Life is Strange (Episode 1) is an adventure game developed by Dontnod Entertainment and released in 2015. The video game can be played on PlayStation 3/4, iOS, Windows, Linux, etc. and is for a single player above 16 years old due to elements of drug, alcohol, violence, and swearing.
I argue that with the main objective being to find out the dark secrets at Blackwell Academy, Life is Strange has the player uncover the embedded narrative through exploring the surroundings, talking to NPCs, and checking the objects, diary entries, and texts. To move forward in the story and getting closer to the truth, the player also has to accomplish a series of fetch quests (challenges) and initiate changes in the game world. This game controls the story through a nice balance between giving players the freedom to choose among a few branching choices and giving them the special power of rewinding time to avoid undesired consequences and get back onto the main storyline. The game narrative is one major arc of discovering the truth behind Rachel’s missing, which consists of many smaller arcs of fetch quests and missions, and in each smaller arc, the player can create loops through time rewinding to make the optimal choice.
As a game that centers around uncovering the embedded mystery, Life is Strange couples the rich resources in the game world (environment, objects, and NPCs) with information and hints, waiting for the player to explore and piece them together. The game starts with the protagonist, Max, waking up from a nightmare in a photography class, at which point the amnesiac player, occupying the first-person perspective of Max, has to figure out who Max is and why Max is here to satisfy the need of information. Through hearing the discussions in class, we acquire a general impression of the teacher and the classmates and their respective personality. By inspecting the photo, the camera on the desk and reading through her journal, we are able to understand the personal backstory and the subjective feelings and experience of Max, which helps us better relate to the main character. And we can also interact with the NPCs, acquiring information from the conversation that either suggests another fetch quest or purely serves the purpose of enriching the details of the game world. New objects and NPCs appear as Max moves to different locations; new messages and diary entries also come up once in a while, driving the unfolding of the narrative.
The player can inspect the objects to find more information.
The player can read through Max’s diary to get the backstory.
Apart from discovering information from the rich resources, the player also needs to solve puzzles and accomplish fetch quests to promote the progression of the narrative. This mechanic allows the player to take on a more active role, bringing about changes to the game world and satisfying the need of achievement, as opposed to the relative passive role of absorbing information from the surrounding world. For example, when Max witnesses Nathan threatening a girl with a gun in the restroom, she has to stop the tragedy from happening by setting off the fire alarm. The puzzle that Max has to solve is to find the hammer hidden beneath the janitorial cart to break open the glass of the fire alarm, and to finish it in a few seconds before the girl is killed. Such fetch quests not only add tension and excitement to thegame experience, but also help pace the game by engaging the player in an activity that helps with the development of the narrative.
Life is Stranger differentiates itself from other mystery games like What Remains of Edith Finch through a nice balance between giving the player the autonomy of choosing what tosay or do among multiple options and allowing them to rewind time and alter their earlier choices. In conversations with other characters, the player can decide what Max is going to say, which can change the direction of the conversation and have consequences on what happens later. For example, when Jefferson asks Max to answer a question in class, she can either say “I want to go to the bathroom”, “I don’t feel well”, or the correctanswer “the Daguerreian Process”. If the player chooses either of the first two, then they would soon discover that dissatisfied with her answer, Jefferson would ask Max to stay behind after the class, which would hinder Max from accomplishing her mission of saving the girl in the bathroom. Taking advantage of the rewinding ability, the player can go back to the past with the knowledge of the consequences of each option and alter their answer to be “the Daguerreian Process”. On the face of it, the player seems to have the freedom to affect the story through their choice, but they will soon discover that there usually is a single correct answer that enables the story to move forward and the remaining options all have some bad consequences that leads Max to an impasse. So whenever the player selects an option that leads toa branching line with an undesirable consequence, they will have to use the rewinding mechanic to go back to the main storyline. This is where I see room for improvement for the game: There is only one actual storyline and the player has no de facto freedom to decide how the story develops. It would be really exciting if, by choosing different options, the player can set on different story lines and experience different plots. On the flip side, this would significantly increase the workload for designers to come up with narratives for differentbranching storylines.
The player has multiple options to choose from in a conversation.
The player can rewind back to the past and alter their choice.
In terms of arcs and loops, I see the entire game as a major arc of discovering the secrets of Arcadia Bay and what happens to the missing girl Rachel. But this main arc is made possible through many smaller arcs that are the fetch quests and missions that Max needs to accomplish along the way. Within and across arcs, as Max discovers ramifications of her previous choices, she rewinds time to the past and attempts to make a better choice again, giving rise to loops in the game. This delicate combination of arcs and loops adds to the variety, interactiveness, and fulfillment of the gaming experience, making Life is Strange one of the most acclaimed mystery games around the world.
