Critical Play: Mysteries

Name: Life is Strange
Creator: Square Enix
Platform: PC
While I would say the game might resonates more with people who are either going into or have been through high school since the game is set in a high school, the game has no target audience per the creators’ themselves [1].
The game mechanics revolve around you, the player, progressing the storyline through inspecting your surroundings and investigating your environment all while choosing lines of dialogue that may result in a certain ending.
The game allows for a mix of types of fun, namely, narrative and fantasy. I believe that game’s mechanics, in part, coupled with the great narrative writing are the reasons behind why the game is fun: by forcing you to make decisions and make choices on behalf of the character, you are evidently being immersed into the world and are being put into the shoes of the protagonist.
In terms of weaving in mystery into the game, I would say that although narrative does not revolve around a center mystery that the protagonist is trying to discover, per se, there is still quite a handful of areas where mystery prevails. Primarily, we see that in the game mechanics mentioned aforehand (“interrogating” your surroundings) as well as the fact that finding things/objects and uncovering new clues progresses the plot further.
I think due to the somewhat long storyline and plot progression of the game, certain parts did feel slightly boring. Instead, I wish the game had, terms of narrative, a stronger main mystery that you are always trying to solve in order to keep you constantly engaged.

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