Life is Strange: Episode 1 - Chrysalis

 PlayStation 4
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 523 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 409 out of 523
  2. Mixed: 58 out of 523
  3. Negative: 56 out of 523

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  1. Alvare
    Dec 22, 2015
    7
    Ok this game is good, no worries on that. But the story itself reminds me of something already seen. Donnie Darko to be straight.
    Too many similarities with that movie.
    Also i didn't like much the fact that there is no real reaction when she discovers her "ability".

    "Hey i can bend time! It's so normal!"

    Even Hiro of tv series "Heroes" had a better reaction to that!

    Poor writers.
  2. Darko84
    Feb 6, 2015
    5
    Life is Strange it is a good game if you like empty stories based on superficial topics.
    Definitely I didn't like it.
    It started quite interesting but then it turned to a teenager movie lacking all appeal to the main character.
    There was not a good set up for her discovering her powers.
  3. AuronBlake
    Jan 31, 2015
    7
    Ok this game is good, no worries on that. But the story itself reminds me of something already seen. Donnie Darko to be straight.
    Too many similarities with that movie.
    Also i didn't like much the fact that there is no real reaction when she discovers her "ability".

    "Hey i can bend time! It's so normal!"

    Even Hiro of tv series "Heroes" had a better reaction to that!

    Poor writers.
  4. dlopatnikov
    Jan 30, 2015
    7
    Hipster’s paradise. Teenage science fiction. Also a game which is so obviously oriented towards 16 to 20 year old girls. You wanted it, you got it. So are you happy now? I’m not so much. Sadly the game is more «Twilight saga» than «Source Code». And I’m honestly not very fond of watching the lives of all of those losers, hipsters, skaters, wannabe artists, smug leftist college professorsHipster’s paradise. Teenage science fiction. Also a game which is so obviously oriented towards 16 to 20 year old girls. You wanted it, you got it. So are you happy now? I’m not so much. Sadly the game is more «Twilight saga» than «Source Code». And I’m honestly not very fond of watching the lives of all of those losers, hipsters, skaters, wannabe artists, smug leftist college professors and so on. Terrible crowd. I hope there will be more sci-fi and less teenage drama in the next episode.

    P.S. In spite of everything I said above, the game is actually quite good. So give it a try. It’s not my cup of tea, but maybe it’s yours.    … Expand
  5. AUTOMATON
    Feb 17, 2015
    5
    There’s a moment near the beginning of the inaugural chapter of Life is Strange inaugural chapter in which you’re given insight into where it’s going, and it comes not from insecure, high-schooler heroine underdog Max Caulfield’s Prince of Persia-esque time-rewinding ability or near-future clairvoyance, but a humble peek at the insecurity-ridden journal sitting atop her desk. The entryThere’s a moment near the beginning of the inaugural chapter of Life is Strange inaugural chapter in which you’re given insight into where it’s going, and it comes not from insecure, high-schooler heroine underdog Max Caulfield’s Prince of Persia-esque time-rewinding ability or near-future clairvoyance, but a humble peek at the insecurity-ridden journal sitting atop her desk. The entry reads: “I thought being 18 meant I didn’t have to deal with this teenage drama anymore. I THOUGHT.” The scene provides context: students of the prestigious Blackwell Academy sit around in cliques (or alone, effectively ostracised) and there’s a clear power hierarchy in play with the rich “Vortex Club” divas of the school sitting at the top.

    Max Caulfield, as you might have guessed, isn’t at the top of the social ladder; in fact she’s barely on the first rung. Having silently moved back to her home town of Arcadia, Oregon, Max is struggling to forge a newer, cooler identity for herself in her first month at a new school. Perhaps it’s age getting to me, or a lack of vivacity in the writing, but I can’t relate to the confidence-lacking high-schooler when the criteria governing high school hierarchies is so arbitrary to adult eyes. You might find yourself wanting Max to shape up and get her **** together instead of rooting for her—mileage on how well she carries the story will depend on how real the vicissitudes of high school life are to you.

