8) Life Is Strange
Following the release of the promising, but extremely inconsistent Remember Me, it may have seemed odd that Dontnod Entertainment would travel to the suburbs of Oregon for the next endeavor. It appears that we had nothing to really worry about, though, as the studio’s latest effort, Life Is Strange, maintains their creative vision but packages it in a uniquely fresh way.
So, while the futuristic world of Neo-Paris may be the more spectacular of the two, the more low-key town of Arcadia Bay is apparently where Dontnod feels more at home telling their gripping tale.
Centering around two teenage girls, Max and Chloe, Life Is Strange combines mature themes typically not seen in the world of gaming, with the ability to manipulate time. And while the fact that you can replay certain decisions as you see fit is a big factor, the fact that Dontnot was able to capture the feeling of teenage angst so successfully, despite all of the otherworldly happenings going on, is what really impressed me.
Having been through it myself, not the time travel, but the angst, there’s so much going on in a young adult’s head that it can be hard to fully grasp everything happening. So for the studio to not only choose to focus on taboo issues such as suicide, but to execute them in the framework of their story, is both impressive and groundbreaking.
There are issues to be had with the episodic adventure, namely some questionable dialogue and tedious gameplay segments, but Life Is Strange is still an impressive tale from a developer that really needed to prove themselves.
