For this week’s critical play, I chose Life is Strange. Life is Strange is a mystery, adventure, walking sim available on PC, Mac, Switch, and other various media platforms. Published by Square Enix, Life is Strange has expanded greatly into a wider universe including other Life is Strange games and even a comic series based on the alternate endings. I played the free first episode of the original game set, available on mac. I believe that this game is intended for highschool students and middle-aged people (15+) as the theme is centered around a girl, Max, who is in her high school years and investigating the disappearance of another girl, Rachel. One important note is that the slang and styles of characters are very reminiscent of the 1990’s, with common vernacular being “retro,” “poser,” “facebook,” et cetera. Because of the specific timeperiod, I think that the target audience would be people that lived through this era, the game evoking nostalgic feelings.
I argue that Life is Strange has room for improvement in effectively driving player motivation to solve the mystery of Rachel’s disappearance. It has an emergent narrative allowing the player to write their own story in relation to the main mystery which is directly tied to the ‘rewinding time’ mechanism which allows choices to be changed. The architecture of the story is segmented into levels which are also restricted in physical space until you complete the necessary tasks to move the story forward, but the physical spaces are too large and complex to provide clear direction for the player. Loops occur at every choice, something I believe to be extremely excessive. There are smaller arcs per level and the larger arc is the mystery of Rachel.
Narrative in Life is Strange is extremely emergent, as the player has full choice over their actions as Max and the resulting consequence, through the mechanism of rewinding time. Because the player is given this ability to rewind time, and even given hints as to when one should rewind time to achieve a better future, the player has control over the story that they are writing and experiencing. Players are also therefore able to prioritize the solving of the mystery at all costs, or perhaps ignoring the truth to maintain relationships with other characters.
One moment of success in the game was when the jock character attacks Max and Warren, and Chloe drives up to save Max. I acted very quickly in this situation because I felt the sense urgency in the situation to get away from the jock character. I think that this was a really successful scene because I felt more immersed in the scene when I felt afraid of what might happen to Max if she did not escape in time. I think that if there was a more frequent sense of urgency throughout the game, it would be more immersive, more impactful, and more successful in affecting the player. This is connected to the the narrative and its mechanism of rewinding time. In the ability to rewind time, there is no longer the sense of urgency or fear of making mistakes, which essentially removes the player from the magic circle of the story. Because the player is able to undo mistakes very easily, they are more likely to view the essential tasks of the game for what they are, tasks, rather than important actions Max must do to save other people or solve the mystery.
The architecture of the setting of Life is Strange, which I will interpret as the physical space available in each level, acts as a guide to complete the essential tasks of each level. I also argue that the architecture of Life is Strange is too large and detailed to expect the player to efficiently solve the expected task without losing motivation and/or becoming frustrated.
The architecture of the game functions so that you can only access certain parts of the map for a given chapter or level. This allows each level or chapter to be segmented and I really appreciate the fact that you cannot revisit the entirety of the past, because that would be too complex and would elongate gameplay. Through the segmentation of each level, the designer also controls how much and what information is given to the player at specific timepoints. In this way, the designer can control how much knowledge the player has in order to make each decision. I approve of this segmentation, but I believe that it could be improved by limiting how wide or expansive the world is so that the player does not get overwhelmed by all of the choices and interaction in each level.
One moment of failure in the game was when Max came across Victoria and her group of girls in front of the dormitory, blocking the way. I searched the area and I noticed a ton of sprinklers. The information given when inspecting a sprinkler was to turn on the sprinkler valve, but then I got a cut scene where it focused in on the paint can, and I was confused as to why I needed to do something with the sprinklers and something with the paint can. So, I was looking for a way to interact with the paint can and promptly forgot about the sprinklers. I then wasted much time wandering the entire physical space looking for more things to complete the task. I think that the physical space was too large to find the specific sprinkler valve in a decent amount of time, and since there are so many interacting elements, it is confusing to understand which one is the necessary one. Furthermore, when Dana got locked in her room, I struggled to find which room in the hall was Victoria’s room (to collect evidence to get Dana freed). Even though it was labeled, I did not expect it to be labeled, and I looked at every single door in the hall trying to figure out which one was Victoria’s, until I reached the very end which actually was Victoria’s. This supports that there are too many interactable objects and too large of a map to expect a player to complete the necessary task in each level in a reasonable amount of time.
Another suggestion would be for each level to have a time restriction so that the player is really immersed into the mystery and has motivation to solve it quickly. In the scene where Max prevents Chloe from being shot, time restriction really urged me in to be quicker when I was looking around the setting, and made me be more selective about what items and people I interacted with. I think this is a positive thing so that players do not get overwhelmed or bored by the expensive interactivity available at each level.
