the Storm with her move to Haven Springs, Colorado. The downloadable content explores Steph’s past, her traumas, and history with commitment issues.

Life is Strange Wavelengths is a 2021 adventure game add-on, it is developed by Deck Nine and published by Square Enix, it is currently available on PC & console.

Editor’s Note: A Playstation 4 review code for Life is Strange Wavelengths was provided by Square Enix in support of this review. Spoilers for Wavelengths and the overall Life is Strange lore may be present within this review. 

Live Stephanie Gingrich’s story in Wavelengths.

THE GOOD: Wavelengths takes place prior to the events of True Colors and shortly following Life is Strange & Before the Storm (making the latter officially canon). Stephanie has begun to settle in at her new job as a DJ radio host in Haven Springs after a rather bad break up with her bandmate during her short time in Seattle. She’s actually forced to take the job after losing a foosball game to Gabe Chen which is alluded to in the base game. Throughout the first year of her stay she fixes up the radio broadcast & store, adopts a cat, and writes a song. She reunites with her old friend Mikey North (featured in Before the Storm) and plays a tabletop game with him. Depending on player choice Stephanie will reference the ending of the first game and either mourn Chloe’s death or the destruction of Arcadia Bay.

Additionally if Arcadia Bay was sacrificed Steph will also mourn the death of her mother & Mikey’s brother. Still feeling the effects of the incident on the hills of its fifth anniversary she gets angry at Mike. Mikey tells Steph he still needs her in his life and Steph regretfully apologizes saying she stops herself from getting too close to people due to all of her past trauma. She says she needs Mikey in her life too and promises to be a better friend to him. On New Years Steph enjoys her stay in Seattle by going on a scavenger hunt and accepting the DJ job. Gabe plans to introduce her to Alex and the DLC ends with the beginning events of the base game with her & Alex meeting for the first time.

Honestly there’s not a whole lot new in Wavelengths that isn’t present in the base game. The use of the DJ station is a neat addition, but I would have enjoyed it even more if they had leaned in with a bit more. Like maybe have some more control over the music or talk show bits? Also for anyone who was still wondering Wavelengths officially confirms that Life is Strange: Before the Storm is in fact canon. Which is a nice little bonus for lore junkies who’ve been with the franchise since the beginning.

Wavelengths trade powers for music.

THE BAD: If you don’t really care for the character of Stephanie then this DLC probably isn’t for you. I feel liked if they had leaned a bit more into the radio DJ aspect of the DLC it’d have been more enjoyable even for fans who aren’t particular fond of Stephanie.

Enjoy the allure of Haven Springs Radio.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Life is Strange: Wavelengths is a solid smaller entry into the series that provides some excellent backstory to a few characters connected to the original game. Maybe the series should further explore the effects these events had on other side characters more often? We usually always have a character or two come back changed by the events of the previous title in some way but it’s never really explored too in depth like it was here. A bit more of that with former leads would be really neat.