Life is Strange - Season One Reviews
A refreshing take in the adventure game genre, there is a lot to appreciate in DONTNOD's handling of mature themes and emotional gravitas. In its finality, the journey is well worth experiencing.
I remember finishing the game, and for the whole week, all I could think about was how amazing this game actually was. I had been through a lull-period with gaming this year, but Life is Strange, truly re-invigorated what I love about gaming in 2015. A passionate tale, about great characters, with great gameplay. It’s seriously, a must play.
From its opening moment until its final scene plays, Life is Strange is a wonderful, beautiful, captivating, touching adventure built upon the undying friendship of two girls trying to find their place in the world.
At its heart, Life is Strange was a game about making you feel something. It evoked something in so many gamers. It elicited a passion that is so often missing from modern gaming.
Life Is Strange is an impressive mixture of great writing, great voice acting, and interactive storytelling that'll pull on your heart strings like it's going out of style.
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.
While the game gives the player numerous choices to make, its biggest detriment is that it ends up pushing all of them aside for its conclusion. That having been said, the story in Life is Strange is still one that everyone should make time to experience.
The perfection of the Telltale's Adventure Game formula comes from Dontnod, a company who gives the players permission and the ability to go back and try out multiple different choice paths before deciding which choice they wish to use moving forward.
Life Is Strange is an imperfect video game and the actual mechanics of playing it, including the time rewind, can become annoying of frustrating, especially when the development team tries to borrow from another genre. But the game makes it easy to create a connection with Max and to care about her choices and trials, a rare feat, and that means any fan of narrative-driven experiences should try it out to see how he deals with the feelings of the protagonist and the impact they have on Arcadia Bay.
Life Is Strange is an ambitious story that doesn't shy away from difficult and controversial topics, and it allows the player to become attached to its vibrant characters. Due to excellent voice performances, a mysterious, sleepy little town that has plenty of intrigue and secrets, the added benefit of some exploration, and the undeniably appealing rewind feature, the game has a unique and extremely absorbing feel. The characters seem real and interesting, the individual stories tend to be remembered long after experiencing them, and the continual decision-making keeps us thinking.
Life is Strange is a great, drama-heavy adventure game with the unique twist of controlling time. The story is touching and ultimately gives you a very compelling, rich and unique experience, which is a worthwhile visit.
Life Is Strange is a masterpiece. One of the best story-driven games I have ever played, and one that gave me real emotions in an unprecedented fashion.
Life is Strange is an endearing adventure title where time folds naturally around two good friends trying to uncover a dark mystery.
I am no stranger to episodic games that rely heavily on story and setting to pull a person in. Life is Strange has a lot of similarities to titles from Telltale Games or the King's Quest chapters, but it does enough interesting things of its own to stand out as a unique and generally enjoyable experience.
Despite its obvious flaws the reactive story and compelling characters make this one of the best storytelling experiences of the current generation.
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.
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.
Beautiful, touching and messy. Life Is Strange is good—not great—but I'd recommend it to anyone.
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.