Life is Strange: Episode 4 – Dark Room

Life is Strange, Episode 4: Dark Room is the penultimate chapter of Dontnod’s time-rewinding adventure. Max wakes in the alternative reality she made at the end of Episode 3, has to decide what to do about it, and then puts the evidence board together with Chloe and follows it to the barn. This walkthrough gives one route through the episode and flags the choices the game remembers.

How the game plays

• Controls: arrow keys to move, mouse to look. If a dialogue choice leads nowhere, rewind and choose again; Ctrl rewinds a wrong action quickly. Once you leave a location, you can no longer rewind into it.
• Tab opens Max’s journal: her diary (the yellow sticky note on the right lists current tasks), character photos with notes, Max’s own photos (optional shots, possible only from the right spot, with sketch hints in the album), evidence folders by location, and SMS threads, which you can answer at once or later.
• No inventory: a found item shows top right until used. Esc for the menu; key bindings under settings.
• Saves are automatic. The story is non-linear; questions and answers rarely block progress, but sometimes you rewind a few times to get the information you need. Choices from earlier episodes carry over.
• To keep your choices when adding a new episode, back up the saves in Documents\My Games\Life Is Strange\Saves, reinstall with the new episode, and put them back.

The beach: alternative reality

The recap plays. You are on the shore with Chloe in her wheelchair; talk about whatever you like, the choices do not matter. Back to Chloe’s house.

Chloe’s house: alternative reality

Evening

Chloe’s room is now downstairs, in the old workshop and garage. Keep talking. When she asks for water, take the glass from the bedside table; the drawers hold a photo of the happy family. For the film, take Blade Runner from the drawer by the player and put it in. You fall asleep and wake in the morning.

Morning

Chloe’s head hurts and she asks you to fetch her morphine from the upstairs bathroom. Leave the room. On the table, an unpaid bill for her medication, and a model Eiffel Tower. In the kitchen, talk to William, Chloe’s father; take the newspaper from the table and read it. In the yard, the swing is gone and dead birds cover the ground. Back through the kitchen to the front door: flyers on the shelf for a Price family garage sale, and an envelope with a notice; read it. Upstairs, talk to Joyce in the parents’ bedroom about everything: Chloe’s condition is getting worse and her time is short. At the writing desk, read the doctor’s letter warning of respiratory failure. In the bathroom, light on, open the cabinet over the toilet, take the morphine. Look into Chloe’s old room: the blue butterfly poster on the shelf, a hint or a coincidence. Sit on the cable-spool table and think, for the first time, about whether you used your power well. Letters from William’s and Joyce’s relatives refuse to lend money. Downstairs, connect the morphine to the drip. Chloe admits she feels worse every day and asks for the photo album from the dresser in the corner right of the window; put it on her chest and leaf through. Then she asks for a last favour. The choice is yours; this route helps her another way.

Focus on the photograph and go back to William’s last day. Watch reality restore itself: the alternative photos fade and the real ones return.

Chloe’s house: reality

Chloe’s room

You decide not to tell Chloe about the experiment. Go to the evidence board. Priorities: decode Frank’s notebook; get Nathan’s phone and find out where he was during the Vortex Club parties with Kate and Rachel; check Nathan’s messages; search David’s garage for more evidence. Stand behind Chloe and photograph her. On the bed, a sheet exposing the Prescotts. Right of the door, a printout: the blue butterfly again; beside it a police summons. Out to the corridor.

Upstairs corridor

The bird you saved flies in fright into the bathroom. Open the window at the end of the corridor, then go into the bathroom, light on, and startle the bird; follow it into the corridor and startle it again. The blue jay flies out. This choice has consequences. Downstairs.

Ground floor

A receipt from an expensive restaurant by the telephone. Read the newspaper on the table. The wall clock has stopped; look closer, it was a ladybird, not you. Sit on a bar stool to think. Read the note on the fridge. In the yard, the bag David filled with dead birds. In the workshop, read the printout, the map and the documents on the desk before talking to David: Pan Estates; nobody helped Kate; why do you think so? He hints you should leave. In the garage, his car is gone. The metal locker on the left wall has a padlock; you saw its code when looking for a password clue: the evidence folder has the picture, 7171, confirm. Study David’s folder of documents and take them. At the window, the jay’s nest: move the board aside and photograph the eggs, then slide it back to protect the nest. Both have consequences. Call Chloe from the door, tell her about the documents, and go with her to the hospital.

The hospital

Leave Chloe in the corridor and go in to Kate. Take the cards from the table and read them; the one from Victoria opens a new topic with Kate, and the right answer helps later with Victoria herself. Look at the other objects, then talk: Victoria; she is insecure; Kate; Warren?; Nathan; the Prescott family. Kate agrees to find Nathan’s room number. Consequences. Sit on the chair to think before leaving. Chloe waits in the corridor. To the academy.

Blackwell: the boys’ dormitory yard

Meet Mr. Jefferson at the entrance, then split from Chloe. Straight down the path; at the end, left, a pile of stones to photograph. Right, question Stella Brook, hostile because of your cinema date with Warren, but Nathan is not in the dorm. Back to the bench where Ms. Grant and Samuel chat. Ms. Grant: recent events; beyond science; the prophecy; Tobanga; Kate; Blackwell needs help; the Prescotts; Nathan; classmates. Samuel: anything, but ask about the squirrels last; he remembers to feed them. One squirrel comes; a good shot needs two: take food from the box on the bench and lure the second, then photograph. Daniel sits alone under a tree: I like your drawings; Kate; the End of the World party; do not go to the party; Nathan. Consequences. Chloe is whispering with Justin; pull her away and go into the dorm together.

