Summary: 5.0/5.0
The setting of Life is Strange starts as your typical high school drama, complete with bullying and falling asleep in class. You play as Max, a high school senior with a passion for photography. She has recently moved back to her hometown to attend a prestigious private art school, Blackwell Academy, and suddenly finds herself able to control time. An unexpected encounter reunites Max with her childhood best friend Chloe, and together they use Max's "superpower" to investigate the disappearance of a fellow Blackwell student, Rachel Amber.
Life is Strange is one of the best games I have ever played. Okay, it's not flawless, but it warrants more than a 4.5 and I've already committed to this 5 point scale, so here we are. Life is Strange is a story-driven choice-based mystery adventure game. The story and characters are compelling, the environment is beautifully crafted, the story is heartwarming and tragic, the soundtrack is amazing, and the mechanics are very thoughtfully implemented. This game is impactful and accessible in a way that most other games cannot be.
However... please don’t take this game too seriously. This is not a game about time travel. It is a game about people. I haven’t delved too deep into it, but I’d guess if you’re looking for something with “sound science” to explain the possibility of time travel, this won't satisfy that criteria. For a relatively small game, Life is Strange is incredibly ambitious and tackles an impressive amount of content. This is a game where you'll get out of it what you put into it. If you rush from objective to objective, you're going to miss a lot of the details that make this game so remarkable.
Disclaimer:
I played this game long before I started this blog, and then I made my sister play it. And my brother. And my boyfriend. And my boss. And basically anyone who wanted me to shut up about it. And then I played it again. And again. And again. This is not a first-impression-review. I have probably seen this game from start to finish a dozen times. And to write this review, I played it again.
gameplay
Life is Strange is a story based game and features player choice, the consequences of all your in game actions and decisions will impact the past, present, and future. Choose wisely...
- Life is Strange Loading Screen
The primary mechanic in this game is the ability to rewind time. The rewind mechanic is well-tuned for this game, and the ability to skip dialogue ensures that the repetition doesn't become too tedious. This also introduces some fun and interesting puzzles throughout the game. Most of these puzzles are dialogue puzzles, where you can fumble through a conversation and obtain information that lets Max say all the right things the second time around. There are also a few environmental puzzles, where Max can use her rewind to navigate around obstacles or collect items.
The other prominent mechanic in this game is choice. Throughout the game, Max will be faced with a several important decisions that will impact how the story unravels. For the most part, choices don't necessarily change the events of the main story, but rather how Max experiences it and how other characters interact with Max. Although these big decisions are extremely pertinent, the majority of your experience will be shaped by smaller choices and conversations. These are the interactions that could be easily missed, but if you are a thorough player, you will appreciate the level of detail and character development in the "background" of the main story, including the differences in Max's journal and text messages. The implementation of choice and consequence is what gives this game so much replay value. I keep coming back to this game to treat characters differently and see how Max's relationships with her classmates is shaped by those everyday conversations.
Characters
Life is Strange primarily follows the relationship between Max and her childhood best friend, Chloe, with whom Max neglected to keep in contact over the last 5 years. Chloe has had it hella rough. She’s lost her father. She’s lost Max. She's lost Rachel. Her new stepfather is borderline abusive. It’s more than most adults could handle in the span of only a few years. It’s not surprising that she’s gotten herself into some trouble. Her angsty punk rebel persona balances out Max’s… Maxness? Since this is a choice-based game, Max’s personality can vary depending on the player, but only to a certain degree. Max’s responses to the player’s choices tend to reinforce a quiet, geeky personality of someone reluctant to be in the spotlight. Still, Max has some spunk, and it only gains momentum as she builds confidence with her time-travel abilities.
The rest of the cast is mostly Max's classmates, faculty members, Chloe's family, and some other community members. I have seen an argument that the characters in Life is Strange lack depth and represent tired stereotypes. True, in this game you will encounter mean girls, jocks, bullies, nerds, etc. If you don't interact with these characters, or you just reinforce those stereotypes in your conversations with them, you won't see much development. Dig through their trash though, and you might find some unprecedented depth. [Obligatory: Sassy Detective in no way encourages the digging through of other people's trash in real life.] Ultimately, this method of character portrayal enforces the fact that everyone is going through something you don't know about.
Story
This section will be brief and vague to avoid spoilers for those who haven't played the game. I mentioned earlier that this game is ambitious. I wasn't kidding. The themes of this story include the following social and ethical issues and topics that I can't discuss without giving away the plot. This game will make you think, and will probably make you cry. It will make you feel a real connection to characters, and then put you in a very difficult situation with them. The story of Life is Strange is incredibly powerful, though it ends in one of only two ways, determined by a final heartbreaking choice. As mentioned previously, player choice mostly doesn't impact the events of the story. But who's on your side? Do you have a weapon? Is your plant alive? These details will change with every play-through.
Environment
Life is Strange takes place in the fictional Arcadia Bay and uses very stylized art. The user interface is, in keeping with the high school theme, illustrated in hand-drawn icons and hand-written labels. Posters, documents, and computer screens almost look painted. It may be due to budgetary constraints, but the surrealism suits the storyline perfectly. It's so well executed that it didn't distract me or make me feel that I was playing a low-budget game. Of course, the visual style is supplemented by a great soundtrack. (I still listen to it on a regular basis only to find myself bombarded by all sorts of conflicting feelings at work.) The combination of instrumental tracks and established songs completes the ambiance necessary to immerse players in the world of Arcadia Bay.
Afterlife
For a game that is two years old, the fan community is still thriving with daily discussions, new clues discovered on later play-throughs, and testimonies about the impact of this game. From the start, DONTNOD has been very conscious of the sensitive themes in Life is Strange, even including messaging in the game menu with information about helpful resources.
They've been very responsive to their growing fan base, and even used the success of the game to sponsor a real-life Everyday Heroes Contest. Typically I enjoy lurking in various fandoms, but this game made me a contributor, inspiring me to make Life is Strange cupcakes while we were waiting for the finale to be released. To my surprise, the developers found and tweeted them!
Conclusion
There are some areas of Life is Strange that are technically lacking (lip sync comes to mind), and not all gameplay furthers the plot (*ahem* bottle sequence), but the details in this game are phenomenal, and I'd highly recommend this to anyone who likes story and exploration games and doesn't mind dialogue/reading. Even if you typically watch play-throughs, the impact of this game really comes from the mechanic of player choice. You'll get the best experience if you take absolute ownership of Max's character, and embrace all that Arcadia Bay has to offer.
