After the events of the previous episode, Max finds herself again in the Dark Room, tied to a chair. If you warned Victoria Chase at the End of the World Party, she will be lying dosed on the floor next to Max. There will be a trolley with lots of things, like syringes, photos, and water. First, detach your right foot, and pull the trolley to you. After focusing on the photo, Max will wake up with hands tied, lying on the floor, with Jefferson taking pictures of her. He is angry because she moves too much, and will prepare another dose to calm her. Max kicks the trolley, and spills liquid on the photos he took, causing him to take others. The focus ends, and she is back again. (If Victoria is in the room with Max, you now have the option to talk with her.) There are now other photos due to what she did. In one of them, she is conscious. Max focuses on it, and you'll have a dialogue with Jefferson, where he will explain why he's doing this, along with Nathan Prescott's involvement and Rachel's death. While he goes to look over the shots he just took on the computer, Max catches sight of her diary. Max rewinds time and asks Jefferson about it. He says that Max's selfies are waste of talent, and will throw the open diary right in front of Max in the chair. Focus on it, and you'll be back to the Art Class in Episode 1.
At this point, Jefferson has no idea that she is aware of the Dark Room. Max will want to contact David Madsen, telling him everything about Jefferson, Rachel Amber, and the Dark Room. To do this, search your bag. Inside, you'll find a Blackwell Academy pamphlet which lists his number. She will send a message to David, then delete the message from her phone (for security purposes). Max can then comfort Kate Marsh, making sure she will not attempt suicide. (Optional Photo 1: Take a photo of Kate after comforting her.) She then confronts Victoria about Kate's video and turns in her photo-memorial selfie for the Everyday Heroes Contest. When the focus closes, a slideshow of pictures shows all the original events being rewritten. The Dark Room is invaded by David and the police, Jefferson is arrested in school, the police discover Rachel's body in the Junkyard, and Max wins the contest. The last pictures shows her with Chloe Price, alive, in her room at Blackwell, and then she's shown entering a taxi.
Max wakes up aboard a plane on its way to San Francisco, with Principal Wells sleeping in the seat next to her. Looking at the blur outside of the window, she realizes that she is still in a focus between realities. Principal Wells wakes up and they talk about the week's events, after which she has a nosebleed similar to Episode 2, due to the many photo-jumps in a short space of time. The focus then ends and Max finds herself in the Zeitgeist Gallery.
Principal Wells will have a short conversation with Max before moving on to eat caviar. (Optional Photo 2: Using the provided camera, take a photo of the woman seated on the lower level of the gallery.) Max may talk to the various people inside the gallery, but her main objective is to look at her winning photo on the second floor. As she does this, she will have a vision of the storm and will hear Chloe calling for help. Max phones Chloe and realizes that the storm is still coming towards Arcadia Bay. She then has to focus on the photo, but may be interrupted by people wanting to ask her questions. Returning to the day the photo was taken, she tears it in half, and keeps the pieces in her diary.
Max is suddenly back in the Dark Room and is restrained as before. Jefferson asks her a question which she answers in an insulting way. Max gets a nosebleed once again, and as Jefferson moves on to give her an overdose, David enters the Dark Room and a fight breaks out between the two. Jefferson overpowers David, and Max has to rewind to the point when she was still talking with Jefferson and asks for a last request.
There are two options here which will allow the story to progress. The first option "One last picture," where Jefferson will take a photo of Max, collecting Optional Photo 3. He then sets the camera down on a chest next to the couch as he walks over to prepare the syringe. When Jefferson hides behind the corner while holding the tripod, you can warn David about it. Once Jefferson knocks David to the floor, you can tell David to get the camera, which he throws at Jefferson's face, leading to the second phase of the fight.
The other option is to ask for a glass of water. Jefferson pulls the trolley closer to Max, pours a cup of water, then holds it to Max's mouth so she can drink from it. After David enters, Max has the option to warn David about Jefferson hiding behind a corner holding a tripod, but this is not required. Once the fight starts, Max must push the trolley away from her, giving David time to get up.
The second phase of the fight starts after David either throws the camera at Jefferson or punches Jefferson after Max pushes the trolley. Jefferson runs to grab his gun and must watch David get shot before rewinding and pulling a cable to create a distraction. David finally knocks Jefferson out, ties him up, and frees Max.
Max learns that Jefferson burned her diary and then takes the keys to his car. She can either leave the Dark Room or have a conversation with David, in which he apologizes for everything he has done. Either way, David will ask where Chloe is. Max may or may not reveal the truth about Chloe to him.
She leaves the Dark Room and calls Warren Graham to ask for the photo he took at the End of the World Party, as it is the only way of traveling back in time. Warren reveals he is at the Two Whales Diner with Joyce Price. He tries to dissuade her from going to meet him due to the weather, but she hangs up on him drives to the diner using Jefferson's car.
During the drive, she receives a voice message from Nathan, who apologizes for his involvement for what happened to Kate and Rachel, and reveals that Jefferson is coming for him.
She stops a short distance from the diner due to debris blocking the way. Max has to walk around the debris and may help various people along the way. One of the challenges is to use a fuse box to get past a fire in a liquor store. Max then has to prevent another fire from reaching the diner using sand, which only becomes available after watching the diner explode and you're forced to rewind. (Optional Photos 4 and 5, the Whale on the street and the Car perched on top of a building, are available after Max uses the sand.)
