“Life is Strange” is an odd game. If you’ve played a title from Telltale (“Walking Dead”, “Batman”, “Game of Thrones”, etc.) then you know what you’re getting, here; a walking simulator with choices and things to click on and learn about. These types of games usually appeal to me because I am, at my core, a story-loving gamer. I enjoy competitive games or online experiences, but at my base what I’m really interested in are stories and the methods they are told. My top ten games of all time are all predominately single player experiences (with some multiplayer aspects present, but optional). Now, I’m not trying to hype this game up a ton, it is not close to my top ten or probably even in my top fifty titles. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth talking about.
“Life is Strange” is broken up into five chapters, similar to a Telltale experience, each one a complete story but a broken-up piece of a larger narrative. For example, the first episode is mostly about discovering a new power and reconnecting with an old friend, another episode is about figuring out if said friend’s stepfather is as big a creep as he seems, and so on, while the main overall story is, well… much deeper than that. You control Max through this, a student at a prestigious school who has returned to her home city after years of being away. She doesn’t have a ton of friends, has a seemingly incredible – albeit extremely nerdy – talent, and listens to tons of indie rock. Basically a hipster all the way around. She runs into her old friend Chloe who is now a punk rock loving stoner and, well, the pair run afoul of drugs, violence, breaking and entering, impossible weather phenomenon, super powers, and serial killers. All while trying to solve the mystery of Chloe’s missing friend, Rachel.
Again, gameplay isn’t very strong in this kind of game; you mostly watch a scene play out, have a few options for things to say in a conversation, then you get to walk around a setting and interact with people and objects in the world. The game’s “hidden collectibles” are photo opportunities – there are ten per episode, and they range from very obvious to kind of difficult to figure out on your own (I’ll admit, I looked up a few). Sometimes interacting with a person yields a situation where you get to make a decision, like intervening in an event, offering an opinion to a classmate, or making an observation. These “actions have consequences” and “shape the story” but only insofar as they might be referenced later or might have some minimal level of significance at a later time. Mostly, they’re just there for completionists to say they made a choice every time they got the option to.
The big draw of this game is actually plural. First and foremost, is the rewind ability. Max wakes up from a dream at the start of the game after a horrifying vision of a large whirlwind ripping through her town on a dark and stormy night. After this she excuses herself to the restroom and eventually witnesses a tragedy. This event sparks a change in Max which allows her to rewind time, now able to undo certain events and make difference choices. Think of it as save-scumming as a game mechanic. You can prevent the tragedy and now move on with the story, but you can also now make a critical decision, see how it might play out, and then decide to go back and make a different choice. Or you might make a choice, learn new info, and then you can rewind it to use that info to your advantage. You can prevent a classmate from getting hit with a football. You can put the moves on someone and see how they react and maybe change your mind. You can cheat in class by learning the right answer then going back and using it. You can avoid a dangerous situation by taking a different path. Options are always present, and though you are often limited by a set amount of time you are allowed to rewind, you are usually never stuck with a decision you didn’t want to make and can almost always undo it and take a different set of actions.
The other major selling point for “Life is Strange” is the story and the friendship between Max and Chloe. I don’t want to spoil anything and I don’t want to delve too deeply into the unsettling twists, the engaging plot devices, or the crazy choices and time travel mechanics that present themselves the closer you get to the game’s fantastic finale. No, even though this game is a few years old, it is worth checking out for yourself to discover these characters and their setting, their grief and their challenges. What I will say, though, is that the game never force-feeds you the rekindling of the two leads’ friendship. Strained as it might be at first, you get a real feel for where Max and Chloe are coming from, their similarities, their differences, and why the two have a connection that – despite their diverging path in life – can’t be broken by time or distance. Even though Chloe is a bit rougher around the edges and even though Max is a bit more shy and naïve about life, boys, and other aspects of late-teen life, the two complement each other wonderfully. It makes for great laughs, great tragedy, and great suspense, all while telling an out-of-this world, over-the-top story. And the resolution to their story in this 10-14 hour game needs to be seen to be believed, even if it all boils down to a few single choices rather than the grand sweeping promise of “all your choices matter” most games like this put forth.
What else can be said? Visually the game is nice, not awesome, not consistently gorgeous. But when the art team gets the chance to showcase their abilities with a limited engine, sometimes “Life is Strange” comes out of nowhere with a set piece that will wow you. Almost the entire back half of Chapter 5 is a sight to be seen, and even though it’s not the most realistic storm I’ve ever seen in a game, almost every time you see the giant whirlwind approach the town from the coast, it can be breathtaking. The character models are hit or miss, mostly due to textures and resolution. I understand, again, that this was a limited engine and what they accomplished with it is fantastic on its own, but the lip syncing, the way hair looks like plastic sheets, and the way some characters have dead eyes can be off-putting. Thankfully, despite the plastic sheet hair issue, the main pair of girls look and move realistically enough to not distract from the story being told, and everyone is distinct enough to tell apart.
