Number 73: Life is Strange
I’ve played a lot of games that are special to me in part because of the circumstances in which I played them. Life is Strange is one that my friends and I played through together over a couple of weeks, frequently comparing decisions, swapping theories, and making fun of the dialogue. That’s the perfect way to play these Choices Matter games. Each chapter gives you a breakdown of how many friends made each choice, and that makes for some good talks (”Okay, which one of you didn’t manage to save Kate?”)*
A lot of things in this game are ripe for mockery. Much of the dialogue sounds like adults writing how they think teens speak, and the result is predictably cringe-inducing. When Life is Strange tries to be a Video Game it frequently goes poorly. I don’t want to walk the environment searching for beer bottles. I don’t want to rewind time again and again trying to memorize things to impress Chloe. The game also sometimes forces you to suspend your disbelief (beyond the supernatural plot) in a way that was hard for me because, while there are time hurricanes and whatnot, the world in which it takes place is believable. Arcadia Bay feels like a real place, and people have realistic motivations and reactions to things. My wife and I had a spirited discussion about the scene where Max is in Kate’s dorm room; she went through all of Kate’s things (while Kate was in the room) because it’s a video game and that’s what you do. I did not rifle through her stuff because that isn’t something you would ever do in real life, and there should be consequences for that. Also there’s a stealth section in the game and fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck that.
And yet.
Good girl Max and her troubled friend Chloe get up to some shit involving time travel, missing persons, and butterfly effects. For all of its clumsy dialogue, the game handles some delicate topics really well. Max’s friend Kate has some compromising photos that get out on social media, taken when she went to a party and had something slipped into her drink. The way the game handled the ensuing shaming and fallout from this was smartly done, and the culmination of that storyline was one of the most memorable moments for me.
The same is true for the chapter where Max goes back in time to save Chloe’s father, and the end of chapter 4 where we learn what happened to Rachel Amber. The voice acting is so well done, and the whole package feels so authentic that those moments have stayed with me years later after the nitpicks have faded. I found myself invested in Max and Chloe’s story, worried about how things were unfolding, and afraid to begin chapter 5.
The problem, some of you will argue, is that those were ultimately all false choices. The entire story hinges on one final choice at the end of the game, regardless of what led you there. For me, the journey was special even if we all got to the same destination. So many intense scenes had me on the metaphorical edge of my seat. The ending didn’t invalidate any of that for me. I loved Battlestar Galactica, and I loved Life is Strange.
*I’m sorry Kate. I truly am.