When she finally gets inside, she is greeted by Warren and Joyce. Frank Bowers and Pompidou may also be there, depending on past choices. Max has the option to talk with Frank and Joyce, but must talk with Warren for the needed photo to become available. Before focusing on the photo, Max has the option to hug or kiss Warren, or not to show him any affection at all.
Max focuses on the photo and returns to the time before she and Chloe entered the party. She then has to convince Chloe to return to her house rather than go on to find Nathan. The only way to do that is to be honest: Max has to tell Chloe in detail what she went through and what a terrible choice she had to make, after which Chloe will believe her, they will warn David about Jefferson and stay at Chloe's house until the storm is about to strike.
Max wakes up at the beach and has a conversation with Chloe about their friendship. As they move on to the lighthouse to save themselves from the approaching tornado, Max loses consciousness and falls into a disturbing nightmare.
Art Class: Max sits through the same lecture from the beginning of the game, believing she is in a time loop. Then the room is suddenly empty and Max gets up. (Optional Photo 6 becomes available after looking at the Etched Marks twice.) As she is about to exit, Jefferson appears and calls her. Max is forced into a conversation with him, in which they very creepily discuss the Dark Room and Max is forced to give an agreeable answer. After the conversation, he disappears and Max can leave. Once she does, she finds herself, not in the corridor of Blackwell, but in the hallway of the girl's side of the Prescott Dormitory.
Dormitory Hall: Max walks down the hallway of the Dormitory towards Kate Marsh. When Max talks to her, she is abusive and blames Max for her suicide attempt. She will open her dorm room door and fall through it into the light. As it closes behind her, Max can follow. She ends up once again in the dormitory hallway. This time however, a key with a room number is visible and may be picked up on a table by the shower room door. By looking at the number at each door and by referring to the dormitory map directory, the room number on the key refers to Dana's room. After passing through the door to Dana's room, she finds herself again at the entrance to the hallway.
This time, she is dressed in Rachel Amber's clothes and the dormitory map directory will have some changes to some of the room occupants including Rachel Amber being listed in one of the rooms. Max must enter through the first doorway on the left (room 224) in order to progress, as this is where Rachel stayed when she was at Blackwell (according to the map). Max finds herself transformed into Victoria this time, and enters through Victoria's bedroom door to move on. One last time, she finds herself at the beginning of the hallways which are now covered in Polaroids, while all the slates read "LOOK AT ME: I AM MAX SELFIE!". (Optional Photo 7: Go to the window near where you found the Key in the first phase of this puzzle.) Max heads to her own room and enters it to appear in the hallway of Blackwell Academy.
Blackwell Academy Hallway: Max finds herself in the same situation she was in after she exited Jefferson's classroom on Monday, except this time everything is reversed, including Max's speech and the movement of the characters. Max puts on her earphones and has to walk to the bathroom again, while listening to a reversed version of To All of You. (Optional Photo 8: A Skeleton near the bathroom door.)
Maze: Upon entering the bathroom, Max finds herself in a dream-like atmosphere, with floating debris and darkened backdrops. With the lighthouse in the far off distance, she lands in a maze made up of walls with photographs from the Dark Room. Jefferson patrols the scene with a flashlight, attempting to catch her. Escaping Jefferson, she makes her way to a section with the Blackwell founder statue in the center, surrounded by gallery boards of Dark Room photos, with the voice of Ray Wells booming over loudspeakers. Max must avoid being spotted by the statue's light source, hiding behind the billboards. This leads her to a section filled with Blackwell school lockers. Warren, Principal Wells, Samuel, Nathan and David Madsen patrol the spaces between the lockers, chiding at Max, calling for her to come out, and saying negative things about her. (Optional Photo 9 is hidden in a locker near areas guarded by Warren and Samuel.)
If she makes it past here, Max will end up in a nightmare version of the American Rust Junkyard. Jefferson, Nathan and Frank patrol here, looking for Max and making hurtful comments and observations. Here, Max can collect five bottles in order to line them up for an optional photo. There is also the opportunity for a moment of peace, with a "sit" option beside the hideout Chloe and Rachel inhabited. (Optional Photo 10: Collect the bottles, then take a picture of them at the maze's exit.) After making her way out of the maze, Max heads towards a bench beside the lighthouse and sits.
The following nightmare scenes, Chloe's House and Dark Room, are only cutscenes and do not require any action from the player.
Max is eventually transported into the bathroom of the Two Whales Diner, and needs a digicode to get out. The correct combination is 0311, which represents Chloe's birthday (March 11th). Max leaves the bathroom to find the diner filled with the town's residents. Each one of them begs her to save them. Max makes her way to the same booth from earlier in the game to talk to the only animated character there: herself.
This is one of the "Maxes she's left behind" who insults her, making it clear that she hasn't used her rewind powers for good. Chloe enters, and defends Max for the first time during the nightmare. It is possible that this is reality sinking through, as Chloe encourages the real Max outside of the nightmare. A flash later, and Max finds herself in a dark space highlighted by the key moments in the week shared between her and Chloe. She has to navigate the path to the lighthouse once again to finally end the nightmare.
Max falls on the ground and finds out she is at the lighthouse with Chloe. A cutscene plays out, during which Max is convinced that it was her power what created the storm, and the only way to stop it is to let Chloe die. Chloe gives her the photo of the blue butterfly, and Max is faced with the most difficult choice in her life: either to sacrifice Chloe and save the population of Arcadia Bay, or sacrifice the town to save Chloe. Independent of the player's choice, the rest of the game is a cutscene which doesn't require any interaction.