Review

10 Feb

NOTE: Despite the game’s episodic structure I will be reviewing this game as a whole.

At first, the initial premise of an 18-year-old girl navigating high school doesn’t sound like a very promising story and to me, it doesn’t even sound like something I would ever have a look at. Traipsing around a school and dealing with issues that involve a lot of teenage angst for me is the absolute opposite of a story that I would want to be involved in. While typical teenage issues such as bullying, substance abuse, and lessons of self-discovery are typically the hallmarks of a coming-of-age story like this, they only seem to be some of the pillars that hold the story up. What makes the story of Life Is Strange vastly different is the inclusion of its main character's mysterious new ability to rewind time, the mystery of a missing girl, and an impending cataclysmic event that could destroy the main characters home town.

The character of Max Caulfield makes for an interesting protagonist. Instead of the typical parade of confident, strong and athletic characters, we are instead introduced to a shy and quiet photography student. The game’s story hit’s the ground running as Max wakes up in the middle of a storm before she wakes up back in her class. Later she is in the bathroom and hears a commotion between 2 students, presumably. This escalates until one of them ends up being shot at which point Max wakes up back in class. After some light narrating in her head and a few tests, she concludes that she can rewind time. One would think she would try and be responsible with this power but being a shy teenager in a private school with entitled bullies who at one point in the story, would drive someone towards suicide and not feel bad about it doesn’t give someone a lot of options.

The story of Max Caulfield does not revolve around action but is a story that focuses on a deep mystery and relies on the connections made throughout her journey with all the different people in the world that have been created for us and it is made all the more interesting with Max’s brand new time rewind ability. What the game does so well is that once you’ve dipped your hand in any NPC’s (Non-Player Character) story you end up wanting to spend more time trying to get to know them as they open up more and more. The vibrant school of Blackwell Academy provides a lovely backdrop to the beautiful town of Arcadia Bay, Oregon, where Max’s adventure takes place where even despite its beauty has many secrets hidden beneath its lovely exterior. Every decision that Max makes is compounded by the Butterfly Effect/Chaos Theory. For those who don’t know, Chaos Theory is the reasoning that one action can cause a massive domino effect that can cause a potentially devastating reaction. Because of this Max needs to be careful about what kind of choices she makes as they can not only affect her but the many characters she meets on her journey.

Characters like Max’s childhood best friend, Chloe Price, can provide Max with a natural lens and helps give Max a deeper insight into more of the comings and goings at Blackwell and the entire Bay. Chloe is the opposite of Max: Confident, outspoken, and street-smart and capable of helping Max see through some of the fake personalities and facades we encounter. Despite the help she can provide she does come along with her fair share of problems which in all honesty can prove to be a detriment to the game’s story at the cost of making you feel like your choices can matter. While Chloe, who is integral to the story, comes with her own narrative, other characters can prove to be overall redundant. Characters like the rich bullies Victoria Chase and Nathan Prescott come off as the typical popular kids who view themselves as better than everyone else and while there are small moments of redemption it comes far too late in the story and there is virtually no payoff to warrant the inclusion of a redemption arc but you can feel better knowing that you at least tried.

At its heart, there are 3 seemingly separate mysteries: What happened to Rachel Amber, how did Max get her time rewind powers and perhaps most importantly, Why is there a storm heading for Arcadia Bay and how can Max stop it? As all 3 mysteries seem separate, they intersect at several points in the game's story and can blend very easily. While they do come together to form an exciting and somewhat coherent chain of events, not all the questions are answered but developers Don't Nod do a good job of keeping us invested, as we explore the secrets of Arcadia Bay.

Through the course of the 3 main mysteries, you won’t find yourself short on other mysteries that can quickly take centre stage but can keep you invested in the affairs of Blackwell. The story of Kate Marsh is one such storyline that many will find themselves wanting to do as much as they can for the exhausted student. The subject of an online video that sees Kate perform questionable actions at a party and the constant parade of bullies makes Kate feel alone and isolated. You are then presented with several choices and actions that can all boil down to if you can save Kate from committing suicide or not. In the end, I found myself always doing everything I can to help Kate.

Getting to know the people of Arcadia Bay can be an interesting part of the game on its own as Kate is not the only interesting. Learning about the lives of all these different people and how current events are affecting them and learning about how some of your decisions have caused these people some problems helps to create a true sense of agency in the world. Instead of solving your mysteries, you could make the lives of the people better. Alyssa who somehow becomes a punching bag in every chapter is one of the people who you can help and bond with and Taylor is a bully only out of obligation to her friends and so you can choose to help find a path to being a better person. These are relationships that do not impact the main story so instead of a sense of how these things might impact Max and Chloe’s journey, it’s purely out of your sense of curiosity which can either be a good or a bad decision depending on the player as getting involved in these character stories can be rewarding in its way.

The game’s storytelling revolves around vital decisions that Max must make and this is presented through dialogue and action choices in the game. The big difference is that you can instead choose to rewind to see the different responses and outcomes for these decisions. It’s a really fun mechanic to be able to see different outcomes that your choices cause and it brings an even better feeling of control when you’re able to change these decisions to tailor them to how you see fit. The time rewind mechanic is a very cool innovation that Developers Don’t Nod put a lot of effort into it to make us feel like we can truly change things in the town. It’s just a shame that if you put in the work to make the storyline the best that it can be, in the end, Don’t Nod’s final choice is one that seemingly erases everything you’ve done.

In the end, the journey of Max and Chloe comes to a rather fascinating if bittersweet end as Max is forced to make one of the most selfless or selfish decisions of her life, making everything that we have done in the game so far redundant either way but we feel all the better for having been through that experience in the first place. Sometimes when you go through a story like this there is never going to be an easy resolution or an ending that can satisfy all, as is typical in most games with action heroes and as we’ve established, Max isn’t that kind of hero. Life Is Strange took us on an interesting mystery ride while keeping much of our interest peaked in many areas even if the story does lose steam closer to the end and tries to find ways to justify its existence.

The Verdict

Despite this Life Is Strange was a very enjoyable coming-of-age story with many twists and turns as well as a few occasional ups and downs and while they may drag down the story it is all the more necessary. With the help of the game’s episodic structure, it was able to stagger the game’s intriguing story while also helping to stabilize the pacing, if the game was released as a whole the pacing would be very uneven. Despite that Don’t Nod has stricken a goldmine and created a new breakout series and sets a new standard for Indie dev storytelling and many others should aspire to create a story like this. The time rewind mechanic was an excellent addition to the game’s story. Life Is Strange can balance its teenage and supernatural themes in a very interesting way and it helps that the focus can move seamlessly without it feeling too forced. Life Is Strange was one of those genuine surprises that came around and completely took me by surprise and have kept me on the watch for games made by Don’t Nod.

Main story - Life Is Strange is an emotional rollercoaster and at it’s heart is the close bond of friendship and trust between Max and Chloe. While the supernatural elements are excellent to delve into, they do not provide much in the terms for answers to what’s going on in the overall world. Nevertheless Life Is Strange is an excellent game that many Indies would do well to look towards - 8/10
Main Characters - The cast of Life Is Strange show off the best but also the worst parts of teenage life. Many characters are instantly likable but some of the main cast like Chloe don’t always make for the best people to interact with - 7/10
Side Characters - The side characters we meet in this story are a mostly delightful bunch of characters. Being able to interact with them and see how 1 decision impacts more than one of them is a fun little ride. They would be made all the more better if they could have better agency and create different narrative branches that would matter - 8/10