Life is Strange - My Thoughts (Warning: Spoilers)

So I am a little late to this party, but I have started playing through the first Life is Strange game. In this post, I am going to write about my thoughts and the choices that I made throughout the episode. This is the first game in this type of genre that I have played so I am interested to see where my choices are going to go. The only thing I knew about the game before going into it is that it is about two girls and one of them is really into photography. I know most people would just post a let's play on Youtube, but I'm awkward! Also warning for spoilers ahead.

Episode 1: Chrysalis - 6th January 2019

I really love how real this game feels. I mean, no body can turn back time, but climate change is happening! Jokes aside, the people in this game actually feel real and each choice effects how they react to what you say. 

So What you have been waiting for, the choices I made in Episode One:

Important Choices:

• Report Nathan
• Make fun of Victoria
• Take a Photo
• Take the Blame

Decisions:

• You let Daniel draw your portrait
• Did not sign the petition
• Warn Alyssa
• Wipe clean Kate's board
• Water Plant
• Picked up Dana's Pregnancy Test
• Mess up photos in Victoria's Room
• Did not draw graffiti
• Did not save Bird
• Left Document on the floor
• Did not read through David's Files

I found it really interesting that you can go back in time and pick a different choice if you want to, it's something I feel that makes this game unique as opposed to other games. I really enjoyed the play through of the first episode.

Since I reported Nathan and Chloe made fun of Max for doing so, I feel like the principle isn't going to do anything about it and that it is only going to anger Nathan more in a later episode. Victoria is also probably going to do something since I messed with the photos in her room and took the picture of her covered in paint. I am interested to see where the whole thing with David is going to go. I thought if I intervened in what was going on between him and Kate then sure, Kate would have been happy, but if something darker was going on behind the scenes then I'd have no evidence, hence the reason I took the photo. 

So there you go, there are the thoughts I have of the first episode, let's see what happens next and how much I mess up!

Episode 2: Out of Time - 8th January 2019

So this game took a direction that I really like! Before I go into it I'll go through the choices that I made.

Important Choices:

• Go to the Police
• Answer Phone
• Shoot
• Kate Dies (Dialogue options: 1. You matter, not just to me, 2. You're my friend, 3. There are Billions of Photos, 4. Your mom)

Decisions:

• Water Plant
• Didn't help Alyssa
• Erase Web Address
• Not friendly to Taylor
• Accept Warren's Invitation
• Don't Write
• Damage
• I do
• Don't help Warren
• Inform

A lot went down in this episode. One thing that really annoys me though is that no one seems to lock their door in the dormitories! Half the issues in this game would be resolved if people just locked their door! I felt like this episode I needed to be as nice as possible to Kate since I could sort of sense that there would be a suicide attempt coming at some point if I wasn't nice to her. To be honest, I thought she would die off screen if you didn't pick up her phone call in the diner but apparently not. I didn't expect it to be this episode, but yea. I'm also annoyed at myself that I could not save her because I made a really silly decision but oh well.

Somethings going to go down between Max and Nathan though, since he wrecked her room while she was in the shower (this is why we lock doors Max!).

I found the part going around the dump looking for bottles to be a little annoying, but the den that Chloe and Rachel had left there was really cute and I appreciated it being in the game. I also felt a little frustrated at Chloe for getting stuck on the train tracks, like don't play on the train tracks they are dangerous! But whatever.

I feel like it was right to not be able to go back during Kate's suicide scene, it kind of reinforced that in life there are no second chances and there's no going back after you make a very important decision. As awful as it sounds to, I feel like it is going to be right for the story for Kate to be dead. She was a brilliant character, and her spiraling down this path to become suicidal felt scarily real to me. It would have been lovely to save her, but I feel like her death may motivate Max more. 

Anyway, bring on episode three!

