Life is Strange: A Time-Traveling High School Adventure from Dontnod

[Smart Jason]

Apparently this game was announced in June and I'm a big blind idiot for never realizing it! I always just assumed the worst for Parisian development studio Dontnod after the disappointing release of Remember Me (which I actually found to be a pretty good game), but it seems they've switched publishers from Capcom to Square Enix and are working on a five part, episodic game titled Life is Strange, which seems to have the aesthetic identity of a modern indie movie, Quantic Dream gameplay, and Telltale-style persistent choice (possibly with higher aspirations, as the game's Steam page promises multiple endings depending on your actions through the game).

 

Here is the "reveal trailer" which finally made me aware of Life is Strange today and announced the first episode for release in early 2015 (on Steam now).

 

 

And here is a longer look at the actual game, demonstrated by some of the directors of the game, from Gamescom in August, which I found.

 

 

I am super excited for this!

[syntheticgerbil]

Looks good, but I will wait. Remember Me also seemed like something I would love, but when it came out no one really had anything good to say about it. If anything the best I could hear from someone was that, "it's average."

[Twig]

Remember Me is great.

[Bjorn]

Remember Me seemed to have been overhyped, and then failed to meet expectations.  Reading people's thoughts on it quite a few months after release, it seemed like a lot of people spoke much more positively about it then.  I got it for free through PS+, but then never got around to playing it before my plus subscription ended.

[Smart Jason]

The thing about comparing this to Remember Me is that this seems like an entirely different animal. Remember Me was meant to be a big AAA action adventure game with combat and platforming and I think people complained that its systems just weren't refined enough to compete at a high level with its contemporaries (although for what it's worth I personally thought its combo system was pretty compelling). One thing that critics all seemed to agree on, though, were its - uh, what were they called - memory segments, which were much more adventure game puzzle-like in design and creative, being standout creatively and wishing they were featured more. Life is Strange certainly seems, if not directly chasing what they did best with Remember Me, a change of scope that could only be for the better.

 

I don't want to put myself in a position to eat crow if it turns out the game isn't so good or anything, of course; I'm just saying it's definitely not like they're just trying to make Remember Me again here.

[TychoCelchuuu]

I liked Remember Me a fair amount. The design was really interesting and the story was goofy in a fun way. I haven't been paying attention to this game at all because it seems so story-focused that I want to go in blind.

[kaputt]

It's out now (the first episode)! It's getting some good reviews.

 

Decided to buy it mostly because of the setting and characters, it's a bit unusual in games. I'll come back with impressions later. 

[Gwardinen]

I've played about an hour of it. It feels reminiscent of Telltale's style of modern adventure game without being straight up derivative, and the setting is familiar enough but different enough, so so far so good. I will say the primary rewinding mechanic works very well for a game like this, because if you have that conversation wheel moment of going "hey, that's not really what I wanted to say" you just go back and say it differently. In this way the game gets to have its cake and eat it too; the things you say and do can have consequences, but you're not immediately locked into those choices, and if something feels wrong you can change it.

[kaputt]

Played about one hour as well, agree with pretty much what Gwardinen said. But I'm really enjoying this way more than I thought I would, it's pretty charming.

The visuals are great, love the chromatic aberration, maybe it's a bit overused, but overall it gives a filmic/filter look that makes sense in a game set in a photography school.

The story is nice, I'm enjoying the characters, but the dialogue could be a bit better - the devs aren't native English speakers, as far as I know, so it's forgivable. The setting is great, love that the game is more grounded (despite, of course, the rewind machine mechanic), at least until the point I played.

Anyway, I'm really liking this so far, I think it's at least worth trying if there's anyone interested.

[twmac]

Remember Me had really cool dream/memory sequences but everything else was pure dogshit. Platforming was mediocre (sub-Aeon Flux) and the combat is stilted, clumsy nonsense.

 

This looks to remedy the bad parts of Remember Me (ie: remove them completely)

[Twig]

There were no bad parts of Remember Me. ):<

 

There were less-than-stellar parts, but it was never a bad game.

[Gwardinen]

I think the combat had a whole lot of potential that it didn't entirely live up to. I really like the create-your-own-combo stuff that changed the actual effects of your strikes, the base feel of it just didn't necessarily measure up to its concepts.