    You can glean all this backstory from reading journal entries and text messages, but it’s Episode 1’s greatest (and arguably, only) strength that you can organically intuit the backstory and who’s-who character drama (of the near two dozen characters who seem like they’ll be important in later episodes) in its 90-minute clear time simply through context and conversation alone. That lets you set your own pace through the episode if you aren’t the text-log reading type.

    It’s nice to have an adventure game that doesn’t baby you with exposition, even if it doesn’t heap on the challenge, either: Life is Strange is more firmly in the vein of The Walking Dead-style dialogue-driven adventure games than the esoteric, obscure item-based fumblings of Grim Fandango. You don’t have to worry about not having the items to progress as the tools you need are provided in a given scene, though you’ll need to use time-rewinding magic courtesy of the left trigger in conjunction with them.

    Through some kind of as-of-yet unexplained divine intervention, Max has the ability to rewind time in any given scene: Fail a social interaction with a cute sk8terboi through sheer awkwardness? Accidentally spill the contents of a file onto a wet floor? Rewind time until you tick back past the event marker on your time metre, or keep rewinding even further back than that past multiple markers to redo multiple choices. Since you experience the time-rewind from Max’s perspective rather than from an onlooker (as you do in the Prince of Persia games), Max retains her knowledge of the future as well as any items she was holding. And you can do this as many times as you want until you finalise your choices for good by leaving an area.

    In practice that means you can undo the immediate results of your actions—which seemingly eliminates consequence—but regardless of which action you finally settle on they’ll be recorded, presumably so they’ll factor into future episodes. As it stands there’s not any great, meaningful variance in Episode 1 no matter how you play it. There are even several choices which feel like binary "right and wrong", such as intervening to break up a conflict, which will result in a cheery friendship, and not doing so, which will result in a fractured one.

    At least, that’s how the choices appear now. Looking at Episode 1 in isolation, it makes it hard to judge the game harshly for these “shortcomings”. So what matters then is Episode 1 selling you on seeing where things are going, and sadly it doesn’t. It’s little more than the tutorial, a who’s-who primer, and a premise set-up you’d expect. Although I do want to see where it goes, that’s a statement on my time and money investment in the title rather than attributable to anything the game itself has done.

    Life is Strange is, so far, a well-worn concept with nothing particularly exceptional about it right down to the visual design which uses flat-shading with anatomically correct characters in an effect that can fall in-and-out of looking stylistically cell-shaded and just drab depending on the way the lighting plays on the scene. That said, there’s potential for it to grow into something great if it can leverage its inter-related two dozen characters into a grander story down the line. But unlike Max Caulfield I can’t rewind time, so I won’t be able to attribute any of that to Episode 1 at this point in time. As it stands right now, Life is Strange is merely an unremarkable game with potential. (Reviewed by: Shehzaan Abdulla, AUTOMATON Writer)    … Expand
  6. CurlypuffTV
    Feb 8, 2015
    6
    I really wish that I can have enjoyed this game. Honestly, between the scene tearing and the lag. I couldn't really play much of it. But from what I did get to play the story line is great good. Almost like a interactive novel/book. Just make sure your computer can handle it.

    Thanks, check my out of youtube. For a little gameplay preview. @ curlypufftv.
  7. me2427
    Apr 7, 2015
    7
    Twilight with time travel. If you like the previous Tell Tale games and Twilight, then this game is for you. Some interesting uses of time travel, but most moments are pretty run of the mill. > Make a mistake, then rewind time to do it correctly... repeat. The character is a moody teenage girl - who I don't actually like that much, but the story and immersion in the environment makes upTwilight with time travel. If you like the previous Tell Tale games and Twilight, then this game is for you. Some interesting uses of time travel, but most moments are pretty run of the mill. > Make a mistake, then rewind time to do it correctly... repeat. The character is a moody teenage girl - who I don't actually like that much, but the story and immersion in the environment makes up for this. Pretty difficult to fully enjoy a game when you dislike the protagonist however.… Expand
  8. Unspoken
    Mar 18, 2015
    7
    Playing this game is like watching a typical American movie which action takes place in a high school / college background. If you like this type of setting and you like story driven games that you will like it.

