Fuck it, I am having a sad night, and this is one of the reviews I feel as if I HAVE to do at some point. Life is Strange, for some reason, surpasses any media I have ever absorbed in my life. As from begin to end I was truly pulled into the every aspect of this experience. The music all being within some of my favorite genres and feels, pulling that aspect of myself into the world. The story hitting some really hard aspects emotions that lots of people will have to feel at some point in their lives; and the setting, atmosphere, and general vibes of being in a small town near the mountains and forests pulling memories of where I have lived around for my whole life. I simply connected to this more then anything else, I let myself into the shoes of a character I thought I could relate to in a moment of sadness and depression after the death of my father; and when the story beats started hitting at the end, I cried. I do not cry, not even from a "I am a strong guy" mindset, this game just somehow managed to, in the only way I can describe those feelings, overwhelm me. Messages, music, character, story, setting; it changed me. I hate to say it, due to being silly, but this was a big part of my recovery. It pushed me over the edge to see a therapist, and I might not be here if not for that. I do not care if the writing or story is not "technically" amazing or any other bullshit, because technicality can eat shit when emotions and art prove some wrong. If this game did nothing for you, I am sorry. I wish it could have done the same for you as it did for me, but due to that I love it. I always will, Life is Strange will be within my memories for a long time.

Enjoyment - 6/10
Difficulty - 1/10

Life is Strange completely relies on the quality of its narrative. To say anything more would be spoiler territory. Enjoyed the game for what it was. Short, film-like experience.
🏆

eu me lembro de detestar esse jogo anos atrás. talvez eu só fosse uma adolescente meio cínica e sem saco pra aguentar o q um monte de francês de meia-idade tinha pra falar sobre drama adolescente norte-americano, ou talvez eu fosse só chata mesmo. mas rejogar ele me fez ter uma perspectiva bem diferente desse jogo, o q eu realmente n esperava.

eu gosto q isso é uma perfeita cápsula da cultura hipster lá pros meados da década passada. a música, a moda, as vibes. é meio cringe mas em retrospecto tem o seu charme e isso torna a experiência desse jogo até meio q única. n existem muitos jogos com uma estética parecida.

alguns dos temas explorados tbm são interessantes. um jogo publicado pela square enix em 2015 tocar em temas mais sensíveis de maneira tão direta era impensável. n q toque nesses temas bem, mas o esforço está lá e é algo genuíno e com verdadeira simpatia.

mas é aquela coisa. esse jogo é derivativo. extremamente derivativo. catcher in the rye, butterfly effect, the girl with the dragon tattoo, twin peaks são só algumas das influências mais óbvias. isso n seria um problema se o jogo n tivesse tanta dificuldade de criar uma identidade mais única dentro de sua própria narrativa. as vezes a história passa a sensação de ser uma colcha de retalhos, e tinha o potencial de ser mais mais do q isso.

o jogo poderia ser mais gay tbm. essa é a minha principal crítica. o jogo deveria ter sido menos covarde e bem mais gay. o final é uma bosta mas n acho q tenha azedado tanta a minha experiência com o jogo.

no final das contas achei q seria um jogo pra hatear de graça enquanto jogava do lado da minha namorada e n foi o caso. foi bom. poderia ser melhor mas foi bom.

The dialogue written for the teen girls in this game is some of the most unintentionally cartoonish I’ve ever seen in a teen drama, regardless of medium. This is like faith-based movie scaremongering about the lifestyle of modern teens cartoonish. It actually boggles my mind and makes me kind of depressed to think that this is viewed by the gaming industry and a large portion of the community as a serious and insightful examination of… I don’t know what exactly.

I have nothing against dialogue that’s kitschy or cartoonish as long as that quality lends itself to the overall effect of a piece of media. I also have absolutely nothing against media that many consider low-brow. That’s not my critique here. When you put cartoonish writing in a piece of media that takes itself intensely seriously and that quality of the writing isn’t intentionally used to a worthwhile end you get The Room or Doug Walker’s The Wall or well… Life is Strange.

I really don’t know what else to say. This game and the fact that people like it broke my brain. Is this a case where people who like this game like it in spite of the bad writing? I guess I could see how that’s possible, but what is there to like in spite of its writing? I just really don’t get it / would definitely appreciate someone explaining it to me.

The nicest thing I have to say about this game is that the setting is quite cozy and nicely designed. I’ve spent some time in the Pacific Northwest and the game’s representation of a medium sized town in that region feels fairly accurate. I can also understand people liking the music, which mostly consists of indie folk that feels heavily influenced by the Bright Eyes album “I’m Wide Wake It’s Morning.” I adored that album as a teenager, so the music kind of worked for me (although it mostly just made me wish I was listening to Bright Eyes instead). Lucky for me the publisher did pull out the cash to license an actual Bright Eyes song so I did get my wish for a couple minutes.