Episode 3: Chaos Theory - 10th January 2019

This episode left me unsure of what is to come in the next two episodes, mainly due to what happens at the end of this episode. I really enjoyed playing through this episode, but I am not sure that I like the ending. Before we get into it, here are the decisions I made:

Important Choices:

• Steal the Money
• Kiss Chloe
• Side with Chloe
• Throw in the Parking Lot
• Give the Gun to Chloe

Decisions:

• Didn't change grade
• Didn't remove names
• Didn't erase message
• Warn Alyssa
• Didn't speak to the homeless lady
• Take photo of Chloe and her Dad
• Didn't Draw

This episode starts off really interesting with breaking into the school to investigate. There was such a creepy atmosphere in the school at night and the presence that we were not supposed to be here. Kind of saw a repeat of the whole bottle finding thing though with the looking around school to find items, but I felt like there was much more of a purpose to doing this rather than just looking around for random things. One of the best parts about this episode in my opinion is after you've blown the lock off the door and rewound time to unlock the door to Chloe being like "damn, you beat me". Sneaking into the swimming pool was a nice little touch into the game, I feel like this really developed the relationship between Max and Chloe and their characters. 

Now, obviously the next morning, the only option was to kiss Chloe, I need my ship to sail okay! I need my gays! And I stole the money in the previous choice as I thought it may come in handy to bribe Frank into giving us some more information about what happened to Rachel Amber. Also, you have to throw the bone into the parking lot, because if you hurt the dog what type of person are you! I really enjoyed the part in the diner trying to get the keys of Frank, and where you can just walk up to him and pour the coffee over his head. It's what I've felt like doing to him since he jumped Max and Chloe in the Junkyard. (I am not a violent person I promise)

My issue with this episode is the whole going back to the past thing, where you save Chloe's Dad. I thought it might just be a flashback that you are able to play through (kind of like a similar sequence in the game Alan Wake), but was obviously proven wrong when Max convinced him to take the bus rather than his car. I do see why it was put in the game, to show what happens when time is meddled with too much, and don't get me wrong, I do find this alternate reality really interesting. The problem with it is that obviously we are going to have to go back and kill Chloe's Dad since Chloe is much worse off in this reality, meaning that a good 20 or so minuets of the game is just erased from the game.

Also, I am not sure if it is intentional for it not to be obvious about most of the minor decisions you can make, but I seem to miss a lot of them in this episode.  I do go all the way around the environments we are given in the game, but I just seem to not notice that you can interact with most of the items other than just saying stuff about them. It's not an issue, I just thought I would bring it uo that i didn't even realise you could make most of the minor decisions. Like Warren's test score, for example, I looked at the test scores and Max made a comment about Warren getting a B-, but didn't realise that you were able to change it. 

Overall, this has been my favourite episode to play so far, despite not 100% loving the ending. It is okay, but I feel like revealing that Chloe has been paralysed was just for shock factor and to have a cliffhanger ending for the next episode. To me, personally, I believe it would have been better if Max did go back to this moment and tried to change the past, but found that no matter what she did, Chloe's Dad would always get into the car and die. This way, there would be the message that no matter what you do, some things are meant to happen and are set in time. This would also mean that it wouldn't feel like a lot of game play is meaningless. As a whole, the alternate reality did not ruin this episode for me though.

Episode 4: Dark Room - 13th January 2019

Well, this episode had a real twist. I did not expect the episode to go in the direction it did when first playing it through, but thinking back to it I guess things do make sense if I would have payed attention to them. Here are the decisions I made this episode:

Important Choices:

• I don't know
• Accept
• Stop Warren
• No one got hurt
• The Dark Room

Decisions:

• Did not save bird
• Took photo and did not destroy bird's nest
• Used Crowbar
• Invite Daniel to the End of the World Party
• Didn't leave Warren a message
• Enter PUK
• Warn Alyssa

As discussed in Episode 3, I was not a huge fan of the alternate universe as I felt like everything we were to do in this universe would be erased when we went back to the other reality. It was nice to see Chloe and Max have the same friendship in this universe and harsh to see that her parents were literally spending all of their money on medical bills to keep Chloe alive. Chloe asking you to kill her was a surprise, but I feel like it did not have the impact behind it due to knowing that we would be going back to the other timeline due to the trailer. I feel like this episode was already a little on the long side, and if the whole alternate universe was cut then this episode would be the perfect length. I feel like her being able to change the past too adds a whole load of plot holes too, like if she can go back four years (or however many years she managed to travel back to) to save Chloe's dad, why couldn't Max go back one or two days to save Kate?