    The game has interesting many dimensional story and somehow it manages to provide a lot of characters that will stick into your memory. Unfortunately the voice acting is the    Playing this game is like watching a typical American movie which action takes place in a high school / college background. If you like this type of setting and you like story driven games that you will like it.

    The game has interesting many dimensional story and somehow it manages to provide a lot of characters that will stick into your memory. Unfortunately the voice acting is the weakest part of this game. The main character sounds more like a 16 not 18.

    From the technical aspects they "forgot" to synchronize lips with words and that hurts an eye from time to time. It clearly shows that Square Enix here is more like a publisher of this game, not a developer. Otherwise they would never allow such thing.

    Overall I think it is a nice game, something that will keep you busy on one evening. However, the game quality is not near such titles like Heavy Rain or Fahrenheit / Indigo Prophecy. Yes, the game which is 10 years old is still better than this one.    … Expand
  9. Topfpflanze
    Oct 26, 2017
    7
    If you ever wanted to know how a teenager girl's life and mind might look like, this is your chance. It's about a high school girl's life, her daily situations, her dreams, her problems. Actually the girl can reverse time, so you have the chance to change your decision from bad to worse whenever you want. No matter what you do, the consequences will prevail. This is exactly how anIf you ever wanted to know how a teenager girl's life and mind might look like, this is your chance. It's about a high school girl's life, her daily situations, her dreams, her problems. Actually the girl can reverse time, so you have the chance to change your decision from bad to worse whenever you want. No matter what you do, the consequences will prevail. This is exactly how an adolescent feels like, all the time. If you are older, you will feel reminded of times you thought long time forgotten. And yes, it's boring. Even though there is crime and murder everything drowns in the desperate dullness of a place that should never have been populated. Apropos nature: You will see the worst drawn trees in your life, and much of the other graphics details is sketch-like, unfinished. I guess the game might be a good recommendation for many female players, but it's just a guess.… Expand
  10. areyouhuman
    Apr 2, 2015
    7
    Good premise with an excellent hook and some cool graphics. Features some very bad dialog and voice acting. Interesting to play as an 18 year old girl, though it diminishes the stakes, somewhat. Right off the bat, a wealthy white kid is set up as an unstable rapist, so there's no shortage of cliches, but there's also some less flat characters, and the games only mechanic is kind of fun toGood premise with an excellent hook and some cool graphics. Features some very bad dialog and voice acting. Interesting to play as an 18 year old girl, though it diminishes the stakes, somewhat. Right off the bat, a wealthy white kid is set up as an unstable rapist, so there's no shortage of cliches, but there's also some less flat characters, and the games only mechanic is kind of fun to play around with. Not very innovative, but it might get better.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

97
#97 Best PS4 Game of 2015
61
#61 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 43 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 43
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 43
  3. Negative: 0 out of 43
  1. games(TM)
    Mar 11, 2015
    70
    Enigmatic in parts, frustrating in others, Dontnod demonstrates it can fuse the domestic with the supernatural with a deft hand, and succeeds in creating a pastel world brimming with intrigue in about three hours.
    Read full review
  2. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Mar 7, 2015
    70
    A world worth inhabiting; one full of intrigue and murky consequences. [March 2015, p.92]
  3. DarkZero
    Feb 27, 2015
    70
    Someone once told me to not buy things for what you want them to be, but buy them for what they currently are. Based on that sound reasoning, I would recommend holding off on Life is Strange for a while, but keep an eye on how well future episodes are received.
    Read full review
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