Another positive - Life is Strange contains the most unintentionally hilarious NPC dancing I’ve ever seen in a video game. Please go onto YouTube right away and look up gameplay from the Vortex (?) party to see for yourself - I promise you won’t regret it. Video games - especially 7th-gen and earlier almost never get NPCs dancing at a party to look natural or convincing (big props to devs of Hitman 3 for absolutely nailing this though). The dancing in life is strange is something else though - it has to be seen to be believed.

Those are pretty much all the nice things I have to say. I probably would have liked this game had I played it when I was a precocious 13 year old back in 2009, who felt very cool for listening to Beach House and Animal Collective and who desperately wished the Max Caulfield of his school would walk up to him on the bus and ask if he wanted to share earbuds to listen to the Juno soundtrack. Unfortunately for me I played this game as a somewhat cynical 20-something , and the adolescent indie vibes only served to make me realize that the mindset that would have allowed me to be won over by them had been inevitably left in the past.

So I suppose I can understand people liking the vibes in spite of the writing. I like plenty of things that are quaint and twee but not this. For me, the writing is bad enough and disruptive enough to prevent me from genuinely enjoying anything in spite of it, and the vibes simply aren’t appealing to me at this point in my life. The vibes would definitely be more appealing if characters spoke like actual teenagers.

I’d still very much appreciate hearing from someone who loves this game. People’s enjoyment of it has been frankly puzzling to me for years, and I’d like to have this cleared up.

People know I really like video games so sometimes they will know that I really like this game and then ask me,
"Hey Margot should I play life is strange?"
and then I have to be like actually no. You prob shouldn't. Lol
Because although I think everyone should play life is strange it would be hard for someone I know to play it and then inevitably have them report back to me that it was kinda shit. I would have to explain why I like a game so much that's riddled with so much flaws and give an unsatisfactory explanation to why I treasure it so much. Is the story very good? well kinda? Is it unique? well not really, its super predictable. Are the characters interesting? Not particularly! Ok!! is the game design good, how are the controls?? nope!

I think I like life is strange so much because even though the plot twist is bland, Chloe is kinda hard to wanna save, pacing sucks ect. it screams heart and sincerity. What made me fall in love with life is strange was how max acted just like me. How much I wanted warren to be real and my crush on him. The dialogue, the setting, the style of the game all feels so warm and homey, but It feels like that to me because all the redeeming, aesthetic elements of the game are just things I really enjoy. Even the themes that it objectively shouldn't be able to succeed in showing because of its flaws are so successful for me, just because the game as a whole feels like a portal into my mind. I cried and always cry when I play it- despite not really caring about the end choice you are forced to make. I will replay it endlessly just to feel overwhelming comfort when To all of you rolls in. I will play it just to hear max make stupid comments about things and for warren to be cringe.

liking a game that's amazing makes sense, and I like a lot of those games. It says more to like a game that kinda is bad just because it resonates with you on such a personal illogical way.

ready for the mosh pit, Shaka bra.

borrowed a copy of the original game to play with FPS boost on my Series X since the remaster seems to be a mixed bag (will probs just go with that in my next replay in a few years or w/e).

for the first four episodes i was enjoying the game at large the most i have since the very first time i played through. making some choices that i didn't usually make (or a few that i never had) freshened things up a lot and it was interesting to see things for the first time even in my fourth run.

the elephant in the room is of course episode 5 but i've softened on that a bit? at this point i've moved past my severe distaste for the ending and things leading up to it (the fact that they so clearly focused on one of the endings is still wack) but am left with an episode that feels completely on rails with an even lower amount of interaction or input than the rest. every LiS game has a blatant low point episode at this point but it really does a lot of damage in this one (and 2) in particular because they were so consistent otherwise.

will probably skip Before the Storm (and opt to listen to the soundtrack by itself instead) and move directly onto 2 for my ongoing series replay. if i feel up to play True Colors this soon after my first run i might do an opposite choices replay.

Life is Strange is unique. With its gameplay based on choices and consequences, the game put me in control of the story, allowing my decisions to shape the characters' fates and the unfolding of the plot. The complex and well-developed characters sparked empathy and emotional connection, making the journey even more engaging. Additionally, the distinctive and atmospheric visual art added a visually stunning element to the game, creating remarkable immersion. Life is Strange is an unforgettable experience that highlights the importance of choices and the power of art in video games.

What a profoundly weird project. Emotionally, I was engaged, and felt like I had a good time. But when I open my mouth to talk about this game, all that comes out are questions and complaints. That level of dissonant disappointment doesn’t materialize without love, but like the characters in the game itself, I’m in love with ideas of what could have been instead of reality.

