Life is Strange

Life Is Strange (LiS) is a 3rd person point and click adventure game that engages its audience with a strong narrative and interesting as well as relatable characters. The game, developed by DONTNOD Entertainment ­ a Paris based development studio, is divided into five episodes, each one offering anywhere from 2­3 hours of gameplay depending on how in depth you explore their interactivity rich environments.

Gameplay

The gameplay of LiS isn’t exactly something new, but rather a refreshing twist on game mechanics we've seen popularized by developers Telltale. Players use the mouse to select how they interact with the purposefully placed props and set pieces. How players interact with these objects and the people around them reveals more and more backstory and information on the world around them, the characters they are involved with, as well as the plot that unfolds across all five episodes.

Then there is your “rewind" powers. The main character, Max Caulfield, can rewind time. This is a review mechanic of the game and it's used to solve minor puzzles as well as experience a variety of dialogue options. As the game reaches the finale these rewind powers shift reality and askew the future in very big way with usually unseen consequences. The gameplay is unique enough initially, but as the game goes on and you come to the end the games puzzles and dialogue options become formulaic and therefore predictable.

Narrative

LiS starts its narrative by introducing tons of questions to the player thus roping them in with curiosity. As the game goes on you become more attached to the characters and the dynamic duo that is Chloe and Max. Unfortunately the games narrative fails to deliver answers on some of their larger, plot affecting, questions. This left me with a slight aftertaste of dissatisfaction.

Fortunately, working in its favor, LiS has an unflinching charm and successfully pulls emotions out of the player. When the characters are sad, you are sad. When the characters are angry, you are angry. This makes for some genuinely great storytelling and makes it easy to become attached to the characters and invested in their fates.

Conclusions

Life Is Strange as a whole is an enjoyable experience that, when it's all said and done, delivers on some solid narrative despite its less than exceptional climax.

Final Score : 80/100