Story Overview

STORY OVERVIEW

Life is Strange begins with Max Caulfield who finds herself caught in a ferocious storm, unsure of how she ended up in this location. After trying to make her way through the wind and rain, she suddenly finds herself back in class at her school, Blackwell Academy. Certain that what she’d just experienced wasn’t a dream, Max feels somewhat out of it for the remainder of the period while her photography professor, Mr. Jefferson, lectures on about selfies being modern examples of portraiture. After class, Mr. Jefferson encourages Max to submit a photo to the Everyday Heroes contest.

Max goes to the bathroom to splash water on her face. Feeling insecure about her photograph that she was going to submit to the contest, she rips it in half and the pieces fall to the floor. Then, she sees a blue butterfly off in the corner of the bathroom. Just after snapping a photo, a guy walks into the bathroom in a panic. Shortly after, a girl with blue hair walks in asking for her money. The guy pulls out a gun and shoots the girl. Max jumps out from the corner and reaches her arm out toward them when suddenly she is back in class, going over portraitures again. She realizes that she went back in time and experiments with her new ability in class a bit before running to the bathroom to stop the girl from being shot by setting off the fire alarm.

Max notices some weird things going on at school such as the security guard David Madsen harassing another student, Kate Marsh. It is also believed that Nathan, the boy from the bathroom, has been involved with some drug schemes as mentioned in the bathroom.

Later that day, Max learns that the girl from the bathroom is none other than her old best friend, Chloe Price. Max had been living in Seattle for the past few years but returned to her home town of Arcadia Bay to attend Blackwell Academy for their photography program. She hasn’t talked to Chloe in quite some time and it is clear that Chloe was hurt by this. They go to Chloe’s house and Max learns that Chloe was close friends with the missing girl whose posters are all over school, Rachel Amber. It is implied that they were in a relationship with one another. Chloe’s stepfather is David Madsen, the campus security guard. He demands to come in Chloe’s room to tell her to stop blasting the music. He is harsh and overpowering toward her, and accuses her of stealing his gun. Chloe says she didn’t steal it.

Max decides to confide in Chloe about her new time travel powers after having another vision of the storm. Chloe puts Max to the test, asking her questions she would only know with her powers. Although Chloe is excited, Max is hesitant and sure that her powers won’t last forever. The two go to the junkyard by the train tracks where Chloe and Rachel used to hang out, and test David’s gun which Chloe revealed she stole after all. While there, a man named Frank comes and says Chloe owes him money. The exchange is very hostile.

Meanwhile, a video leaks and circulates around campus of Kate Marsh. Students shame her for the video and it is clear she is having a difficult time dealing with it. On a rainy afternoon, students rush to the girls dorm where Kate is on the roof about to jump. Max tries to rewind time but finds her powers are no longer working. She makes her way to the roof to convince Kate not to jump. (It is at this point that the player’s decisions can affect the rest of the story. They can stop Kate from jumping or not stop her. Because of this, this summary will not be touching on Kate in a detailed manner from this point forward).

The entire campus is shaken about Kate Marsh. Max and Chloe believe that Rachel’s disappearance and Kate Marsh’s leaked video are connected, and they decide to start investigating. They sneak into the school at night and try to find clues in the Principal’s office. After finding a few new leads, they sneak into the pool and swim for a while before sneaking off when David arrives. Max sleeps over Chloe’s house. In the morning, they go to the diner and see Frank is there. Chloe believes his camper could have information about Rachel and so they sneak inside to find evidence that Rachel and Frank were in a relationship. Upset, Chloe lashes out at Max and reflects on the death of her father, who tragically died in a car accident when they were younger.

Max returns to her room and looks at an old photo of her and Chloe that was taken the day Chloe’s father died. Suddenly she realizes that her powers are taking a new form and she can use this photo to go back to the time the photo was taken. In a hurry, Max takes step to make sure Chloe’s father, William, does not die. When she returns to the present day, several things are altered and she finds that although William is still alive, Chloe is in a wheelchair, paralyzed. She spends the day with Chloe and it is clear the Price family is struggling with Chloe’s medical bills. Chloe asks Max to turn up her morphine and let her die. Realizing how her meddling in past events messed with time, Max returns to the day William died and this time allows him to die. She returns to the present day and everything is back to normal. It is implied she made up with Chloe at some point.

The two continue with their investigation with all of the evidence they have gathered. It leads them to a barn in the middle of nowhere. They find a secret latch beneath the hay that leads to a locked door. They unlock it and inside find what looks to be a bunker for the apocalypse. After investigating, it is revealed that Kate and Rachel, along with many other girls, were taken into this room against their will and photographed. They find a lead to where Rachel is, at the junkyard. Chloe hurriedly drives over and they dig up Rachel’s dead body.

Believing Nathan to be behind Rachel’s death and the dark room, Chloe and Max go to the Vortex Club party to find Nathan and turn him in. When they realize Nathan isn’t there, they leave and receive a text from Nathan saying he won’t leave any evidence for them. Believing he is going to move Rachel’s body, they hurry to the junkyard. There, Max is drugged and can’t use her powers. Powerless, she tries to warn Chloe when someone shoots Chloe in the head. Max looks up to see it is Mr. Jefferson.

Max wakes up in the dark room, strapped to a chair. Using photographs, Max manages to jump through time in order to stop Jefferson and save Chloe. She jumps through several different timelines, messing with time further and further, fixing things only to make more problems. She ends up back at the dark room where David arrives and rescues her. Max goes out in the storm to find another photograph to help her go back in time again and save Chloe. Outside the storm from her visions is happening. The destruction is overwhelming.

She manages to go back in time to the Vortex Club party and tell Chloe what happened. Then she finds herself in the storm with Chloe, overlooking Arcadia Bay at the lighthouse. She passes out and goes through a trippy dream sequence, before waking up in the storm again. Unsure what to do, Chloe suggests that this storm is the result of her fated demise. Max must make the decision - sacrifice Chloe by returning back in time to the bathroom and letting Nathan shoot her and therefore stopping the storm, or keeping Chloe alive and sacrifice the town of Arcadia Bay. If Max sacrifices Chloe, the two share a kiss, Max lets Chloe die, and attends Chloe’s funeral in a very gut-wrenching montage. If Max sacrifices Arcadia Bay, the two drive out of town through the destruction. Life is Strange is at both times frustrating and fantastic. The story deals with a lot of heavy topics that many games would sooner shy away from tackling. Additionally, the game is beautifully cinematic and contains a banger of a soundtrack. Despite the good, the game gets a bit lost with trying to do too much with the plot. This leads to an ending that while very emotional, isn’t very strong in terms of what the story set up. Taking all of this into account, Life is Strange seems to be at a Level 3 when it comes to its story. The good and the bad average each other out. Level: 3 out of 5.