Life is Strange sat in my Steam library for a long time. Despite the recommendations from people with gaming opinions I trust, I was nervous that the game's teenage high school setting would be hard to relate to as an old fart and that I would find the game to be little more than a Dawson's Crack-esque 'I'll stare at a lake to solve all my problems' affair.

How wrong I was I was.

As soon as the calming and emotive main menu theme started I instantly relaxed and within a minute or two of the main protagonist Max's company at the start of the game I knew I my fears were unwarranted. What followed was a beautifully paced story, told with real heart. Characters are introduced that initially appear to be one dimensional caricatures, but soon reveal themselves to be much deeper and
rounded, making early decisions taken in the game much more complex than they initially seemed. I frequently found myself overthinking things as critical choices came up, second guessing the potential motives of nearly every character.

The soundtrack and visuals massively contribute to the atmosphere and several times I wished I could just wander around the town of Arcadia Bay soaking up the Autumnal Oregon setting. Coupled with the many references to films such as The Breakfast Club & Bladerunner, not to mention games like The Longest Journey series and Bioshock Infinite, I felt that this game was really pitched at me as an adult and not the younger audience that I thought it was aimed at.

There is no doubt that some people will bounce off the game, the character Chloe can be very diffiult to relate to initially and I can see that some people would dismiss the game very quickly as a result. For me however, the game got under my skin and after the inevitably tough climax to the game I found myself thinking about the game for days afterwards, about the story, about the characters and the effect my choices had on them. The start of chapter four will stay with me forever as a powerful piece of storytelling I think, something that very few games I've enjoyed in the last thirty odd years have been able to achieve.

A beautiful example of intelligent interactive fiction, hella recommended.