Life is Strange Review
I’m sure there were examples beforehand that I’m not aware of, but in my mind Life is Strange is the first real YA video game. And despite the fact that it’s already five years old (which is coming up on two console lifetimes ago…) I still think about this game a lot. It stands, to me, as proof that stories about teenagers can and should be smart, exciting, and emotionally satisfying, no matter the medium.
Here’s the deal: Max Caulfield is at a fancy boarding school in Arcadia Bay when she sees a girl get shot in the school bathroom. At that exact moment, Max develops (or unlocks or discovers, take your pick) the power to rewind time. With her new, weird powers she saves the girl, an old friend named Chloe, and together they need to investigate Max’s powers, the disappearances around town, and Max’s looming visions of Arcadia Bay in ruins.
The game puts you in control of Max and requires you to investigate around town, talk to characters, and use your timey-wimey powers to solve puzzles. For instance: you need to break into an office but leave no trace. The key is inside. Why not smash the door down, and rewind time around you? You’re in the room. The door is intact. The puzzles follow a clear internal logic that anyone can pick up. The game is also fairly intuitive to play, even if video games aren’t your thing. Controls are simple. You’ll rarely find yourself under the gun for time.
It’s also rare to play a game that feels so literary. There are constant allusions to other works of sci-fi and fantasy, consistent and beautiful motifs of photographs, animals, light, and darkness. The game also rewards discovery. Side characters have their own lives, motivations, and demons. Taking the time to learn about them adds new layers to the story and occasionally helps you save a life.
The heart of the story is the friendship (with possibility of romance) between Max and Chloe. Even though the graphics wouldn’t win any awards in 2020, the art style and voice acting more than make up for it and keep the player invested, and putting the player in charge of that relationship allows makes the dangers and conflicts hit that much closer to home, all of this bolstered by an amazing indie-music soundtrack.
The only real place where the game stumbles is a limit of budget, not imagination. Because it’s expensive to write, re-write, design, animate, and produce, some of your choices throughout the game will start to feel inconsequential by the ending. The story can diverge only so much from your choices, and unlike the best Telltale story games (The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us), the game doesn’t give you a real chance to see your choices laid out in front of you, which would help you inform the final, devastating choice the game requires you to make.
This game is truly special, and for anyone who’s interested in mysteries, best friends, time travel, whales, high school drama, adventure, or blue hair, it’s worth checking out, though I would STRONGLY advise anyone to check online for trigger warnings. This game goes into a dark place. 4 polaroids out of 5.