In 2015, Dontnod Entertainment released a breath-taking story for the video game world. A choice based narrative game with a few special gameplay elements not seen before in a story-based game. And that game was "Life is Strange" (2015).
The original "Life Is Strange" followed the adventures of eighteen-year-old Max Caulfield. She has recently moved back to her hometown of Arcadia Bay, Oregon to attend the prestigious Blackwell Academy. While there she rediscovers her old best friend Chloe Price who is shot in the girls' bathroom. Horrified from this event she discovers the ability to rewind. Max saves Chloe and the two go on an epic adventure of reconnecting as well as uncovering the dark secrets of Arcadia Bay.
This game series is my guilty pleasure if I am going, to be honest. This is the type of game I do not want anyone critiquing my appreciation for. When the prequel mini-series was released in fall of 2017 titled: "Life is Strange: Before the Storm" I was going through a rough patch and that game helped me through it. Max and Chloe are the series staple characters so when Dontnod announced they were continuing the Life is Strange Universe without them, I was hesitant. I knew at the end of the day I was going to buy the game, but I wasn't sure if I was going to buy it day one or not. But something won me over with all the promotional material for the game, including the twenty-minute gameplay demo (more on that in a bit).
Eventually, the day came, and I waited for all of my mod mates in my dorm to go to bed to play this game on the common area tv. Now while I will not be revealing everything in this introductory review (There are five episodes scheduled for release), future articles will be spoiler filled. Considered this a spoiler-free pass.
Now, the episode begins in true Life is Strange fashion with an ear-pleasing indie pop musical track. It is fall, a few days before Halloween. Our protagonist Sean Diaz exits the school bus with his friend Lyla and immediately I love their relationship. The writers did a great job selling that these two have been good friends for a long time. Just by reading the optional text messages exchanged between the two, my feelings towards them grew more and more positive.
Sean then returns home to meet up with his father Esteban and his younger brother Daniel. Unlike the last game, there seems to be a healthy family dynamic between the trio. Sean is at that classic teenage stage of not being annoyed by his parents and annoyed by his brother. After walking around for twenty to thirty minutes around the house looking for details, I decided to conversate with my relatives. Like mentioned earlier, this is a story-based game meaning that I, the player, can decide how the character can react to certain interactions. I am playing Sean so far as the responsible individual who cares about people but not all the time.
Okay, so you're probably wondering where's the twist. Well as shown in the20 minute press video, an altercation occurs outside with Daniel and Brett, the neighborhood bully. Daniel accidentally sprayed fake blood on Brett. And Brett actually gets pretty aggressive towards Daniel, a nine-year-old boy no less! One of the major choices is standing up for Daniel or questioning him. I chose to protect him which resulted in my fighting Brett (I don't think there's any way to get out of that). Brett trips and lands on a rock, a cracking noise is heard. Suddenly a police car pulls up. This looks bad if you cannot tell. A young Mexican boy just shoved a Caucasian individual to the ground, potentially shattering his spine who is also covered in "blood". The cop pulls up, and unholsters his gun and aims it at Sean and Daniel. When I saw this for the first time, I was immediately sold on the new season. It defiantly escalated extremely quickly. Suddenly Esteban comes running out to protect his kids. And what happens next, I don't want to spoil. Let's just say the Diaz boys are in trouble.
So, I finished the first episode around 4:00 am Friday morning and I can defiantly say this new adventure has peaked my interest. Max and Chloe will always hold a special place in my heart, so it is still an adjustment with Sean and Daniel. However, the core elements of what made Life is Strange so successful are still present. There is still an excellent narrative being produced by Dontnod. A lot of complaints recently about the new season is talking about how the game is too political. The game is not trying to polities anything. For one, Dontnod is a French-based company and does extensive research on the environment they set their game in. And I feel that to the rest of the world, this is what America looks like and to be honest, it's the truth. And sometimes the truth hurts. I defiantly recommend playing the game, even if you haven't played the first "Life is Strange" (2015) or its spin-off "Before the Storm" (2017). I cannot wait to dive right back in and see where Sean and Daniel's path leads.