 

All in all Remember Me ended up being a game I liked, with the slight melancholy twist of feeling like it was a game I could have loved, had things been a little different.

 

Edit: Oh, also, I played some more of Life is Strange. They've started adding basic adventure game puzzles in, and incorporating the time rewinding stuff into them. None of it's exactly earth shattering, but they're neat little sidesteps to the main "wander around and talk to people" gameplay, and so far haven't outstayed their welcome at all. I'm definitely hearing some of the dialogue weirdness that kaputt mentioned now, though.

[twmac]

There were no bad parts of Remember Me. ):<

 

There were less-than-stellar parts, but it was never a bad game.

 

We played different games - Remember Me is the first game in 7 years to make me throw a controller across a room in disgust and irritation. I damaged my Parks and Recreations box set as a result.

 

Walking through those fucking mines, dealing with those invisible enemies... Awful.

 

Edit: Sorry, I don't normally get this angry and argumentative on these forums but Remember Me is so bad that I can feel my shackles rising as I think about it.

[Smart Jason]

I just finished the first episode and I'm really in love with it. Critics will complain that you don't actually do that much, but I think that's acceptable for a high school drama. I can't tell if the scope of the game is going to expand into a broader science fiction tale or not - which is good. They don't distract from the genuine emotion and characters by throwing in too many mystery hooks (i.e., the Lost problem).

 

The dialogue is something everyone will have an opinion on. Some of it is the French-writing-English problem that comes through in Quantic Dream games, but mostly it's the writing teenagers problem. I have a really difficult time with slang-heavy teenage dialogue as a viewer - had to turn off Juno like fifteen minutes in, etc. - and my opinion of Life is Strange would probably be much lower if it were a movie just for this reason. It probably will be too much for some players, but I found it acceptable just on account of the medium. I cared more about the people speaking because it was a game, the dialogue had more weight because I frequently chose it; it's interesting to think about.

 

Not in love with the design of the achievements, though, since I apparently missed taking a picture of a squirrel with a soda can and am thus ruined. Can't go back and play it again, because, like Telltale games, I want to let my choices stand unaltered, and I actually didn't see an option for multiple save slots in the main menu (which, even then, would be a pretty tedious excursion - to play through the entire episode again chasing one photo).

[Twig]

We played different games - Remember Me is the first game in 7 years to make me throw a controller across a room in disgust and irritation. I damaged my Parks and Recreations box set as a result.

 

Walking through those fucking mines, dealing with those invisible enemies... Awful.

 

Edit: Sorry, I don't normally get this angry and argumentative on these forums but Remember Me is so bad that I can feel my shackles rising as I think about it.

Wow, I found the game pretty easy and I suck at character action games. U:

[kaputt]

I disliked Remember Me as well. The combat was unremarkable and it was disappointing to see that the rewind mechanic wasn't as prevalent as it seemed.

But maybe I'll go back to it someday, loved the aesthetics.

[Architecture]

Not in love with the design of the achievements, though, since I apparently missed taking a picture of a squirrel with a soda can and am thus ruined. Can't go back and play it again, because, like Telltale games, I want to let my choices stand unaltered, and I actually didn't see an option for multiple save slots in the main menu (which, even then, would be a pretty tedious excursion - to play through the entire episode again chasing one photo).

The first menu in the GB Quick Look shows three separate save slots.

 

Go get that squirrel.

[Jordan A]

I like the rewind mechanic a lot, actually. With Telltale's games, your dialog choices do branch you (super) briefly down a different path, even if they don't have much of an effect on the outcome of the narrative, but it's usually not worth playing the whole episode again just to see those other tiny choices.

 

With Life is Strange, though, you can just... go back five seconds and see the other option. It's great, for convenience. You can see the immediate effect of all the choices in one play-through.

 

I really like this game and I'm very keen to see where it goes over five episodes.

 

Episode one narrative discussion in spoiler:

 

I'm also enjoying how low-stakes the use of your power has been so far. I know it seems to be building to a fate-of-the-town type deal, with the storm coming, but it's nice to get a power and then not immediately use it for anything beyond social interaction. It's such a beautifully teenage way to use a super power - Avoids Embarrassment Woman!

