Video games have always been a way to escape the reality, giving you the chance of becoming a brand new person in every story you play. They allow you to have a completely different life for a certain period of time, making you forget about anything that is going on around you whilst you focus on your fresh and unique digital persona.
Sometimes, you get so sucked into it that you create this special attachment with the fictional characters or the storyline itself. This is exactly what happened with me whilst playing Life Is Strange; I don’t think any other game I’ve ever encountered has affected me on this level before (although The Last Of Us was pretty close).
For those who have never played they game, it’s about a teenage girl called Max who discovered that she can rewind time. I know it sounds pretty cliche, but the storyline takes an incredibly dark turn. It mentions a topic of suicide, as well as bullying, broken families and addictions. I’m not going to mention anything more about it as I really don’t want to spoil it for you.
Despite Max’s supernatural powers, the game portrays all the topics above very realistically, making you even more aware of the choices you have to make. The reason why this game has had a such strong impact on so many of the players, is no matter how good your intentions are, your actions will benefit some people but also hurt the other ones around you.
Nonetheless, the soundtrack is a piece of art itself and it fits the game perfectly, no matter if you like that specific genre. Every single time I hear a song from this game it takes me back to when I first played it, which gives me a very nostalgic feeling; almost as if I lost a friend and all I have left are the memories of them.
Their website also mentiones a suicide prevention helpline, for people who struggle with depression and thoughts of taking their own life, which to me was an amazing move from Square Enix considering how they managed to include so many realistic problems that so many players can relate to in a single game.
Please, let me know if you had a similar experience to mine after playing this game.
Life Is Strange is simply about cherishing here and now, as no matter how infinite the world seems, there’s only one me and one you in one place at a time.
