Life Is Strange

Life Is Strange is an episodic graphic adventure video game developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Square Enix, released from January to October 2015.

"Max, you are not crazy. You are not dreaming. It's time to be an everyday hero."

—Max Caulfield

Max Caulfield, a photography student, discovers that she has the ability to rewind time at any moment and foresees an approaching storm about to destroy her hometown of Arcadia Bay. Reunited with her childhood friend Chloe Price, Max takes on the responsibility of preventing the storm and solving the disappearance of Rachel Amber, Chloe's friend.

Life Is Strange: Before the Storm, a prequel developed by Deck Nine and focusing on Chloe, launched in August 2017. A sequel Life Is Strange 2, with an unrelated story, was released in September 2018. A free spin-off The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, related to the sequel, was made available in June 2018.

A comic book series of the same name, set after the "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending of the game, was released by Titan Comics beginning November 2018.

Tropes used in Life Is Strange include:

Actually Pretty Funny: Max finds Victoria's "go fuck your selfie" line to be mean but funny.
And Some Other Stuff: Averted. Episode 3 offers the combination of sodium chlorate (weed killer), sugar and a soda can to make an improvised pipe bomb. The first two do produce a violent chemical reaction with an ignition source, though it's doubtful a mere soda can and duct tape would serve as an effective container to make a bomb with.
Angry Guard Dog: Pompidou guards his owner Frank.
Arcadia: In name only. Arcadia Bay is not one of the best places you'd want to live. However, if you speak with people around the town, they imply that it had been a much nicer place before the Prescotts took over.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In her diary, Max details why she doesn't want to reveal her powers to Warren:

"He would want to marry me immediately, just so he could have his own human time machine. Or capture me for scientific experiments. Or make me go to the drive-in with him."