The boys’ dormitory

Leave Chloe to watch for Nathan and wait for Kate’s text: room 111, on the room map. Straight, then left, to Nathan’s door; Max opens it in her own way. Examine everything. Use his computer and read all his correspondence. Step back: scratches on the floor from moved furniture; the sofa becomes active; move it and find Nathan’s phone behind the back. Leave and hurry to Chloe. Nathan appears in the doorway and Warren beats him. Intervene or not:

• Intervene: Nathan recovers quickly, picks up the gun from the floor and disappears into his room with threats. Chloe has no gun when you meet Frank. Consequences.
• Stay out: Warren beats Nathan badly and Chloe picks up the gun. With it, she can shoot Frank and his dog. Consequences.

Leave; a film.

Frank’s RV

Follow Chloe from the car to the cliff edge and look at the dead whales; one photograph. Talk to Chloe and she knocks on the RV. If you did not shoot at Frank in Episode 2, the talk can end peacefully even if Chloe has no money; he returns her gun and later sends a friendly text. If you did, he is hostile, and the first attempt ends with Chloe killing Frank and his dog. Rewind and talk carefully: get rid of the gun; give him the money; close the door; sorry; you scared me; I heard you rescue dogs; what are you hiding? In the scuffle Chloe wounds Frank’s leg with his own knife. You get his client list and leave the beach.

Chloe’s room: the evidence board

Frank’s clues

Step one: choose Frank’s notebook to decode, then the list assigning dog breeds to client names; the top right corner counts the documents needed. Step two: find the evidence of Frank’s deals with Nathan or the Vortex Club. Read the names-to-breeds sheet, then the first document, which shows two deals with Nathan on one day; find and select the other two.

David’s clues

Step one: the coordinate lists, the cars with licence plates, and Nathan’s car. Step two: find the coordinates for plate SXFTNDR, then the car with that plate, and add the photo of Nathan’s SUV. Take it to Chloe and ask her to enter the coordinates.

Nathan’s clues

Step one: the phone, the SIM card, the paper with four-digit numbers, and Nathan’s file. Step two, two ways to unlock the phone. One: enter any four digits three times so Max locks the phone, then enter the SIM’s eight-digit PUK, 87897808, and confirm. Two: enter 0829, 29 August, Nathan’s birthday from his file.

Final stage

Look at the party flyer for the exact date. The board is in three bands: Nathan’s texts at the top, Frank’s drug-sale notes in the middle, and at the bottom the photos of places Nathan’s car visited, printed by Chloe from David’s coordinates. Ask Chloe who owns the building. A film of the drive.

The old barn

While Chloe tries the locked door, go round the left side, slide the sheet of metal aside and go in. Nothing in the old chest. Deeper in, examine the ground; one spot hides a padlocked hatch that cannot be opened without tools. A hook on the post nearby: tie the rope to it and hook it onto the lock. Climb onto the wooden platform above, look up at the old engine; the other platform is too high. Pull the engine down and stand on it to reach the second platform, where the rope’s other end is. Rewind so the engine returns to its place, take the rope, tie it to the engine and push the engine off. The hatch is open. Before going down, walk forward: behind an old box, an owlet to photograph. Turn, walk to the platform’s edge and press forward to jump down. The hatch cover is heavy; Chloe helps. Down the ladder into the bunker.

The bunker

A keypad left of the steel door with three worn buttons: by trial, 542, confirm. Inside, a letter on the counter’s edge from Nathan’s psychiatrist to his parents. Duct tape left of the sink. Papers on what the bunker cost the Prescotts. A note on the computer; use it and see Kate bound with tape on screen. Open the cabinet: red folders with girls’ names. Take them out and look at the photographs. Chloe recognises the place where Rachel was photographed lying down. The folder marked Victoria is empty: the next victim? Rachel, Kate, Victoria, all blonde. Forward past the expensive photographic equipment; newspapers on the coffee table; a trolley of syringes and drugs by the wall. Follow Chloe out and to the junkyard. A long film: the girls find Rachel’s grave. Everything points at Nathan and Chloe wants revenge; back her, and go to the Vortex Club’s End of the World party.

Blackwell: the End of the World party

Follow Chloe. A tipsy Warren stops you for a photo together. At the curtain, Stella Brook intercepts: does Nathan scare you?; seen anything unusual? Inside, Alyssa falls into the pool again; rewind and warn her, then talk: Kate; the viral video; the Vortex Club; Victoria; Nathan. At the VIP area, the girl at the door will not let you in despite the list. Justin in the toilet is drunk and useless; a word with Luke if you like. Push the huge cable reel blocking the way, go through and rewind quickly; turn, draw the curtain and you are in. Sit down to catch your breath. Zachary and Juliet are together again. Talk to Dana with Trevor: the end of the world; the Vortex Club. Victoria: accuse Nathan; you have talent; why not be friends?; tell her about the dark room. She seems convinced she is in danger. Consequences. Chloe appears in the doorway; she has not found Nathan either. Before leaving, the long film of the Everyday Heroes award, which Mr. Jefferson gives to Victoria Chase. To the junkyard.

The junkyard

Keep Chloe in sight or you will hunt for her in the dark. The closing film: a needle in the neck, no time to rewind, Chloe falling with a bullet in her forehead, a face you never expected leaning over you, a syringe filling, and your own voice begging him not to.

Read the summary of the choices from this episode that will matter later.