STACK #135 Jan 2016

GAMES FEATURE

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Neil Peart, author and member of the band Rush, once said, “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice”.This is fundamentally the basis of Dontnod’s Life Is Strange . Guilt-ridden and plagued with the consequences of your choices, it’s a title that puts a lot of power in the hands of players who ultimately wind up feeling as though they don’t deserve it.

you to alter these decisions once you’ve made them, is essentially what makes it such an impactful and compelling game. The reality and the relatability of Dontnod’s game is what draws you in so utterly and completely. When compared with the studio’s first title, Remember Me , Life Is Strange is a

E pisodic games nowadays are something of a novelty. Spearheaded by Telltale Games, the method of drip feeding gamers content sends web forums into meltdown with discussions as to what will happen next and concerns over the impact of decisions made. Usually, they’re predictable and proceed chronologically. But what happens when you introduce the ability to reverse time? That’s where Life Is Strange comes in. Max Caulfield is a teenager quite literally isolated from reality following her five-year absence from her hometown of Arcadia Bay, Oregon. Following exceptional events at her school, Blackwell Academy, she discovers she has the power to turn back time. What follows is an emotional journey of self-discovery and doubt. Episode One starts out as your atypical teenage high school drama, where Max is taunted by others in her classes and is struggling to fit in. Where Episode Five

GAMES

Life Is Strange is a groundbreaking and genre-defining title

As Max, you are faced with choices that will leave you seething for weeks – and even months – on end, wondering just which path you took that led you astray. There is never really a moral compass that points due North;

groundbreaking and genre-defining title that sets it apart – and offers a welcome break – from the FPS and RPG games that have become so prominent in the marketplace.

your decisions will have implications, and it is up to you to come to terms with that. Dontnod have done a brilliant job with the story. The important, hinging (and morally ambiguous) story choices you must make are so obscure that they have almost a 50/50 split in regards to which path players chose. Put it this way: if LIS was a movie with set plot developments, 50 per cent of its viewership would be disappointed with the way it played out. The artistic choices of the studio are reflective of the alternative nature of the game. Almost comic-like, the design is real enough to create a complete sense of immersion.

• Life is Strange is out Jan 22

finishes, however, is on a whole other emotional wavelength that’ll leave you questioning whether you should’ve watered your plant way back in the beginning. Starting out with decisions like “taking a selfie” or responding with sass, the game quickly snowballs into a guilt-ridden descent of forcing you to decide how to talk down a friend close to jumping from a rooftop, whether to dob in a classmate found carrying a gun, or even deciding the fate of your best friend’s father. Life Is Strange ’s choices, combined with its ability to allow

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