It would be cool if you could turn back time, but you can't. What is done, is done, for better or worse, so cherish what you have — you may not have it tomorrow. That is what Life Is Strange — a game whose protagonist has seemingly absolute power over time — is really about. You play as Max, a high school student who discovers, under very dramatic circumstances, that she has the ability to rewind time, and tries to use her power for good, but finds out that every choice has a price. You see the school's head of security bully a fellow student and decide not to interfere, but to take a picture instead. You now have evidence you can use against the overbearing official, but your friend was already feeling alone and defenseless, and you have only reinforced that belief... Even with time itself at your beck and call, you cannot eat your cake and have it. Max's rewinds only go so far, so all meaningful decisions are final — but it is fun to experiment. You can talk to someone to find out what matters to them, then go back and use that to win them over, or you can be completely horrible to them with no consequences. The major events of the game stay more or less the same, but the number of ways you can get there is staggering, and it would take several playthroughs to see them all. The amount of work that went into those little variations deserves unconditional praise.
The game's visuals are stylized rather than realistic – it looks more like a painting than a photograph, but the overall effect is quite pleasing, even though some of the textures are crude. Its rich colors produce beautiful scenes that, combined with the excellent soundtrack, evoke a sense of nostalgia and longing for the days of one's youth, when everything was purer and simpler. It is rare for a game to touch your soul like this, and this artistic achievement is what makes Life Is Strange one of the highlights of my gaming year. The only thing that I dislike about the look of the game is the horrible lip-syncing.
Ultimately, however, it is the story that makes or breaks a game like this. So which is it in this case? Well, the episodic format of the game makes both possible. The story draws you in from the start. You are presented with five mysteries that you are going to have to unravel: that of your powers, that of the coming tornado (and what to do about it), that of Rachel Amber's disappearance, that of Dave's activities (and whether he is a bad guy), and that of whatever the Prescotts (the family that runs the town) are up to. It is a promising setup, to be sure, and those are just the major mysteries; there are also minor ones that are teased throughout the game. The plot keeps thickening as you progress through the game, and the stakes are raised considerably; at one point, a friend of yours dies (or almost dies, depending on your actions), and you uncover truly sordid activities. However, the horror and filth you encounter are offset by the friendship and truly touching moments you share with other characters. It is a perfect balance that the game manages to maintain... until the final episode. I am not going to spoil anything, just state my opinion, and that is that the mysteries listed above are resolved in the most hollow and unsatisfactory fashion, and the ending (the one I chose, anyway) lacks the emotional impact I expected; in fact, it blatantly glosses over the hard choice you made. Without going so far as to call the final episode bad, I can say categorically that it is inferior to the four that came before it. Undoubtedly, the fact that I had to wait months for the ending added to the disappointment when my (matured) expectations were not met, but it is still weak. At least, that is my opinion, which by no means should deter you from playing the game. Your opinion may be different, and, even if it is not, you will have had a beautiful journey. Poor ending or not, Life Is Strange is definitely a game with a soul.