Life is Strange is an immersive, story-driven, game about the choices we make. In some sense it might be more about the choices we didn't make. As time travel rears its ugly head into this world that fact becomes more apparent. An ability that although used with good intentions can potentially have dire consequences. This is a five part episodic game blurs the line between game and movies quite well with all its cut-scenes and narrative sequences. Its easy to jump right into this world and just get lost in the flow of events.
You play as Max, a photography student at Blackwell academy. After watching someone get shot Max quickly realizes she has the ability to rewind time. Max uses this new ability to save the girl's life and quickly realizes it is her old friend Chloe, whom she hasn't seen in five years. Chloe is very different from the girl Max knew as a kid, shes been having an especially hard time since her friend Rachael Amber disappeared from Arcadia Bay. Her and Chloe decide to investigate what happened to Rachael Amber by connecting her disappearance with other events happening around Blackwell. They also have another problem to worry about as Max is having premonitions of Arcadia Bay being wiped out by a huge storm. Its hard to tell if its just a dream or not but a series strange weather events and dying animals feels like a bad omen.
This is a story based game all about player choice. The choices you make will have different effects throughout the game. With the ability to go back in time Max will often question her decisions and at times you may be tempted to go back and undo your choices. I feel like player choice in this game is more about getting you immersed than it is about influencing the events that unfold throughout this fairly linear narrative. It really makes you feel connected to Max as you go with her through various struggles and challenging dilemmas. It often feels like a movie or mini-series cleverly disguised as a game.
The characters are the highlight of this narrative-driven game. Between the superb writing and wonderful voice acting all the citizens of Arcadia Bay feel very believable. Chloe is at wits end with her step father, who just happens to be Blackwell's head of security. Drama surrounds Victoria, the super popular mean girl, who despite her attitude seems to have more going on beneath the surface. Kate, a very kindhearted and devotedly religious girl, is feeling quite down after she becomes Victoria's latest victim. Warren, Max's closest friend at Blackwell, is great help with Max's science homework and seems to have developed quite strong feelings for her. This is just a taste of the many characters in this game, all of whom can't even really be summed up in just a sentence or two.
Playing through this game is quite a thrilling experience. Your power to travel through time is exhilarating but the more you use it the more questionable it becomes. You actually feel fairly powerless as things seem to get progressively worse as you dig deeper into the games mysteries. It is quite exciting however trying to put the puzzle pieces together. You'll want to keep coming back till to see where everything fits in to the picture. I had some mixed feelings in the last episode but with everything weighing on it and seeing how highly built up it was, this was basically unavoidable. It took awhile for me to process everything that happened in this game but I really did enjoy my time with it and would recommend to any who is looking for an immersive and interactive story.