Artistic License Physics:
- The game uses the chaos theory as a rough explanation as for why Max's powers are causing disasters. However, the theory only deals with the behavior of a system which can have radically different outcomes based on the initial conditions. In this situation, the theory would only apply to the changes that result from the choices Max makes, and would not explain phenomenon that are strange and/or outright impossible.
- The creators admitted that tearing Polaroids apart like Max does several times in the game is not possible, as they have a fairly tough plastic coating, but they put it in for dramatic effect.
Axes At School: Nathan brings a gun to school and aims it at Chloe in Episode 1.
Bathroom Stall of Overheard Insults: In Episode 2, Victoria and Taylor gossip about Max and Kate, while Max is hidden in the shower.
The Beautiful Elite: The greatest concentration of beauties makes up the Vortex Club. Rachel deserves special mention because no matter what her contemporaries think of her personality, everyone agress that she's drop-dead gorgeous.
Behind the Black:
- The game starts with Max's very first tornado vision. Said tornado is in plain sight for most of the segment, yet Max doesn't comment on or even consciously notice it until she's literally standing at the edge of the cliff overlooking the town and its coastline.
- Early on in Episode 3, Chloe does a Jump Scare on Max in front of the school building. However, the place was empty when Max gets there, and there was nothing for Chloe to hide behind to surprise Max from.
Black Bug Room: The Nightmare Sequence in Episode 5, where Max has to directly confront all of her subconscious fears.
Blatant Lies: Victoria claims that she only posted the video of Kate because she got drunk and did it as a joke, but in Episode 2, a quite clearly sober Victoria writes the link to the video on the mirror of the girls bathroom, meaning she lied to Max's face.
Brought Down to Normal:
- At the end of Episode 2, Max sees Kate about to jump and freezes time, but right as she gets to the rooftop, her powers fail, leaving her with one chance to save Kate.
- At the end of Episode 4, Max is drugged and cannot rewind effectively, right as Chloe is shot dead.
Bus Crash: Nathan disappears in Episode 4. The next episode, Mr Jefferson, when asked about it by Max, says he is "dead and buried".
Butterfly of Transformation: Episode 1 is titled "Chrysalis", and a butterfly icon appears anytime you make a decision that will have consequences, good or bad.
Call Back: Max's line "Eat shit and die" in Episode 5 is a reference to a graffiti in the junkyard saying "Eat shit and live".
Catapult Nightmare: Max wakes up screaming "Kate" in Episode 3.
Cel Shading: Each texture in the game is hand-painted to achieve this look.
Circling Monologue: Victoria disses Max while circling around her when the latter tries to enter the dormitory.
Come with Me If You Want to Live: Kind of. Max's encounter with Nathan in the parking lot in Episode 1 culminates with Chloe driving up and Max jumping in with her to get away from Nathan.
Coming of Age Story: Max, Chloe and Rachel are all in their late teens. The story deals in some part with Max learning that becoming an adult means dealing with the consequences — good and bad — of her choices.
Continue Your Mission, Dammit!: The game will try to nudge you into getting on with the story if you take too long looking at objects or otherwise not progressing. For example, both Warren and Chloe will send an additional text to Max if she takes too long getting to them.
Covers Always Lie: A minor case. The game's official art shows Max using her power while holding out her left hand. In the game, she does this with her right hand. Max actually reproduces said image in her journal.
Cruelty Is the Only Option:
- The only way to get Victoria to stop blocking the door to the girls dorm is to ruin her outfit with water and paint. This is then followed by a choice of being kind or cruel about her predicament.
- In Episode 5, Max has to turn on a sprinkler that will put out the fire that is blocking her way. In the process, a nearby fisherman will get electrocuted and die. While Max can rewind from the other side of the fire to save him and turn on the sprinkler from there, there is no way she can save him without killing him first.
Darker and Edgier: The game slowly moves into this territory, starting out as a somewhat lighthearted coming-of-age story with high school drama and a mystery to solve. As the truth behind Rachel's disappearance comes to light, things become less and less light, with Max making harder decisions and the weather events getting steadily worse. By the time we've gotten to Episode 5, the town is on the brink of destruction, and at the end of it all, Max has to make the hardest decision of her life.
Decided by One Vote: The success of Ms. Grant's petition to stop David from installing security cameras hinges on Max's participation.
Distress Call: At the art gallery, Max receives a garbled call from Chloe who is stuck by the beach.
Do Not Call Me "Paul": "Max, never Maxine."
Do Not Do This Cool Thing: In-universe. Max quips that an abstinence poster must drive people to have sex, which isn't that far from the truth.
Dreaming of Things to Come: Max's Daydream Surprise in the opening scene of Episode 1 is a premonition of what's gonna happen to Arcadia Bay four days into the future.
Enter Stage Window: Chloe and Max leave Chloe's room via her window in order to avoid David.
Failed a Spot Check: In the scenes where Max is hiding in the bathroom while Nathan and Chloe are having their argument, not only does Nathan not check at all to see if anyone else is in the restroom, but Chloe only does a cursory glance of each stall without looking behind them (where Max is). This is doubly stupid because, realistically, if either of them had looked at the mirrors, Max would have been easily visible.
Feminist Fantasy: You play as a female character who can rewind time, and she uses this superpower to help others and catch sexual predators. Also, half of the game's main cast are females who have as much prominence as the males.
Fetch Quest: In Episode 2, Max has to get glass bottles scattered around the junkyard.
Foreshadowing:
- Kate's depression is noted and brought up numerous times, in conversations, in cutscenes and in Max's diary.
  - Kate's notes in Episode 1 has a drawing of a a tree with a noose and a pool of blood, a sign of suicidal ideation.
  - In Episode 2, Max says that Kate stopped playing the violin a week ago. Giving up a hobby or passion is another sign of suicidal ideation.
- From Episode 1, in one of Mr. Jefferson's classes:

Mr. Jefferson: I could frame any of you in a dark corner and capture you in a moment of desperation.

