Life is Strange Review

"Episode 1: Chrysalis"

Campaign

In the first episode for Life is Strange we're introduced to a number of varying characters each with their own issues and basically life events going on. Taking place in a pristine academy highly focused around photography, Max is just another girl in this charming school. After a strange nightmare type experience Max awakens to a regular photography class and she looks around her desk to notice a number of objects anyone could have.

Grabbing her old school polaroid, she takes a selfie which sparks a class discussion. A bit of conversation passes which is normal and you head out into the halls which has a very realistic vibe of people doing their own thing and music playing. This may seem slightly like a summary, but in the essence of story it leads into important detail of the entire game basis. Max then witnesses a traumatic experience seeing someone getting shot and she raises her hand out with amazingly rewinds time. Time, that's what sets Life is Strange above every other story based title.

You can effectively see every angle and make things the way you want them. While consequences have short term of long term affects as already seen in episode one this aspect really varies what can happen. It's fascinating gaining extra details or bending everyone to your will just by having that ability to foresee things. This leads into another aspect which make this episode so stunning and that's the characters.

For some reason it just seems to get things with the dialect feeling very lively which other games lack. It's plain and very modern in terms of being how youth talk in this time. The polaroids are a bit questionably, but the people feel right and it just gets it. They did maybe make Max a far bit into the hipster side, yet the gameplay felt alive.

Gameplay

The graphics and scenery for the game were very beautiful with the cinematic style being very well done. There also isn't any difference moving from cutscene to actual gameplay which this game had a surprisingly great amount.

While cinematic choice games are great, I like more play time then just watching and making decisions which was present here. The choices are also neat as not much is set in stone, though you can feel at times that certain things may come back against you in the future.

The Conclusion

This was a beautiful start to what I hope will become an amazing series. I can't suggest picking this up more than enough as the gameplay and story is just stunning. The mixing of time to make things go your way is a great mechanic to create a filling experience. The whole world felt full and alive with characters that each had their own dynamics going on.

I'm excited to see all this cross in the future and what effect my choices will have in the future as I play with time further to my advantage. There's certainly more going on soon and this was just a pure setup on what's going on. Turmoil is already being felt for the future episodes and the teaser for the next episode in March was great with much distress. Follow the site for more reviews as the season progresses and I can't wait for more! Life is both beautiful and Strange.

Life is Strange Review on Xbox One

Rating Overall: 9.5