On January 30 of last year, the first of 5 episodes of Life Is Strange, graphic adventure developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Square Enix. A little less than a year from that day, all 5 episodes have been published in a "collection" (let's call it that, but they are episodes of the same game which have simply been merged) in a retail version.
Rewind please
As many will already know, Life Is Strange is a wonderful graphic adventure with procedural development: any choice we will make within the title, it will have decisive consequences for the continuation of the plot. The gameplay is structured like a classic adventure of the type, but with in addition many interesting peculiarities that make it unique. First of all, of course, the power of ours Maxine Caulfield, or more simply Max. The eighteen year old from Arcadia will in fact discover in a “particular” situation that she is able to rewind time, and consequently know, for example, the answers she will receive from people ahead of time, and exploit them to her advantage.
But wait to sing victory or define it as a game that is easy to interpret: even if you give an answer and rewind it to change it, you will always have the impression (also according to the comments made by Max) that you have given the "wrong answer". In reality, as the game progresses, you realize that all the choices you make will have their pros and cons, opening up more and more branching possibilities in the story. In all this, many similarities with the famous film “The Butterfly Effect” cannot fail to come to mind. We will not dwell further on the plot to avoid any spoilers, but we can assure you that it is exciting and introspective, very pleasant to live (attention, I did not say quiet).
Chrysalis
In addition to this power, Max will also have the ability to take pictures to subjects or landscapes that he deems appropriate, so much so that in your diary there is a special section dedicated to the photos taken (with lots of clues to recognize the subjects) of all five episodes. Haven't we said it yet? Max is a girl with a keen talent for photography, combined with an unconditional love for them. All of this will play a key role in your story. Other peculiarities present are the diario same as Max, where information about characters and places will be pinned, and the SMS that you will receive and to which the girl will respond automatically: these also depend on how you will behave with other people in the academy, and on how you will respond to them on certain occasions.
Before moving on to the subject, let's spend a note about the longevity of the game: as you know, the concept of longevity is not only contained in the hours of play guaranteed by a single run, but also by how many times you would replay the title, or how long you have you will enjoy every single chapter of the episodes. We can tell you that Life Is Strange already assures you with only a single run at least 15 hours of gameplay, not to mention the time you will want to devote to reading everything you unlock, or looking for the subjects to photograph. However, we assume that you will replay it several times, it is inevitable. And to think that it all begins with a single photo of a butterfly… “Max the ninja strikes again”.
Music and colors
Life is Strange does not strike very much at the level of graphic technique, especially as regards the particle effects and for the details (note the hair of the characters for example, which looks like a single block of plastic). All this, however, is compensated with some unique artistic choices, ingenious and alternatives, such as in the case of photos, paintings, but also the images that we will see on PC screens: all this is proposed with a design style that we can define "watercolor", which provides a clear break between that that we can define the reality and the captured image. Another point in favor of the graphic and artistic sector, the choice of the colors used, which always manage, and I always say, to create the atmosphere required by the situation that takes place at that moment in the plot.
The eyes are nothing without the ears, and also the sound sector is decisive in this title. We have seldom come across a soundtrack for a similar title, which in addition to being played is also sung, and above all so “apt”. Furthermore, on a cinematic level, the choice was made in some scenes to let us play and control Max during music sessions (to give an example, as happens for the opening theme of the game). In addition, the sound quality of the original English dubbing is very good, even if in some cases it is out of sync.
