If you shelled out enough money for Early Access, you can now play the first two episodes of Life Is Strange: Double Exposure, the direct sequel to the 2015 Dontnod adventure game that kicked off the series. There’s already a lot of discourse over how Double Exposure handles its role as a follow-up to the original, but those who don’t have Early Access will have to wait until October 29 to find out what all the fuss is about. That’s not entirely a bad thing, though, since with two weeks before the game’s wide release, now is the perfect time to revisit the original Life Is Strange, a task made all the easier by its inclusion on PlayStation Plus.
Life Is Strange is a supernatural high-school adventure that was originally released in five episodes. The game quickly earned a loyal fan base thanks to a phenomenal main cast of characters and a compelling narrative hook. The game puts you in the shoes of Max Caulfield, who discovers she has the ability to rewind time after saving a friend from being shot by a bully in the school bathroom. She and her friend then team up to unravel the mysteries of their quaint Pacific Northwest town, including uncovering the whereabouts of a missing girl. There’s a hefty helping of Twin Peaks alongside a dash of Buffy in here and it all combines into a unique story worth exploring.
As you might expect with a narrative that starts off by giving you the power to manipulate time, Life Is Strange is all about the different choices you can make in life. You’ll microdose Groundhog Day throughout the game as you rewind your mistakes in order to try again and impress your friends, or do better on a pop quiz. Time manipulation also becomes a mechanic for navigating the world, as sometimes you need to move or replace objects to get into previously closed-off areas. Max’s gift, however, isn’t all powerful. You can only turn back time so far and it can’t always save you from making dumb decisions. And eventually, because of its limitations, you have to choose one version of reality to live with.
Beyond the fascinating central mechanic, Life Is Strange thrives on its characters and world. The supernatural intrigue and mystery of the town only serve to hook you in, but the characters will keep you hanging on. That begins with Max herself, a young woman on the verge of graduating and hopefully leaving her home town to pursue a career in photography. She’s somewhat of a loner and only falls into the circumstances that drive the game’s plot due to that chance encounter with her old friend in the bathroom. That friend is Chloe, who Max was close with in childhood but hasn’t spoken to in a while. Every other student, teacher, and Arcadia Bay resident you interact with has a story of their own that connects to the larger plot taking place in the town. At the end of the game, though, Max and Chloe’s relationship proves to be the beating heart of Life Is Strange, and each episode adds layers to the two characters and their connection until it ends in a climactic final choice that only the two of them can make. It’s a beautiful game and it’s worth brushing up on before Double Exposure.
