Life Is Strange +17

I really liked this game in the beginning. The music, atmosphere, characters, and mysteries are very compelling. I liked the camera games. Max’s powers are fun in every way, and so I didn’t like the message in the last episode that the cost of using her powers had to lead to death or destruction. Shame, fear and depression dominated the ending, leaving a bad aftertaste. The game was addictive and exciting and I was very caught up in it, but it went from a charming story about friendships and growing up to a dark place where I hated to see the story go. I don’t think the many choices I made changed major things in the plot- just minor ones. I was disappointed in the end. I’m middle-aged, and so it was a treat to get to play an 18 year old. It brought up some good memories from that time of my life. At first it was strange, and then it became fun and nostalgic. I will give this review 4 because it was a highly creative, original, and captivating experience, but in some ways, it deserves a 3. There needed to be at least one way to avoid the dark outcomes for it to have been a 4. I want to add that for people who have experienced sexual abuse, hiding in the dark from someone with a flashlight is a difficult thing to endure just to get through to the ending. I think the game needs a trigger warning of some kind. I read several reviews where PTSD was triggered.

I don’t have the vocabulary to describe this game in a manner that will do it justice. Life is Strange is just that unbelievably incredible. I can say however, that it is one of the best, if not *the* best, games I’ve ever played. The reasons why are… difficult to articulate, but I think that it almost certainly deserved every award and 5/5 review it has received. I would have given it one as well, (a first for me) if not for two reasons: one, I am not convinced that there is such a thing as a perfect game; and two, episodes 2-5 are only available if you pay! I understand why that is so and, much as the paywall infuriates me, I can’t say that would have done anything differently. Still, if you ever have enough funds to do so, maybe make one or two more episodes available for free? I guarantee that it would make all of us who love the game, but lack credit cards, very, very, *VERY* happy. Thank you for reading this, and thank you so much for making such an amazing game. I hope that things will only get better in the future.

With the highest respect,
An anti-whaling part-time gamer.

This game is beautifully written and put together in a very good way. So far, I’ve only played episode 1, and I’ve had no technical issues or glitches. The character development is perfect, and the visuals and story are breathtaking. I love how your decisions affect the game, and even the music is great. The game is overall amazing, and I plan to buy the whole thing on PC if that’s possible. So why is this a three star rating?
The game is filled with so many curse words and vulgar speech that I can hardly breathe. Maybe saying stuff like that is more “normal”, or “in style”, but some people don’t want to hear that garbage. You lose more players from putting it in there than if not, so why do it in the first place? If there was even an option to turn of the strong and pretty much constant foul language, the game would be, by all means, perfect.
It almost hurts not to give such an amazing game a five star rating, but I just can’t stand that gaming companies are always making stupid decisions like these. Could you be bothered to add an option to turn it off? Other games pull it off. Pretty sure you could too if you cared.
(Not that you’re ever going to read this review, given that this game is made by big-name companies and typically they don’t want to/don’t have time to read the reviews, but I decided it would be a fair warning to anybody who wants to get this game.)