Other than that, again this is another great episode! Nathan was the number one suspect while playing this episode, since I didn't feel like Mr Jefferson had anything to do with this and I feel like it was debunked in the last episode that David had no involvement. However I still didn't let Warren beat up Nathan as at this point, in my mind, he was a dangerous mentally ill person, and he may come after Warren for revenge for this. 

There was the showdown with Frank (well, kind of show down), which I rewound many times because Chloe kept shooting the dog and you cannot kill the dog! I feel like this allowed much more insight into Frank though, and his relationship with Rachel. It was interesting to see that he genuinely cared for her, and didn't want her to get hurt. Frank is a really caring person who lives with his dog, even if he is a drug dealer... In all seriousness though, I think judgements were made about him too quickly and I believe I have gained a very useful ally in leaving him unharmed. 

Something I loved in this episode was going through all of the clues and deciphering where Rachel was. I do love detective stories, and loved the game L.A Noire; although the gameplay was a different style, I did enjoy looking through the clues for Nathan, Frank and David. And then the whole part with the barn and finding the dark room! That was the creepiest part of the game, although an abandoned barn is kind of typical for a murder location. It was really sad seeing Chloe and Max find Rachel's body, just a few steps away from where they used to hang out and have fun together. I felt like the episode would end here but then there was the End of the World party to go to. 

Drunk Warren is officially my favourite character of the game. I sort of loved the contrast of the moods with Warren wanting to take a selfie with Max and how this was the best night, where as Max had just found a dead body and now wanted to find the believed murderer. 

It didn't click with me that the empty Victoria folder meant that Victoria was the next target for the killer until the party. I did warn her that this person - believed to be Nathan - would be coming after her and that she needed to be careful, but she didn't believe me.

Mr Jefferson was the last person I would expect to be behind the whole thing, and the ending of the episode left me with so many questions. Does he know about Max's power? Is that why he left her alive? Why didn't he kill Max and Chloe since they both knew about the Dark Room? Having time to think about it, I guess there were signs to show that he was behind everything that I just missed because I was too focused on the other suspects in the case.

I did expect Rachel Amber to be dead, but I feel like part of me didn't want her to be dead, for Chloe's sake. This was a really good episode of Life is Strange and I am excited to see what the final episode brings to the table.

Episode 5: Polarized -  16th January 2019

Here we are, the final chapter of the game. I feel like this was very confusing, but nevertheless a great conclusion to the game. Here are the decisions I made:

Important Choices:

• Sacrifice Arcadia Bay

Decisions:

• Warn David
• Tell David the truth
• Did not help truck driver
• Help Evan
• Help Alyssa
• Help the Fisherman
• Forgive David
• Rachel is Dead
• Leave

It took me a few days to think about this episode and to actually register what I went through. I feel like this was the shortest episode - I'm not sure if this is accurate or it it just felt shorter to me. This episode was a great way to end the story I believe. I can see how you only had the choice of two endings despite the different choices you made throughout the game may be annoying to some people, and can also see how people may dislike it, but personally I like both endings.

The one I chose - as stated above - was sacrificing Arcadia Bay. I thought that Max had spent so much time trying to save Chloe and meddled with time so much to get to a timeline where Max hadn't been captured by Jefferson and Chloe was still alive that to sacrifice her right at the end would be wrong. The people of Arcadia Bay didn't necessarily have to stay in the town, they could have tried to get away or escaped just like Max and Chloe, but apparently nobody did.

It was sad to see the town in a wreck, but I did like the open ending aspect of this story. They drove away from Arcadia Bay, where to? Nobody knows! I'd like to think they went to LA just like Rachel wanted to do and lived out new lives there, or maybe they went to where ever Max's Parents live. 

