Life Is Strange: Five Years On

2020 marks the 5th anniversary of DONTNOD Entertainment’s Life Is Strange, published by Square Enix and released all the way back in 2015, in five episodic instalments. With DONTNOD having recently released the final episode of their latest game, Tell Me Why, and having just watched my girlfriend play Life Is Strange for the very first time during quarantine, I figured it was about time (no pun intended) to revisit Arcadia Bay. I’ll avoid spoilers as much as possible as we look back on the good, the bad and the hella weird aspects of the game that put DONTNOD in the spotlight, and ask: what is the legacy of Life Is Strange, and is it still worth picking up?

The Good

First off, a quick rundown for those who never caught this game when it came out, or anyone who needs their memory jogged. In Life Is Strange you play as Max Caulfield, a shy eighteen-year-old who dreams of becoming a professional photographer. After five years spent living in Seattle, Max has returned to her small seaside hometown of Arcadia Bay to attend a photography course at the prestigious Blackwell Academy. The game begins with Max witnessing a murder in the school toilets, and discovering that she can rewind time. The victim of the would-be murder (undone by Max’s new powers) turns out to be Max’s childhood friend, Chloe Price, and the two embark on a Lynchian quest to solve the mysterious disappearance of a young woman named Rachel Amber.

Really, however, Life Is Strange is about Max and Chloe. The core of the story is the two…