This game lifted me from depression. This is so much better than Telltale games or Detroit. It is very rewarding, cathartic and meaningful.

Generally, I very much dislike everything that uses the time travel trope (as going back in time contradicts the nature of spacetime, a cornerstone of our objective perception of reality). But don't we always rewind time in games, changing our recent decisions and experimenting with different scenarios? Life is Strange just incorporates this gaming practice to be the core element of its gameplay. And this gameplay serves a wonderful story.

Adventure games and some RPGs tend to mention "impactful choices" and "global consequences" in their marketing. However, players frequently do not feel that their choices and actions actually matter. (It even does not always have something to do with the formal extent of non-linearity of a game.) Life is Strange presents us with relatable characters and everyday problems that make a player think and feel more than life-and-death dilemmas of a typical game with a fantastical, extreme setting (like The Walking Dead). The hardest decisions in Life is Strange may have no impact on the further development of the story, but they will influence you.

Many games keep you involved, agitated or excited by offering you choices whose consequences, even immediate ones, you cannot calculate and, frequently, giving you little time to decide. In Life is Strange you have literally all the time in the world and can scout various alternative realities ahead, thanks to the organic time rewind feature, so you can make more informed choices, compared to other games. Nevertheless, its questions are difficult per se. Life is not simple and sometimes there is no right or wrong answer.

Storytelling in this game hugely relies on environment and journal entries, which are more utilitarian and feel relatively detached in other games. Life is Strange provides us with an example of how games as a medium can have their own unique multi-component language. I reckon in the 31st century Life is Strange will be studied in art classes as a breakthrough in game creation.

The most frequent complaint about this game concerns poor lip animations, which I did not even notice during my first run (since I had to focus on subtitles). This game is hauntingly beautiful though. Probably, if Dontnod had Quantic Dream's budgets, it would be even better, but I do not think they really need them (furthermore, unlimited budgets tend to make authors focused on the form and distract them from the content).

I think it is the only game I can recommend to absolutely everyone, even people who have never played a single video game in their lives (well, everyone who knows English well enough).

10 wowsers outta 10

Thank you very much, Dontnod, for this elevating and touching experience. I'm looking forward to the next instalment.