let us be submerged together

Max calling them "high school sweethearts" may be weird to us as players, but honestly? What else should she have said? "Oh yeah, that's my childhood best friend that I ghosted for five years after I moved away right after her dad died. Then we met again in high school, where I saw her get shot, acquired powers to reverse time, and brought her back to life. Then helped her find her murdered girlfriend, fell in love with her, saw her get shot by my psychopathic teacher, reversed time again and then had to choose between losing her forever or having the town be wiped out by a cosmic storm." I personally think "we dated when I was in high school" is the safer option here tbh.

It makes sense that everything would take a toll on their relationship eventually (whether it's romantic or platonic). I say this as someone who went in completely blind into the game and didn't even know romancing Chloe is an option. The second I saw them interact, I went, "These two are definitely gay for each other." (I was so sure they're gonna kiss in the pool lol.) I literally refused to romance anyone else in any game because to me there was simply no other option, I'm a Pricefield endgame truther through and through lol. And still, them breaking up was a good thing... for the time being.

They took off almost immediately after Arcadia Bay was destroyed. While they've definitely been grieving, I think they were fine for a while because they had each other. But eventually the trauma would have caught up with them.

Chloe still hadn't gotten over the death of her dad, and now she also had to deal with the fact that Rachel wasn't missing but had been murdered the entire time she was looking for her. And also having to bear the guilt of being alive. I believe Chloe had been passively suicidal but since she met Max again, there were multiple scenes where it was clear that Chloe didn't actually want to die but in the end she believed that she simply didn't deserve to live.

Max, on top of feeling responsible for saving an entire town and what happened that week, is obviously traumatised by what happened with Jefferson, a teacher she idolised and trusted.

Both are dealing with immense guilt. They simply had too much individual trauma for their shared trauma to patch things up.

Eventually, Chloe, who historically hasn't been able to let go, decided to try and finally move forward, while Max was still living in the past. Despite popular belief, I don't think that Chloe is this selfish, horrible person. I think she knew they needed time apart to heal and grow individually, so she did what Max could not. Let go. Personally, I think that's character growth for her (also lowkey a little bit of karma for Max).

Despite them breaking up making sense to me, it was always just a matter of time until they would meet again. These two are soulmates who will always find their way back to each other.

I disagree with people who claim that the new games destroyed their characters and relationship. I actually think they brought more depth to their personalities and dynamic. They are both flawed characters, and that's why I like them so much. They actually feel human to me.

Are the new games perfect? No. But the perfect game has yet to be created, and honestly? Perfection is boring as hell anyway. Are the new games nostalgia bait? I guess? But imho, it's not necessarily a bad thing. I've seen a lot of people say that the new devs only care for money and didn't put any care into the characters, and tbh I didn't have that feeling at all. Like I said, I think they put more depth into their personalities, and imho created a realistic progression of their relationship and coping of trauma. And yeah, of course they want to make money, can't make games from light and love alone lol.

I don't mean this in a mean way but I think some people honestly need a bit more self-awareness, bc if you know it's nostalgia bait and a cash grab, why do you keep falling for it then? It's not just a Life is Strange thing. It's honestly a general thing that is so prevalent in gaming in general.