LogFAQs > #932385823

<b>#9: Life is Strange: Season 1
Released on 1/30/2015
Steam</b>
(written in 2017)

I've begun calling these types of games guilt-simulators. This -- specifically, this first season -- is the best of them.

LiS takes a few minutes to get into, but once Max puts her earbuds in at school it earned my trust until the very end. I didn't play this until every episode was out, but even at the end of each episode I was anxious to play the next one. That final episode seems divisive, but I was all about it and I loved the snowglobe-moment toward the very end.

For the record: Max > Chloe, and I <spoiler>chose to save Arcadia Bay but couldn't save Kate.</spoiler>

This is a weird game though. It makes sitting down feel new and exciting. It rewards you for watering your plant and punishes you for over-watering it. You build a bomb inside a school and are offered the chance to steal money from handicapped kids. You make can-puns, and you might see a parent slap their child. The result is super -- there's a lot going on here and it sure ain't flawless, but it's larger than the sum of its parts.

I also played the prequel Life is Strange: Before the Storm, but I think I stand out from other LiS-fans here in that I dont consider them close in quality. What LiS:BtS, LiS2s first episode, and everything from Telltale Games (RIP) all miss about the brilliance of LiS1 is its rewinding mechanic.

Rewinding time is a total game-changer...and I know it must seem hard to have a convincing way to bring back that gimmick of rewinding time, but I say find a way because right now while LiS2s first episode is cool I really dont see a need to keep playing the series without the ability to better see what each choice immediately leads to before moving forward. I'm just not that attached to these games without it -- having that mechanic in most of the game makes the whole game better, especially in the rare moments when you can no longer actually rewind.

Also, stop rushing me on choices in the name of realism. That talkback-feature for Chloe in LiS:BtS was really just scan your choices quickly for related words before you understand what you're saying, and that ain't fun either. LiS1 allowed you to take your time on urgent situations and was uniquely brilliant for it.

NOW IN 2020: I need to get back on Season 2 after its first episode...computer went kaput and I set it down awhile. Without the rewind mechanic, I'm probably done with the series when I finish it...but we'll see. They're fun and I did like LiS2:E1, but I don't necessarily need the genre like that. Rewind is everything.

---

O P E R A T I O N O U S T : Nominate SHEIK!
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/ssb/images/0/0d/Sheik-Victory3-SSB4.png