[Gwardinen]

Not in love with the design of the achievements, though, since I apparently missed taking a picture of a squirrel with a soda can and am thus ruined. Can't go back and play it again, because, like Telltale games, I want to let my choices stand unaltered, and I actually didn't see an option for multiple save slots in the main menu (which, even then, would be a pretty tedious excursion - to play through the entire episode again chasing one photo).

 

My understanding is that there is a collectible mode that saves your collectibles but not your choices.

[Smart Jason]

My understanding is that there is a collectible mode that saves your collectibles but not your choices.

 

Oh wow. This is actually really brilliant functionality - it's a shame they hid it. If you attempt to replay an episode you've finished, it will bring you to a chapter select (featuring a check list of the optional photos so you know where you've missed any), and, upon selection, offer to replay the chapter in collectible mode (as you said, just for achievement hunting while not overwriting your original choices), replay it normally, or even begin a new game in a different save slot from that chapter. I'm very impressed.

 

One issue: it won't let you play in "collectible mode" in chapters without collectibles. It would be nice if the mode was simply a consequence-free replay option, independent of the photos, so that you could just replay any given chapter to see the immediate differences in choices. Although I guess you can just choose to start on a new save slot, then delete it.

[juffowup]

I finished this last night and ultimately really enjoyed it.

 

It's really weird seeing someone else copying the choice-matters type system from Walking Dead.  Not that anyone used it, but just how blatant the lift is:  it has it's own to the little pop-up messages about "He will remember this" (just an icon in this game), a chart saying how many other people made the choices you made.  Even the 5 episode structure.

 

Weirder than that though is how this game took a system I loved, and immediately ripped out the main thing I loved about it.  Walking Dead blew me away for being a narrative game that I never felt like min-maxing, never wondered about my decisions, never felt like reloading and doing differently, never wanted to check a guide to see what difference this choice would make.  Constantly, I felt like I was being forced to make a difficult choice immediately and live with the consequences, and it felt liberating to not be in a game, just in a story.

 

The time rewind mechanic in this game shatters all that.  Every dialogue I enter, I will see every possible end result and choose the one I like.  There is no urgency, and no sequence feels like it has consequence.  After 45 minutes of the game, I thought I would hate this.  By then end, it had won me over... For as directly they copy the Telltale systems, the experience of playing this game is definitely its own.  It's not immersive in the Telltale way, but has its own thing going for it.

 

I don't know if the dialogue was just awkward or was a reasonable attempt at writing 18-year-olds being awkward with each other.  I'm pretty sure it was the former, but my brain played nice and mostly let me just hear it as the latter on my playthrough.  The plot was I think really strongly paced.  There's a moment on the way out of school that all the plot threads grab onto each other all at once and things really take off.

 

I'm really psyched to see where this goes, although I'm worried the sci-fi thing will get real dumb before this is over.

[juffowup]

So episode 2 came out and I feel weird to see I'm still the last one to reply to this thread.  No one else still following this one?

 

I finished ep 2 tonight and ended with nothing but contempt for the game.  Dialogue was dumb, plot was nonsensical, nothing interesting from the first episode was followed upon, nothing makes me want to play again except that I've already bought the last 3 episodes.

 

Conversations you're required to rewind repeatedly until you give the 'right' answers?

Tense situations I have to rewind to solve, but I can't rewind an extra 20 seconds to prevent the situation from occurring in the first place?

A full third of the game spent collecting five bottles for no good reason?

 

This was just garbage.  If my last post left you interested in this game please ignore it....

[juffowup]

Also, don't eat the Mayo in Oregon...

[Merus]

I've actually heard really good things about the ending of Episode 2, for what it's worth.

[Tanukitsune]

I got Life is Strange Episode One from the Squeenix Easter thing and...

 

...I'm pretty sure the game played me like a fool despite having played "tough decision makers" before.

The whole school is plastered with posters of a lost girl and a teacher asks me to sign a petition against the crazy security guard who wants to install cameras everywhere. I thought "AHA! You clearly want me to sign the petition so that someone will have something horrible later and there would be no footage of the crime! I AM SMARTER THAN YOU GAME! HA HA!"

 

Then I found out the security guard had files on one my friends and is likely to use the security cameras to spy and kidnap the girl he picked on later. He might have even kidnapped the girl from the posters.

 

Damn, I'm really loving the game so far!