For the first chapter of the game, I was ready to have a real good time. I loved the character designs, how much thought had gone into their living spaces, the books on their shelves and the media they name-dropped. I immediately grasped the dynamic at play between lead time-traveler Max and estranged childhood friend Chloe. Max latched onto Chloe as the most interesting person she knew, and Chloe’s interestingness stemmed from a selfishness mistaken by others as loving life. It was a fine starting point against a setting with enough moving parts to spark my curiosity.

But as the game got going and the plot picked up, I realized gaps between the characters’ aesthetics and how they made their decisions as narrative agents. For example, Chloe and Rachel’s bisexuality went unremarked upon by the entire cast. Not that I demand homophobia for realism, but that this element of their lives caused zero friction was noticeable. That an art school known for its art program would still adhere to the “sports jocks and cheerleaders rule the roost” social structure seemed odd the more I thought about it. Max was there on a merit scholarship for the subject and teacher that put the school on the map - why wasn’t she a rockstar?

I bring this up because while I adored the form of Life is Strange, I continually felt disconnected from its emotional core. For how nit-picky I usually am about supernatural mechanics, I enjoyed the non-existent rules that governed Max’s time travel powers. I could feel the thematic intentionality for the different scenarios the developers dreamt up for when she explored other timelines, when her powers failed her, or the limits of what she could rewind or accomplish. But at the center of all of it, the game really, really wanted me to care about Chloe, and…

I really did not like Chloe.

As a player, we spend so much time with Chloe, to the detriment of the rest of the cast. Her screen time so far eclipses characters like Victoria or Kate that they hardly feel real. With Chloe, we go on dates to the junkyard, the school pool, get in harrowing life-or-death situations with gun violence and drug dealers. We learn about her backstory in extended sequences. For all of Max’s passivity, Chloe is the main driver of the plot, jockeying for main character status.

But through the lens of Max and her well-being, Chloe is a self-absorbed and destructive force in Max’s life. Chloe will say how great it is to spend time with Max, but Chloe makes no effort to learn what kind of person Max is in the present. Instead, she claims they have a special bond by bringing up events so far in the past they can not possibly still be relevant to 18 year old girls. Wrapped in scenarios that are obvious recreations of the relationship she had with recently missing pseudo-girlfriend Rachel.

The more I learned about Chloe, the more I made choices that were antagonistic towards her, and in so doing discovered the game’s lack of depth. Because to try to maintain healthy boundaries with Chloe meant to be less liked by the one character that Max had to spend time with. No combination of answers would ever lead me to hanging out with Warren, or Kate, or Victoria. Characters who had dynamics that I found much more interesting for Max to grapple with than Chloe and her misplaced, unfocused pining.

Perhaps my greatest compliment is concealed within my main compliment, that the mechanics of the game and the setting were enough for me to imagine more possibilities than what Life is Strange would actually end up being.

At the same time, it is hard for me to determine what Life is Strange was meant to be. A cautionary tale about learning to deal with the consequences of a life that can’t be changed? Or a character study of terribly flawed people in a problematic relationship that realistically were never going to find better?

Having seen both endings, I could tell that thematically the game strongly preferred one over the other. One had a needle-drop multi-minute cutscene, and the other had nothing. More important than their individual outcomes, I was bothered by their juxtaposition. Spoilers for the ending of the game, I guess.

Max faces an ethical dilemma. If she uses her time travel powers at all, then a tornado will destroy Arcadia Bay. If she does not use her time travel powers, then Chloe will get shot in the original timeline. So, at the end of the game, you must choose whether to return to the beginning and let events play out as they always would have, or save Chloe and subject the town to disaster.

My problem is this. If Max was, at that moment in time, capable of making either decision, then I should have been able to end the game much earlier. Because the possibility of saving Chloe means that Max is willing to sacrifice the town for her desires. But why is the only desire she is allowed to make that sacrifice for, Chloe?

Earlier, Max goes down a timeline where she solves the murders, is regarded as a hero, wins fame and recognition, and flies to LA while the tornado still comes and ravages her town. To me, this was the obvious best timeline. Max hates Arcadia Bay. Her parents would not be affected by this disaster. She has no friends there. She hadn’t spoken to Chloe for three years, back when they were different people. She has spent, at most, a week and a half of time with present Chloe, who has only been a bad influence on her. And if Max cared that much, why couldn’t she get plane tickets for Chloe or Warren to get out or hunker down before the storm hit?

I guess it's consistent with Max’s characterization as basic, stupid, indecisive, impulsive, and lacking in ambition. Getting superpowers doesn’t automatically make her smart enough to use them efficiently, and while I can respect that character writing, I still struggled to fully connect with the gravity of the final decision.

3 stars, B-rank, worth checking out for its runtime. At least one of the stars of this score is for making me think about Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within and having the audacity to make the main character say it was one of the best sci-fi films of all time. What a great way to characterize Max as a completely un-relatable weirdo, I heartily lol’d irl.