Strange is Good
Ever since Telltale’s The Walking Dead, adventure games have undergone another renaissance.
Life is Strange from Dontnod Entertainment (the same studio behind the ironically forgotten Remember Me) takes Telltale’s successful episodic storytelling format and puts its own unique spin on the formula: the stakes placed on “player choice” are lessened by a time travel mechanic that lets you undo your immediate decisions.
Since this is only the first episode out of a planned 5, the impression Life is Strange, Episode 1 gives has to be a darn good one to sustain enough interest to eagerly await the next episode. While I didn’t find the game to tell the most compelling story, it’s certainly strange enough to leave a lasting impression that may have me putting money towards Episode 2 ‘s in order to continue the journey in March.
The Story
The strange life that you experience in Life is Strange is that of 18-year-old Max Caulfield, who’s living her dream of studying photography at the prestigious Blackwell Academy in her hometown of Arcadia Bay, Oregon. Unfortunately, her high school experience is not unlike a normal teenager’s.
She has to deal with Victoria, the dominant “mean girl” and representative of the “Vortex Club,” the elite popular-kid group that rules the school. There’s Kate, Max’s friend who is being harassed over a certain shameful video that has circulated amongst the Blackwell populace. We can’t forget about Warren, a boy who pays a little too much attention to Max, but maybe he’s just a nice guy. Of course, besides of all her new classmates, it’s been 5 years since Max last stepped in Arcadia Bay, and what she really wants is to connect with her childhood friend Chloe, but the awkward 5-year silence between the two has instilled some hesitation in Max’s psyche.
Yes, Max’s life is that of an ordinary high school senior, saturated with bullies, cliques, relationship drama, overbearing parents, drugs, sex, and time travel.
Oh, right, time travel. That’s the “strange” part of Life is Strange. After a scolding from her photography teacher for not paying attention in class, Max starts to crumble under the stress of an impending homework assignment that could make or break her photography career. She seeks asylum in the girl’s bathroom. She just wanted to cool her head, maybe splash a little water on her face to wake herself up from her own personal nightmare. Unfortunately, one nightmare transitions into another as Max witnesses Blackwell’s most prestigious student, Nathan Prescott, shoots a girl to death in the restroom. Reaching her hand out as if to stop the murder, time begins to ripple around her, and she’s suddenly back in class, being lectured on daguerreotypes and their relation to the “selfies” of modern photography culture. It’s a lesson she’s all too familiar with, as she heard the exact same speech only minutes before. As it turns out, that horrific scene in the bathroom has given Max the ability to travel back in time. Of course, she uses this new power for good: to give the correct answer on the pop quiz given to her earlier in the day. Oh, and save that girl from being murdered in the bathroom.
Like any good time travel fiction, there are consequences to one’s tampering with the fabric of time: a so-called “butterfly effect.” Heck, there’s a literal butterfly flapping around in the bathroom that triggers Max’s special power. As this is only the first episode of the series, these consequences remain to be seen, but with Max’s visions of a terrible tornado of destruction looming towards Arcadia Bay, the situation is sure to become most dire.
Additionally, just like any weird story-based video game, the story of Life is Strange is heavily inspired by the television show Twin Peaks. You see, there’s one thing that Max’s time travel ability has yet to solve, and that’s the recent disappearance of student Rachel Amber, who vanished prior to Max’s attendance at Blackwell. Rachel was a very popular girl, who seemed to have ties to everyone at school: some hated her and many loved her. Rumor has it that some of the staff might’ve loved her more than they should have. Oh, yes, there’s something dark and sinister happening at Blackwell Academy, and it looks like it’s up to Max and her newfound powers to uncover whatever dirty secrets Blackwell and Arcadia Bay are hiding.
The Gameplay
The focus of Life is Strange is the storytelling elements, so there’s a lot of watching, listening, and reading to expand the narrative. Much like other games of its genre, most of the gameplay consists of the choices you make within the story. Do you tell the principal about Nathan’s little firearm festival in the bathroom, or do you keep it a secret in fear of retribution from Nathan and his Vortex Club lackeys? Do you choose to stand up to Kate when she faces harassment from the power-tripping security guard, or do you stand by idly and wait the conflict out to get more information on the situation? These types of choices are pretty standard fare for the adventure genre these days.
However, the unique feature that Life is Strange brings to the table is the ability to rewind time and undo your actions to watch the story unfold in a different manner. Did you tell the principal about Nathan and find the results unsatisfactory? Rewind time and try again. What this rewind mechanic does is essentially plays into the player’s temptation to reset the game for a different outcome. The developer knows that many people will purposefully make a choice then restart the game to see the opposite choice play out. This simplifies the process, and since it’s built into the gameplay, it doesn’t even feel like cheating! And for those worried that this may lessen the weight of your actions, note that you can only undo your actions up to a certain point. Once you advance to the next area in the game, your actions are solidified to define the course of the game as it goes on. Also, no matter what choice you pick, Max will find regret with her decision, leaving you to think that there truly is no “correct” way to go about things.
The other half of the gameplay involves some simple time manipulation puzzles that only occur a few times throughout the game. For instance, Max reaches for a key that is out of her reach, only for it to fall behind a desk, making the key unreachable. Rewind time and place a sheet of newspaper under the desk so that when the key falls, it lands on the newspaper, and you can pull it out to retrieve it. The puzzles aren’t very hard. They mainly consist of interacting with certain objects in a certain order, and at times I overestimated the complexity of the puzzles. They’re a chore to go through upon subsequent playthroughs, but they can be rewarding your first time through.
