Life is Strange - Season One
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Life is Strange - Season One
Beautiful, touching and messy. Life Is Strange is good—not great—but I'd recommend it to anyone.
Dontnod Entertainment's first effort at cracking the choice-driven episodic format in a video game almost results in a near-perfect experience, which is shocking when you consider how well they've grasped the concept, created a solid structure for each episode, distributed a variety of subplots across five episodes and executed the series at the same — or even higher — level that a veteran developer like Telltale Games has done for many, many years.
Though the later episodes of Life is Strange lacked some of the strength and poignancy of its earlier chapters, its set-up and world grabbed me immediately, which Dontnod deserves immense credit for creating an experience out of elements that, taken on their own terms, seemed like they never would have worked. You can boil down Life is Strange to a time-traveling decision-making teen girl simulator at its basic level, but it also happens to be one of the most compelling stories of the year with great characters and style, even if its story comes at odds sometimes with its gameplay and core ideas. Even though at this point now I know how Maxine and Chloe's story ends with the conclusion of Life is Strange, I'll happily rewind back to the beginning for another chance at seeing their story again for the first time.
Despite its obvious flaws the reactive story and compelling characters make this one of the best storytelling experiences of the current generation.
Life is Strange got off to a so-so start, but strong storytelling and impressive choice and consequence mechanics boost its first season. Soon the world really gets its hooks in, and you'll enjoy it despite yourself.
That having been said, if you are a fan of point-and-click adventures (or those Fighting Fantasy books from yesteryear) and a sucker for an intriguing, atmospheric yarn you'll be right at home here. In fact, it may be just the sort of entertainment you're looking for if you're between TV shows.
It's the mix of the mundane and the mercurial that makes Life Is Strange worth living.
A beautiful, heartbreaking, and surprisingly dark Telltale-esque adventure that betters pretty much every Telltale-esque adventure that's come before it and has enough twists to make it unique. Life is Strange has a few flaws, but that shouldn't dissuade you from hopping on this emotional rollercoaster. And it's okay: you're allowed to cry.
Industry Coverage
Everything Announced at X019: New IP from Rare and Obsidian, xCloud Expansion, and Much More
At X019 from London, Microsoft unveiled new games from first-party studios, showed off more Game Pass and xCloud expansions, and announced Black Friday deals.
Read more
Life is Strange 2 officially unveiled
Life is Strange 2's teaser trailer hints at some dark new stories...
Twin Mirror is the next game from Vampy devs DONTNOD
