When you’re growing up, choices are never an easy part of life and there are times when you can almost feel the weight of the world moving beneath your feet. You make friends, you lose them. You make a decision, it may be the wrong one. It’s difficult, sometimes unsatisfying and always terrifying. That’s where Life is Strange steps in, to make you feel like all those awkward encounters and what ifs are part of a bigger picture. Life is Strange is a storm of emotion and here’s five reasons why you should make the choice to play it.
You don’t need to be good at games
Because rarely can we all say we are. It’s not an intense shooter or a complex RPG, it’s a simple adventure story game, with easy movements and selection controls. You play as Max, an art student who has returned to her hometown Arcadia Bay to attend the prestigious art college. Max discovers one day in class that she has a gift, she can rewind time. Max meets a lot of characters along the way including teachers, friends, fellow students and her old best pal Chloe, who she hasn’t seen or spoken to since she left.
It all feels very familiar. Max is awkward, slightly gawky and just a nice person. The people you meet aren’t as nice and sometimes the story is thrust into dark corners that are unexpected.
You can start over again
Life is Strange has an incredible rewind mechanic, which lets you alter events dramatically. You have access to the rewind ability when an event is triggered. Although, the dialogue choices which are included throughout the game cannot be taken back and proceed to affect future events and reactions, there is some room for learning from mistakes.
It’s really up to you if you trust characters, what you choose to say and how you behave. There is an investigative puzzle element, which includes finding and piecing together clues. The dialogue is spot on and feels natural and is delivered from rounded characters well. There are shock scenes and people you might not be able to save, but it’s all part of it.
Chloe is your best friend
Chloe is hella amazing and she’s the ultimate best friend. She’s the complete opposite to Max, with her outlandish attitude, but she’s sweet and she’s silently scared. Chloe has a lot of pain and Max can’t always fix that, it’s heartbreaking.
The two characters make for an excellent story and to see them reunite after so many years, feels equally as sad as it is wonderful.
The story takes a turn
Between cut scenes combined with dialogue choices and gameplay where you can rewind time. You can walk around, examining objects and items which help you piece together a story. The beginning feels very natural and I had flashbacks to chemistry class where my teacher would single me out for well, not being very good at chemistry.
It then takes a turn and it’s quick and painful. Then you’re kind of in this odd place between reality and fantasy, where it all very…strange. The decisions are hard to make, some of the characters are hard to face and the consequences of a wrong word are forced on you by events.
Life is Strange takes a sinister twist.
Before the storm is coming out
Life is Strange: Before the Storm is coming out at the end of the month, where you get to play as Chloe and experience her side of the events that still remain a mystery to us. The standalone story game is set three years before the events of the first game.
You should experience the roller coaster that is Life is Strange because the team at Don’t Nod pinpoint the chaos of choices in a relatable, endearing adventure.