I did go back to watch the second ending, although I totally accept that the cannon ending for my playthrough of Life Is Strange is everyone in Arcadia Bay died. I knew this ending was going to be difficult when I fist saw " Sacrifice Chloe" appear on the screen. It only became more painful when they were talking befre Max rewound time and when they kissed. Then it plays out pretty much like the first episode of the game, Chloe gets shot by Nathan in the bathroom, because of this they discovered the Dark Room and arrested Mr Jefferson. This ending concludes ith Chloe's Funeral. 

When speaking to other people, they say that They preferred the ending where Chloe dies, since it is longer and since it offers some closure - Chloe dies and Max moves on. I can appreciate how you may prefer this ending over the other ending, but I can totally see why the other ending is the way it is. There's not much to really see other than the destruction caused by the storm, and obviously Chloe and Max would not be able to stay in Arcadia Bay anymore so they would have to get away. I personally like the open endlessness of this ending. I feel like whichever ending you will prefer will depend on you as a person. 

I do wonder what Max would be like mentally after the events of the game, to go through multiple torture sessions from Mr Jefferson, waking up many times in that dark room, being in LA whilst her best friend is about to die from the storm heading to the town, and then the impact o whatever ending you choose. If Chloe is alive, you witnessed your whole town get wiped out, but if she died, then technically none of the events that happened that week would have happened and you would have nobody to explain your feelings too. I think she should maybe see a counsellor after the games events, she must be pretty traumatised by getting through the week she had. 

I'm glad that Mr Jefferson got what was coming to him, I allowed David to kill him. After the amount of girls he has already allegedly killed, I had no guilt of leaving him dead. Although I found it super creepy during the stealth section when he was walking around looking for you. 

The dream sequence gave me Bioshock Infinite vibes with a mix of Mass Effect 3 (the mission you do for Legion and the Geth, if you've played the game you'll know which one I mean). Normally I absolutely hate stealth sections in games, but I feel like this particular section was not as bad as other stealthy moments in games. I did nearly have a heart attack though when I saw the bottles, and I managed to find them all only to discover that I didn't need to find them all to finish the game. 

I now see where the travelling to the past in a photo was going to, making it feel less like a pointless thing in episode 3 and episode 4, so they have been redeemed a little. I think it was clever how she managed to go back to the moment she took the selfie, and made Jefferson come across really creepy during his lesson after knowing about what he did in the dark room. I do believe that Jefferson may have had some knowledge that Max had powers, I don't really know if there is anything there to prove this in the game, but it was just a thought when Max's journal was burned and all her photos destroyed. I believe it was very clever and raised the stakes when she had to actually travel through the storm to get to Warren to be able to go back to a moment where Chloe was alive. 

Final Thoughts 

Overall, I do believe that Life is Strange is a very good game and I thoroughly enjoyed playing through it over the past week or so (probably longer by the time that this post is uploaded). The characters all felt like they were real people - I expected it to be very cliche with David and Nathan being my first suspects over who was Rachel's killer. Mr Jefferson was never a suspect to me, so it did not make sense that he appeared in the Junk Yard until everything was revealed.

I would be interested to play this game again - to make different choices to see if I experience any different outcomes and to see if there are signs that I missed about Mr Jefferson in the first play through of Life is Strange. I am definitely interested in playing Life is Strange: Before the Storm and Life is Strange 2, but this probably won't be until I am next home from University.
This is a game that I would definitely recommend to play! Although it does look a little dated with the lip sync to the voice actors, the game does have beautiful aesthetics and is still enjoyable.

Credit must be given to Game Guides since I went to their website when looking back at what decisions I made in the game and helped me figure out the minor decisions that I may have walked passed during the game.. You can find their website here.

Have you played Life is Strange? What choices did you make? Do you like this format for blog posts? Are there any other games I should play and review? Let me know, feel free to leave a comment! And I will see you in the next post!