The situations in which you find yourself are pretty unique, and how you choose to use your powers affects the story in many cases. Max retains any knowledge that she gains prior to rewinding time, meaning you can learn new information, rewind time, and use that new information to your advantage, like, for say, interrogating people. For example, when visiting Dana, the cheerleader, you can find a pregnancy test on the floor. Upon picking it up, Dana scolds Max and rips it away, refusing to speak further on the subject. With knowledge of the pregnancy tests existence, Max can rewind time to before Dana freaks out and “naturally” confront Dana about her pregnancy through dialogue without rummaging through her stuff.
The Presentation
Probably the most important presentation of a game like this is the writing. Unfortunately, it’s pretty hit or miss. Being a game about modern high schoolers, the dialogue tries to write a game with hip teenage vernacular, and its authenticity is suspect. I honestly have no idea if kids these days actually talk like this, but Life is Strange insists on a style of dialogue that one could easily describe as “cringeworthy.”
This means you’ll hear kids using phrases like, “Awesome sauce” and “Sad face,” but, hey, this sort of writing is kind of fitting for the story the game is trying to tell. The game reminds me a lot of the movie Juno, which I often referred to as “hipster bait.” You’ll find a large part of the story in Life is Strange surrounding contemporary youth activities, like zombification through social media and the reduction of self-expression to “selfies.”
The writing isn’t for everyone, but it still succeeds in creating a somewhat compelling mystery, with the enigma of Rachel Amber and her relationship to everyone else. Even if the writing isn’t super strong, the characters are pretty memorable, and I am really curious to see the secrets that everyone is clearly hiding.
Now the graphics, on the other hand, are stunning. Life is Strange has this very distinct look. It screams “indie film,” with very soft, cartoony visuals punctuated with excellent use of depth-of-field and picturesque lighting. It’s a shame that such a beautiful game doesn’t have a photography mechanic, even when photography is a major element of the story!
The interface of highlighting interactable objects with sketchbook outlines ties directly to the style of Max’s in-game notebook (which also serves as a journal that summarizes the events of the game). Coupled with Max’s constant introspective narrative to go with her exploration of the environment and characters, it really captures the idea of viewing the world through this teenager’s eyes.
Of course, this is a small downloadable game, so there are flaws, even in its lovely visuals. While the character models look great in their own stylized way, when they attempt to emote, it all falls apart. There is little-to-no lip sync in the game, meaning characters’ mouths will drone on in a predictable pattern with no attempt to match the rhythm or syncopation of the dialogue. There’s very little facial expression at all, so despite the awesome visuals, you’re not getting anything Pixar-esque in the animation department.
Otherwise, the game is so good-looking, that you forget it’s running on last generation technology! That is, until a scene changes, and textures start to pop in slowly, and you realize that it is indeed a game running on the Unreal Engine 3. I encountered a few graphical glitches, including disappearing character models during cutscenes. It seemed like a very rare glitch but still worth noting.
As for how the game sounds, even the licensed soundtrack is totally an “indie movie” soundtrack. While I wasn’t necessarily a fan of the music, the way it’s used is incredibly effective at creating a specific identity for the game. The opening credits sequence is an excellent example of how the game sets that tone: Max drowns out the high school gossip around her by donning her earphones, replacing all environmental noise with Syd Matters’s “To All of You.” The game then has you take control to traipse through a muted hallway with only the music and Max’s interior monologue describing her fellow students in the ears of the player. It’s like the intro sequence to some slice-of-life indie film, yet you are still totally in control of Max’s actions. It’s a very cool sequence, even if the song isn’t to your taste!
Much like the writing of the dialogue, the voicing of it is also a mix of quality. The voice acting of Life is Strange will not be remembered as the greatest performance is electronic media, but what’s there is serviceable enough. It’s hard to tell when so many games are over-the-top in their presentation compared to Life is Strange’s more down-to-earth setting.
The Conclusion
This is only the first episode of Life is Strange, so it’s difficult to judge the weight of your in-game choices in relation to the rest of the story if the rest of the story isn’t out yet! However, the game is such a unique treat, that it’s not to want to jump into the story immediately.
Luckily, even if you’re not too keen on spending 5 dollars on the first episode, there’s a trial version of the game that you can try out for free. The trial does a good job of setting up the world of the game. You’ll get to experience its wonderful visuals and a dollop of time travel mayhem. Just remember, the trial ends very abruptly in a critical moment of the story in an attempt to get you to spend your 5 bucks then and there. It actually worked on me!
Even though the writing in Life is Strange isn’t the strongest, the mystery of the game still retains my interest beyond this episode’s end credits. The more I write about this game, the more I want to stay in its world and keep exploring and learning. However, I’ll have to wait until March to see what happens next in the strange life of Max Caulfield.
I give Life is Strange, Episode 1: Chrysalis a 3 out of 5.
The Facts
Developer:
Dontnod Entertainment
Publisher:
Square Enix
Platforms (digital download only):
PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360
Genre: Adventure
ESRB Rating:
M for Mature (17+)
Price:
Episode 1 Only, $4.99
Episodes 2-5 Pack, $16.99
Episodes 1-5 Pack (Season Pass), $19.99
By Alfredo Dizon, eParisExtra