Life is Strange is a single-player graphic adventure game published by Square Enix and created by Dontnod Entertainment for almost every platform. The premise of the game is that you control a character named Max who is a high school student and discovers that she can rewind time, and you navigate through the uncovering of certain mysteries using the power. The narrative deals with dark, mature themes such as violence, death, and drugs, which indicates that the game is primarily targeted toward adults.
Life is Strange tells its story through a combination of loops and arcs. Sandwiched in between the cut-scenes that further the story, or arcs, are snippets of gameplay where you have control over the character and their actions, or loops. With each opportunity you get to control the character, you can further hone the skills involved to move and take action for the character, as well as knowing where to go or what to do. The loops essentially teach you how to play the game when not in a cut-scene, and performing certain events will trigger cut-scenes that aim to further the narrative.
Episode 1 of the game starts with a dark, stormy scene where Max wakes up outside near a lighthouse on a cliff. From this nightmare-like sequence, Max suddenly wakes up in a classroom of their high school. After navigating through certain events, Max eventually learns that they can rewind time when she once again wakes up in the same classroom at the same time. As you let the narrative woven into the game take you through events, you learn of certain mysteries that seem quite intriguing. For example, if Max waking back up in the classroom is a result of rewinding time, how did she end up at that lighthouse on the cliff? How did one of her fellow classmates, Rachel Amber, go missing? Why does one of the richest and most influential students at the school, Nathan Prescott, seem like he is in some shady business? These are all things that Max aims to uncover the details of, and she is able to conduct very unique investigative work by leveraging her newfound skill (i.e. in-game mechanic) of rewinding time.
