Throughout my life, I've been an avid gamer. From the Nintendo Wii I was gifted when I was ten, I've always had a curiosity and interest in both creating, exploring, and developing a virtual reality. Fast forward two years later when my Aunt gifted me the Sims 3 and my gaming passion developed into a full-fledged activity I looked forward to doing every day.
I bought my first PlayStation 4 at the beginning of this year and began exploring the genre of the console rather than just the PC games I had been playing since I was 8.
When I was finishing my freshman year of college, I was torn between possibly transferring colleges to back home, due to some mental health issues.
I was in intensive therapy as well as undergoing the transition as I had moved back home for the summer.
I remember walking into GameStop and looking for a game I'd seen looped into a WhatCulture Gaming video. It was called Life is Strange.
It was summer, I felt lonely and as if I could have all the time in the world to play the game.
Life is Strange is a story-based game that takes place in the fictional town of Arcadia Bay, Oregon at angsty teen HQ, Blackwell Academy, a boarding school for the arts. Max Caufield, the central character, is an Arcadia Bay native who returned back from Seattle in order to study under the great photographer, Mark Jefferson.
In the first chapter, you'll be introduced to Max-- as she's a shy, talented young girl, simply looking for friends. You quickly realize Max has the ability to reverse time and does so as she stops her old friend, Chloe, from being shot in the women's bathroom.
Once Chloe is reunited with Max, they take off on an adventure in Arcadia Bay to find Rachel, Chloe's missing best friend and lover.
The graphics are beautiful, and the story-line unfolds with different choices to dictate the outcome of the story.
You'll encounter Kate, a shy girl at Blackwell, being bullied for a viral video of her drunk at a party. This side story shows the power of friendship as well as the emphasis on simply being kind to those who are around you because you never know the battle they face. You'll have the chance to talk Kate down from jumping off of a building, in which either she jumps or steps down from the ledge. This iconic choice in gaming was one of the first to portray suicide and depression as an ongoing, serious disease. It showed young people like me that we're not alone and taught me as well to always have a wholesome heart, as you never know people's struggles.
The story shows a growing connection between Max and Chloe, as Max develops her powers further into shaping time and space.
The most riveting, pivotal part of the game, however, came when you returned back in time to when Chloe and Max were children.
When they were young, Chloe's father was killed in a car accident on his way to pick up her mother from the grocery store.
Once Max realizes she can control time, she ventures back to attempt to stop Chloe's father from ever taking his car keys, a chapter in which you actively stash and throw away his car keys. Her father doesn't take the car, and as a result, lives on.
You're then taken forward to today. Max is no longer friends with Chloe, Chloe's mother never remarried, and the world seems drastically different. When you track down Chloe, you find her in a wheelchair, barely able to breathe or talk on her own. Later in the chapter, you discover that because her father didn't die, she received a car from him for her sixteenth birthday, which she was struck in and lost all motor ability. Chloe insists that Max increase her medication in order to allow Chloe to no longer live a life of pain and suffering, to which you can actually choose whether or not to.
You then realize how wrong everything turned out and return back to the moment her dad left, and have to actively allow him to take the keys and go to ultimately meet his death. It's a huge turning point in the plot and showed me the power of the past.
As someone who suffers with past decisions and choices, this game finally put all of that at ease. I finally accepted that whatever choices I made, whenever it happened, were going to be for the best. I was finally able to let go of the anxiety that had been crippling me for over a year.
The game unfolds and you learn more about the missing girl as well as the strange happenings all over Arcadia Bay. You soon realize that the time traveling has had an ultimate effect on the climate and environment. You realize that the more you time travel, the more dangerous the weather gets.
Finally, without spoilers, you'll be forced to make the most turning choice as to either accept the chaos you've caused or to go back in time and stop it all from ever happening.
The game explores many themes not common in video games. Themes of chaos theory as well as the butterfly effect all show the player how high stakes our morals and choices are, even when we think they don't matter. You can develop a romance between the main characters, showing a rare sight into a lesbian/bisexual couple.
The story also exploits rape culture, as well as the danger of drug abuse and white privilege.
The game is absolutely stunning. The graphics, music, and characters all combine to make a stunning impression on the gamer. For myself, this game taught me the value of acceptance and tolerance for yourself. It taught me that there really is no difference between what you should do and what the right thing is.
I thank this game for every lesson it gave me. It set me back on to a path simply by telling me to forgive myself and to accept what the past was. Because of LiS, I feel I can look back on the mistakes I've made with a smile and to know that what has happened has happened for a reason. I'm so grateful for this game, and I encourage all young people to play it, even just one chapter. I promise you'll learn a ton about yourself as well learn how to be kind to yourself and others.
