For this week’s critical play, I played Life is Strange, which is an adventure game created by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Square Enix available on PlayStation, Windows, Xbox, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, and more. It is intended for adults ages 17+ that are interested in narrative-driven episode games.
Life is Strange’s main aesthetic of fun is through discovery, as players’ experiences rely on investigative actions and decision making that shapes the fate of the character Max Caufield as she figures out that she can rewind time. The game’s unique ability for players to go back in time and repeat social interactions and life choices takes advantage of a player’s desire for discovery and exploration but can be improved by adding more elements of free-will and impactful decision making.
The game begins with strong visual cues to start taking a look at Max’s possessions in the room. Taking a careful look by reading and saving items allow you to unveil more details of the characters’ settings and motives as we begin to make decisions for her when talking to other characters. For instance, in one of the beginning play screens at Blackwell Academy, Max is introduced to the butterfly icon, meaning that specific actions will have consequences and we are able to rewind to change the outcome of choosing whether or not to speak to the school principal. This mechanic feeds into a player’s need for the sense of discovery because as opposed to the mechanics of real life, we are given the opportunity to evaluate future outcomes when struck with difficult decision making. The dynamics created by Life is Strange serve as an outlet for players to toy around with the fantasy of being able to reverse actions.
Although I really enjoyed the mechanic that led to this dynamic while playing the game, I think it can be improved by incorporating even more compromising choices that have the ability to drastically impact the overall narrative. The smaller objectives of reading signs and listening in on other character’s conversations would be better complimented by allowing players to be more self-autonomous and contribute more to the actual pre-determined narrative of the game. It makes sense that the overarching plot is something that needs to stay universal for the theme of the game, but I would be interested in replaying this game about young adult drama and mystery in a version that had a way more diverse possibility of story outcomes for each character that I interacted with and how they contributed to Max’s own self-growth and plotline through Blackwell Academy. For example, I think more mechanics besides choosing whether or not to confront and where to explore next would benefit the discovery and exploration aesthetics of the game – perhaps more mysterious rooms and detrimental consequences for lying to characters would be interesting to see.
Along this same line, I did really appreciate the self-autonomy when trying to figure out the smaller sub-arcs of the game. I wouldn’t have known how to meaningfully discover the items in the dorm rooms or garage when if it weren’t for the blank direction of interacting with any and all things in my environment to unfold the some-what prewritten narrative.
