"Dark Room" is the fourth episode of Life is Strange. The episode was released July 28, 2015 and is available on PC, Mac, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
Max realizes that changing the past can lead to painful consequences and that time is not a great healer. Her investigation into the disappearance of Rachel Amber begins to reach a thrilling conclusion as she finds the Dark Room. Will the answers lie within? Or will there just be trouble?
Alternative Chloe Price (Determinant) - In the alternative timeline, Chloe requests Max to euthanise her by giving her a morphine overdose. It's up to Max to decide her fate.
Pompidou and Frank Bowers (Determinant) - If Pompidou is still alive, depending on how the confrontation with Frank proceeds, Chloe will shoot both Pompidou and Frank.
Rachel Amber (Confirmed Fate) - Chloe and Max find Rachel Amber's dead body in the junkyard.
Chloe Price - Chloe is shot in the head by Mark Jefferson at the end of the episode.
"Lua" - Bright Eyes (optionally played in Chloe's room)
"Piano Fire" - Sparkle Horse (optionally played in Chloe's room)
Reception[]
Dark Room has the lowest Metascore of all episodes with a Metascore of 76 and a User Score of 8.6.
IGN gave it an okay score of 6.0, calling it the least consistent episode.
Achievements[]
There are twelve achievements the player can earn on Steam, PlayStation or Xbox.
Ambient
10
Take optional photo #1 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Ambient 10 Take optional photo #1 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Time-Lapsed
10
Take optional photo #2 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Time-Lapsed 10 Take optional photo #2 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Balance
10
Take optional photo #3 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Balance 10 Take optional photo #3 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Rangefinder
10
Take optional photo #4 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Rangefinder 10 Take optional photo #4 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Gamma Value
10
Take optional photo #5 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Gamma Value 10 Take optional photo #5 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Dioptric Power
10
Take optional photo #6 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Dioptric Power 10 Take optional photo #6 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Fisheye
10
Take optional photo #7 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Fisheye 10 Take optional photo #7 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Manually Exposed
10
Take optional photo #8 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Manually Exposed 10 Take optional photo #8 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Slideshow
10
Take optional photo #9 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Slideshow 10 Take optional photo #9 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Tripod
10
Take optional photo #10 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Tripod 10 Take optional photo #10 in Episode 4: Dark Room
Shutterbug
45
Take all optional photos in Episode 4: Dark Room
Shutterbug 45 Take all optional photos in Episode 4: Dark Room
Dark Room
55
Finish Episode 4: Dark Room
Dark Room 55 Finish Episode 4: Dark Room
Trivia[]
The term "Dark Room" (traditionally spelled "Darkroom") refers to a room used to develop "light-sensitive photographic materials, including photographic film and photographic paper". "Dark Room" also refers to a dark lit room where sexual acts take place in clubs.
In the alternative timeline, Max and Chloe talk about the "Golden Hour". In photography, the golden hour is the hour after sunrise or before sunset during which daylight is redder and softer than when the sun is higher in the sky.
In the alternative timeline, there is a letter in Chloe's room from Principle Wells suggesting she could attend the "H. West Miskatonic Institute". This is a reference to H. P. Lovecraft's 1922 story "Herbert West–Reanimator".
Nathan's room door slate originally stated "THE PRESCOTTS RULE THIS TOWN!!!". With the patch that was released on January 19, 2016, it was replaced with "LEAVE ME ALONE".
Before attempting to open David Madsen's locker in the garage, Max comments on the padlock, asking "Hey David, whatcha hiding?" This may be a nod to Chloe's voice actress Ashly Burch's popular web series "Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin'?"
While exploring the Dark Room, Max can find an invoice for the bunker from "Howard Roark Construction." This is a reference to the main character, and architect, of the same name in Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead.
Graffiti on the wall
If you made the choice of writing a wall message in episode 2 in the wrecked den, after going back to the junkyard at night you can see that someone had graffiti-ed over the writings on the wall in red, probably blood. They change "Rachel was here" into "Rachel is here"- probably a reference to the fact that Rachel's body was buried in the junkyard. It also then circles Chloe's and Max's names and beside it, there is the message: "You're ALL GONNA DIE".
An unused in-game choice graphic called TX_MinChoice_E4_5A_NathanDoor can be extracted from the game's files. It can be assumed that Episode 4 originally had a minor choice related to whether Max used her rewind powers in order to fix Nathan's room door or not.
The episode trailer has some inconsistencies; when looking at the characters, they are wearing the same clothing from previous episodes; however, Max and Chloe's shirts change in the actual episode.
This episode reveals that Rachel had been killed long before the events of the game.
The next episode reveals that Nathan accidentally overdosed her when Jefferson kidnapped her.
At the end of the credits on this episode, it says "thanks for crying" instead of "thanks for playing".
Trailers[]
Life is Strange Episode 4 Launch Trailer (PEGI)
Life is Strange - Episode 4 Dark Room - Preview Trailer (HD) 1080p
The musical track heard in the Episode 4 Launch trailer is a remix/edit of a track called "Square Peg Round Hole" from the Neo Folk album available from Extreme Music (a stock music library for TV, film, trailers, and advertising). The composers are listed as: Giles Edward Palmer, Bruce Fingers, Billy Ray Fingers, Deep Cut.
10 
