Life Is Strange (2015)

When I started this game I didn't have too much expectation to be honest. I was skeptical since I usually don't like when a story takes place in high-school and all that drama related to it, but I enjoyed it waaay more than I thought, regardless of its flaws.

The writing isn't really good, and it's a big flaw for a story-based game. Some situations didn't feel "natural", just convenient to the plot, and most of the dialogues are awkward and the animation doesn't help.

The puzzles are pretty simple, and most of the time they obviously requires Max's rewind ability (would be pretty weird if it wasn't a big part of the gameplay). When it was important though, with Kate attempting suicide, the game takes this power back, and I'm glad it did. You can't save her if you didn't pay attention to her, not knowing what to tell her, and it makes the scene more real and important. For the whole game I thought "yeah I don't care I'm going to do this and if it goes wrong I'll just go back and try again", and it's good that the game didn't make an important moment like this as light as others.

Jefferson being the main antagonist surprised me honestly. He did feel like an important character, but I was so worried about Kate that I focused all my attention (and hatred) on Nathan. Still, if you pay attention to what he says, he starts to be an obvious suspect, and I like this. I liked checking the previous episodes to see all the hints they've put to make you understand that he is the one behind everything that's happening; what he says in class, or after he talks to Kate (before she attempts suicide)... even during the confrontation in front of Wells. Everything was there while not being too obvious. Not at a first glance at least.

The theme music is amazing, and the songs they chose fits really well with the story. The characters were decent enough; I can't say that I fell in love with them, but I still liked them enough to care about what was going to happen next.

The first two episodes were pretty slow, but by the third the story starts to pick up. The fourth episode was definitely my favourite. It had me hooked the whole time, and the pace was just perfect in my opinion. Finding the dark room, with all those syringes and the photos in it, was like a punch in the stomach, and running immediately after to the junkyard to find Rachel's body even made me cry.

Sadly, the fifth episode it's the one I have problems with. I like how it started, but then it became tedious. Seeing Max in the dark room actually scared me, and I did enjoy the loop between the class and the dark room. However, from the gallery it becomes boring. The nightmare was also annoying, even if it was well made. The things is, we don't need it to understand Max, since she had always been quite vocal about her worries, and between the journal and her inner thoughts we get to know her pretty well. Not only that, but it was too long too, and at the end of it I felt stressed, not entertained. Completing all those puzzles and the stealth part didn't make me feel satisfied, because, with it being just a dream, it felt pointless. I really couldn't wait for it to end, and it ruined the final moment in the game for me.

The final choice didn't feel out of nowhere, because through all the episodes you can tell it was going to lead there. Max continued to say how important Chloe is to her, and that she would do anything for her, but the game also shown how much you can try and save her, the "universe" (or whatever) it's always trying to remedy to that, and Max is clearly suffering from using her power. While it's romantic the idea of going against anything and everything to save the girl you love, even risking your own health and life to do so, I went for the most rational option. Maybe in another playthrough I'll be more romantic, but saving Chloe seems like a dead end.

Overall I had a good time with this game. I liked the story, and I know I'll replay it. We don't get to know how or why Max got her power, even if she asks herself this pretty often, but between what happens to Kate and Rachel's disappearance, I didn't care too much about those questions, but only solving the mystery going on in Arcadia Bay.