There are a few late game twists that don’t really stick the landing for me and one sequence early in chapter five that seems like wasted time. And while I understand the need for both the lame twists and the dumb sequence, it seems like they could have done more to either set up said twists, or done more with the lame sequence. I’m being sparse with details and that’s because both the twist and the sequence are essential, it is just because of the writing that neither feel like they are. But if removed, it would destroy the magic of what comes later. And that’s the game’s biggest setback: it tries too hard to reach the ending that it fails to do the legwork in advance, properly. It is like they had an outline, wrote the start and ending, and then just kept the bullet points for most of the biggest moments. And that’s OK, in the end, because the opening chapters and the end of chapter five are so good, it doesn’t matter, overall, that these moments happen. I just hope they can expand on their abilities when they make whatever it is they are making next.
The voice acting throughout the game is great. Max is, sadly, the only character I ever felt was weak. Not awful, but absolutely the weakest amongst the main players. Chloe, Mr. Jefferson, Victoria, David, and even lesser characters like the girls in Max’s dorm or the school janitor all bring their A-Game to the table. It’s a treat and it helps tell a compelling story. And when I said Max was the weakest, I still don’t mean that as an insult. There are examples of downright charm in her delivery, be it the examination of a rival’s secret nerdy obsession for action figures, her disbelief at her dialogue options in a fourth-wall breaking moment, or the way she sounds completely different with Chloe’s stepfather depending on choices she makes to hide or reveal secret truths. And the closing moments of the game ring true between her and Chloe’s voice actresses, Hannah Telle and Ashly Burch, respectively. Overall, the voice cast does a great job with solid material.
The only other thing to talk about is the music which was fine. I’m not a huge indie fan by any means but I get that these characters would be (Max, for certain) and so it works with the story and the beats within. The opening song, when Max first puts her headphones in to walk the halls of Blackwell Academy, is a great example of allowing the song to play with the setting and integrates into the gameplay well by never breaking from the immersion of player control. It doesn’t stop until you get to a point where Max would stop listening to it, it isn’t just a cut scene playing out. This level of realism is maintained throughout all five chapters and usually only breaks from the pattern for montage sequences showing multiple characters in the game world at different locations.
Do I recommend this game? Yeah, I do. If for no other reason than the last half of chapter five, which would be awful without everything leading up to it. Let’s just say that abusing time, reality, and the cycle of life and death begins to take its toll on more than just Max and some wonderful questions come up that aren’t so much answered as they are left for the player to ponder. I finished this game on Wednesday, a few days ago, and I’ve been stuck thinking about it and debating with myself over whether or not my choices were sound or the actions I took with Max and Chloe were the right ones to take. In time, the game will likely be forgotten in the enormous pantheon of titles I’ve gone through, and when I eventually compile a new Top 100 Games list in the future, I highly doubt that this game will be present and accounted for. But, and I mean this seriously, if I was to create a Top 100 Moments in Games list, “Life is Strange” would have a few that would probably be able to break into the top 50.
All in all, “Life is Strange” is an odd little game. I played the first chapter right when it came out back at the start of 2015 and found it mostly boring. I thought I’d figured out the story and the twists early on, but boy am I glad I gave the game a second chance this year. Find the game on the cheap and take a weekend to “binge” the game like a Netflix series. It is seriously good enough to warrant it. Never going to need a second playthrough, but I will likely get the prequel series that starts later this year. And I’ll be interested in seeing whatever else these developers put out in the future because, while I love my Telltale games and my “Walking Dead” series in particular (CLEM 4 LIFE!), this game took different risks and hit me, emotionally, way more than any game Telltale has ever put out. That’s worthy of note. And worthy of your time.
FINAL SCORE: 8.2/10
Additional Notes: I figured out the bit about spirit animals way later than the game probably wanted me to. Like, I figured it out while writing this review. If you read this and THEN play the game, you might be like “duh, Skyler.” Hell, you probably could figure it out without being told there is something TO figure out. I’m an idiot, sometimes.
Also, there is so much “Twin Peaks” in this game, from the small town setting, the seedy underbelly vibe, and the mystery surrounding a down-home girl with a dark secret, just like Laura Palmer. Add to that a few direct references, like a “Fire Walk With Me” graffiti tag to a license plate that literally spells TWNPKS or something like that. I don’t mind homages to stuff, but a little more subtlety goes a long way.
Added August 30, 2017
Added this to new Category: A “Review” with a sub-category for “Video Games”
skylerbartels 