Life is Strange: Episode 1 - Chrysalis

 Xbox One
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 118 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 97 out of 118
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 118
  3. Negative: 11 out of 118

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  1. Miguelxdz
    Feb 7, 2015
    5
    A friend recommended me this game a lot (he hasn't played a complete Telltale game) and i said well for 5 dollars i will give it a shot. The character are a little blank, the protagonist is a walking cliche of the antisocial high school girl i mean don't get me wrong some character were appealing (kinda) but the thing is that they are high school cliches that you would expect from a teenA friend recommended me this game a lot (he hasn't played a complete Telltale game) and i said well for 5 dollars i will give it a shot. The character are a little blank, the protagonist is a walking cliche of the antisocial high school girl i mean don't get me wrong some character were appealing (kinda) but the thing is that they are high school cliches that you would expect from a teen movie. Oh looks she is the rich blonde who is mean with the main character because he is different OMG the main character is different so cool but everyone think is lame. "sight". The store is nothing really incredible, Telltales games usually specialize in a thing for each game (Walking Dead-Drama, Borderlands-Comedy, WAU-Badass detective work, GoT-The family above all to a goal) and those usually hit the spot. But what is this, like high school drama and stuff i don't know. It is neither funny, or badass, or something actually dramatic is just a story without much personality. Lets see, the "puzzles" were terrible i mean they were mostly things that people could fix without needing to get back in time. The lip syncing of the characters was really mediocre even thou the models looked fine, but i don't know the main character model made me think in the "Beyond Two Souls" character, not in a bad way.

    In the end i think it would mostly appeal to other gamers, maybe i want its target and i understand that but i would probable choose any Telltale serie over this, in those you do a lot more than just choosing answers and watching useless junk in the environment (remember the awesome robot scene in Tales From Borderlands now thats something).
    Overview
    Pros
    -Cheap, i goes you could give it a shot without putting much money on the line.
    -Nice character models.
    -The story is decent...
    Cons
    -...not the way the show it to you.
    -Lip sync is bad.
    -Not much interaction except for answering things.
    -Cliche as hell characters
    -Voices are pretty bland
    -Why would you solve something in that way?
    -Why are you so clumsy?! God!
    -Too hipster, like im cool with hipster stuff but this is way over the top.

    5-I didn't like it, but maybe you could like it like my friend, worst case scenario you waste 5 bucks. Give it a shot if you are in need of an afternoon game or you are waiting for the next Telltale game.    … Expand
  2. TheQuietGamer
    Nov 24, 2017
    7
    Chrysalis is a solid introductory episode to developer DONTNOD's take on the Telltale formula. It's less concerned with setting up the overall plot right out of the gate, and is instead focused more on introducing players to the gameplay mechanics, world, and characters that inhabit. Much like other modern episodic adventure games, player choice in the main driving force behind theChrysalis is a solid introductory episode to developer DONTNOD's take on the Telltale formula. It's less concerned with setting up the overall plot right out of the gate, and is instead focused more on introducing players to the gameplay mechanics, world, and characters that inhabit. Much like other modern episodic adventure games, player choice in the main driving force behind the experience. Your actions have consequences, not all of which are obvious. Where Life Is Strange stands out from it's contemporaries is in it's time manipulation mechanics. Don't like the immediate consequences of a certain decision? The game gives you the opportunity to go back and change that while still leaving the long-term effects a mystery. You can even go back and alter seemingly minor dialog choices or random events in the world. It's a novel and exciting mechanic that allows for more freedom than, say, a Telltale game.

    There's ultimately not too much going on in this first episode. The bigger story at play here is only revealed right at the very end of this chapter's story, and it's not quite clear how everything else is going to tie in together, if at all. We still get to meet some cool characters, watch our lead go through a sort of coming of age tale complete with time-traveling powers, and it's all brought to life with a sort of indie-drama hipster vibe. It's compelling and I can already see this going to be an emotional ride.

    It might not be the most action-packed introduction, but the time travel mechanics provide a nice new spin on the concept and I'm curious to see how my choices will affect the story going forward. The amount of decisions to make here already give this episode a high-amount of replay value by itself. I can only imagine the number of possibilities with all of the episodes together in the full game. Some very minor glitches are present and while the stylish graphics do help cover up a lot, it's easy to see flaws in things like lip syncing and character animations. I also think the lead actress doesn't always show the appropriate level of emotion in certain scenes. I get she's a hipster, but come on. Most of this episodes issues go away in the face of some truly great decision making and the novel mechanics. So overall episode 1 is good and worth trying out to see if the story is for you. It's free so won't even have to put money down on it until you decide to branch out to the other episodes or not.

    7.8/10    … Expand
  3. McGillotine
    Jul 2, 2015
    6
    Life is indeed strange in this choice based RPG as you take the role Maxine Caulfield a girl who moves back to her home town and around the same time develops her ability to change and traverse time, offer the player different ways to work around solving problems in the game allowing players to undo their actions yet however taking away from the immersion aspect in which your choices haveLife is indeed strange in this choice based RPG as you take the role Maxine Caulfield a girl who moves back to her home town and around the same time develops her ability to change and traverse time, offer the player different ways to work around solving problems in the game allowing players to undo their actions yet however taking away from the immersion aspect in which your choices have consequences which you can now redo to achieve the better outcome. Unfortunately when presented with the game, many of the games theme and ideas feel forced taking away from the reliability to the character who is filled with cliches to the point of which you believe the character was written by John Green in another one of his melodramatic, mediocre works. What is presented in the game however isn't bad as it most definitely shows passion and capability to create something remarkable, however that all lies in the roles of the developers now… Expand

Awards & Rankings

49
#49 Best Xbox One Game of 2015
68
#68 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. DarkStation
    Apr 11, 2015
    100
    Life Is Strange takes Telltale’s formula of consequence driven storytelling to create something original and extremely compelling.
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  2. X-ONE Magazine UK
    Mar 10, 2015
    80
    Clumsy dialogue aside, this first episode of Life is Strange is a brilliant introduction to a story we can't wait to see the rest of. [Issue#121, p.76]
  3. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Mar 4, 2015
    70
    Its sledgehammer subtlety is balanced by a genuinely good heart. [March 2015, p.76]
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