Life Is Strange, a review Episode 2: Out of Time

Warning: The following review contains spoilers about Life is Strange Episodes 1 and 2. If you have not played this game or seen a Let’s Play, it is recommended you do so beforehand.

Life Is Strange, a review

Episode 2: Out of Time

Huh. Apparently being “released March 24^th” for Dontnod means being released here at around 5pm. Good to know.

In case you missed out on the recent news, the future Life is Strange episode(s) leaked online, revealing very spoiler-ish plot details.

I’ve purposefully avoided reading these because a) I tend to wait for a finished product before I watch something b) I heard the leak was incredibly buggy with lots of unfinished textures and I don’t want to break my Steam version and c) I’m just not that all engaged with Life is Strange, I’m sorry.

There’s a rumor going around that because of the leak, Dontnod will make significant rewrites. So, I don’t honestly know what changes there will be from the original script to what actually made it into the final product, so I’m just going to judge it as what I see right now.

So, when we last left Max, she had just revealed to her childhood friend Chloe she can go back in time. All of this would be fine if she didn’t realize a giant hurricane would come and destroy the town within a week.

Now we rejoin Max as she struggles to figure out how to use her newfound powers and if she can prevent the Hurricane coming to destroy the town.

As Max deals with her new powers, she also deals with the consequences of her actions. Based on your decisions, she may or may not face her room being ransacked, various students and NPC’s reacting to her opinions, have proof to back up dubious claims and so forth.

The same criticisms from last episode still apply: the lipsync is off and is distracting, a lot of the hipster lingo (especially from Chloe) is present, the school tropes continue to stick out like a sore thumb.

However, I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy this episode. Some of the puzzles and conversation trees take difficult turns, there’s genuine dilemma and a last minute scene that had my stomach churn. Overall, it’s a vast improvement from last episode.

If there is a complaint, it’s that Chloe will come up with various quizzes or puzzles for Max to find or solve. These take very long and slow down the pace. Oh, I’m fine with the occasional puzzle to slow things down, but a ‘find 5 bottles’ scenario feels very much like a saggy middle to lengthen game time. However, the puzzle after that, particularly Chloe gets trapped on the train tracks and Max has to find a way to save her is very gut-wrenching.

Oddly, the hurricane seems very far off from Max’s concerns as she’s more interested in the school drama and interplay with her classmates. In fact, when the game gave me free range and allowed me to explore my environment, I caught myself being more engaged with the various NPC’s and helping them or using dialogue trees gained through knowledge to alter events. That is until Max goes too far off the destined target and says “No, I don’t want to go there”. (Damn Invisible Walls).

In fact, there’s a great sequence that not only manages to build up Max’s character, but also make the various minor choices you made throughout the first two episodes culminate. But, I know some players haven’t experienced it yet, so I’ll tag it below.

SPOILERS

So, we learn that Kate was eventually drugged by Nathan and had a leaked sex tape of some sort and is becoming the talk of the town, in a bad way. One look in her room shows she’s deeply Christian and her conservative parents don’t approve. Throughout the game, Max can help Kate by doing various good deeds, such as wiping away a link on the bathroom window to prevent students from seeing it, answering her phone when Kate calls, and being overall supportive.

Eventually, a grief-stricken Kate will climb up to the roof of the girl’s dormitory and jump. Max will use her powers, but having spent them and tested them to their limit, she pauses time temporarily (which leads to a cool sequence where the rain drops are standing still).

Max gets up to the roof and finds her rewind powers have tapped out. Max needs to talk Kate down and won’t have any rewinds to do over (though, I could not resist the temptation to reload the last checkpoint failing this).

Depending on your dialogue choices, your beforehand knowledge and your decisions throughout the game, Max can either fail at this attempt or save Kate’s life.

Now, this element perfectly works. It not only works as a story element and builds Max’s character (she could’ve easily let Kate fall, with her powers weakened but risks brain trauma because she’s a good person and likes to help people.), but it also shows Kate’s desperation, makes an actual dilemma, culminates the decisions you, the player, made throughout the game and makes the player ‘want’ to help Kate. Oh, and it manages to touch on a difficult subject (cyberbullying and viral videos. Topical.) in a respectful manner.        

END OF SPOILERS

This episode of Life is Strange really raised my opinion of this game. Granted, there’s still all of those hipsterisms and high school tropes and damn loud music the kids are listening to, but there’s a lot more heart in this episode and if the last sequence showed me anything, it’s that it is possible to tell a great story with choices.

Recommended.