Not sure how I got the idea, but somehow I ended up searching for Life is Strange on Steam, noticed the first episode (of the original) was free and installed it.
Yesterday I finally played episode 1 and immediately bought the other 4 episodes after.
According to my steam achievement, I actually played Life is Strange for 40 minutes back in 2016, though I didn’t stick with it back then.
Looking back, I’d say I was definitely in the wrong age group back then to enjoy and relate to the story properly.
Now I really enjoy the characters and I’m interested to experience the rest of the story. Might make another post when I finished it :)
I’ve always despised teen drama in media. Back when I was a teen, and now. Can’t stand it. For that reason, I have zero interest in playing the sequels. Furthermore, some of Life is Strange’s writing is downright amateurish.
But somehow, the game threads the needle of the formula in a way I can’t explain (and from what I read the developers weren’t ever able to fully replicate it either). The gameplay, the themes, the great acting/directing, the amazing soundtrack, the perfectly paced escalation of the stakes… It all works together to attach the player very deeply to the characters. I played it a decade ago and the ending absolutely shook me to my emotional core. To this day one of my favorite works of fiction.
I think I managed to overcome my dislike towards teen drama in media and started approaching it from a place of empathy, at least to some extent, which makes it way more tolerable. Same with characters making stupid decisions in emotional moments. That doesn’t mean I give a pass to every single piece of “stupid” or “illogical” writing but it helps treat what happens like a real event rather than “well they should do X like a perfect logical machine”.
My relationship with LiS games is a bit weird. I loved both the first game and Before the Storm but for whatever reason couldn’t muster any interest in any of the following titles. I don’t know why that is but none of them managed to grab my attention again. Maybe the first two came out at the right time, maybe they struck a familiar cord - either way they became a pretty important part of my life as well. Probably not as my favorite games ever (this honestly changes depending on a day and my mood/headspace) but important nonetheless.