- Jefferson victim blames Kate in Episode 2.
- In Episode 2, Max spots the spirit doe in the junkyard. In Episode 4, Max and Chloe find Rachel's grave in the junkyard, in the spot where the doe was standing earlier.
Frivolous Lawsuit: Nathan and his father are constantly threatening to sue everybody for defamation any time someone says anything they don't like, which indicates that they have a rather large misunderstanding of exactly what defamation is.
Game Breaking Bug:
- In Episodes 3 and 4, the photo focusing minigame glitches out with certain graphics cards, causing the photo to remain in focus constantly. Though it can still be solved, it has to be done by sound alone, which is much more difficult. The developers eventually just added an auto-focus option so players could bypass it.
- During the Nightmare segment in Episode 5, Max will be pursued by warped versions of people she subconsciously fears and you have to rewind to get around them without being seen. If you happen to rewind too quickly, you'll get caught in a loop where Max will always be seen, and you won't be able to rewind far back enough, forcing a restart. This largely occurs if you try to speed up or use the quick rewind.
God Test: The first few chapters of Episode 2 have Chloe testing Max's rewind power to make sure it's legit. This includes guessing the contents of her pockets and predicting the immediate future.
Greasy Spoon: Some pivotal scenes take place at "The Two Whales", a local diner in Arcadia Bay where Chloe's mother works. The place is known for its "homestyle cooking"and "old-fashioned service". Shares features of a Malt Shop with the checkerboard floor tiles and the plot-relevant jukebox.
Groin Attack: Chloe will knee Nathan in the groin after you prevent her from being shot. She also mentions trying to do the same during his (possible) Attempted Rape, but she missed and hit a lamp.
Groundhog Day Loop: Played with. When Max wakes up in the classroom near the end of Episode 5, she suspects that she is stuck in a time loop. It quickly becomes obvious that she is in a Nightmare Sequence instead.
Guide Dang It: As the game encourages exploration and playing with the rewind mechanic, it's easy to miss minor things on the first playthrough:
- The optional photos can vary on being obvious to somewhat obscure, and several need to be taken from specific angles. The game does offer hints via the placeholder photographs, but these can be hit or miss. For example, the first photo in Episode 3 requires taking a picture of a figurine in Victoria's room. What the game doesn't tell you is that the figurine is glow-in-the-dark, which you learn by rifling through the trash and finding the box it came in. Then you have to trigger that effect by shining your light on it for a few seconds. The figurine isn't even selectable until you've made it glow, so the player might dismiss it as a mere background element. Probably the most sadistic examples are the final photos in Episode 5. They're very well hidden in the nightmare sequences, which are not only much more difficult to navigate than any other part of the game, but also the last place you'd even suspect to contain photo opportunities because, you know, it's a living nightmare where taking photos is the least of anyone's worries.
- Several of the minor choices can be easily missed, particularly the ones that happen right near the start of the chapter. There are several choices that happen before you even see them, and thus you have to figure out that you need to rewind to affect the outcome. For example, in Episode 2, it's very easy to miss Alyssa being hit in the head with a roll of toilet paper because you weren't looking, and thus run right by that possible choice without realizing you can fix it. The game aids in this by detailing every possible choice at the end of the episode, so you can always go back and replay choices you didn't realize were there.
- Thanks to a scripting error, most players who bought the game at launch didn't realize that watering Lisa the plant twice in as many days will kill her. Max's mother is supposed to send a text warning against this, but it was only corrected upon the release of Episode 3.
Headphones Equal Isolation: After you've played through the prologue, Max pops in some earbuds while she heads to the bathroom. This has the effect of drowning out everything but the music, and the credits run over the scene as you walk through the hall. Max will comment if you examine objects or people along the way, but that's it.
I Always Wanted to Say That: During their nightly break-in into Blackwell, Max reveals that she always wanted to say the word "nab".
I Just Shot Marvin in the Face:
- Nathan apparently only brought the gun to school in order to threaten Chloe, and ended up shooting her by accident only after she pushes him.
- In Episode 2, Chloe will hit herself with a ricochet if Max suggests shooting the bumper of a car in the junkyard. Thankfully, rewind is there to save the day.
I Need a Freaking Drink: Said by Chloe after Max makes her shoot Frank in Episode 4.
Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence: When Victoria and her two friends block the entrance to the dormitory, there is still enough space on the left to bypass them, but the game doesn't allow such action.
I Will Find You: The main plot revolves around Chloe trying to find Rachel.
Just in Time: In the Railroad Tracks of Doom scene, no matter how you time your rewinds, Max will always manage to get Chloe free just moments before she's hit by the train.
Kilroy Was Here: The hideout in the junkyard has "Chloe was here" and "Rachel was here". Max can add her own "Max was here".
Lighthouse Point: Where the game opens, and a recurring viewpoint for the tornado which will destroy the town. It's also where the game's climax occurs in Episode 5.
Lingerie Scene: Chloe and Max's sojourn to the Blackwell swimming pool plays out as an extended one. Chloe then has another brief one in Max's Nightmare Sequence while making out with Warren.
Mind Screw: The Nightmare Sequence in Episode 5 is pretty twisted.
Misplaced Wildlife: Several nighttime scenes show fireflies flying around. Max even comments that they look "magical", which they are... in the sense that bioluminescent fireflies are extremely rare on the west coast of the United States.
Mundane Utility: You can rewind time at almost any point in the game. This can be used for dramatic things like stopping a potential shooting to mundane things like fixing a snowglobe you accidentally broke. Max herself considers using it to catch more sleep.
Mysterious Watcher: We see somebody in the foreground watching Max and Chloe leave the Two Whales diner. The character is later introduced as Frank.
Never Give the Captain a Straight Answer: When Chloe and Max break into the principal's office, Chloe scans the monitor and calls Max to "better come and check this out" instead of telling her what she found.
Newspaper Dating: Early on, Max discovers her vision takes place on October 11, four days later, thanks to a newspaper clinging to a post.
Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: During the Nightmare Sequence, Max's journal is changed to a bunch of hostile ramblings, and her texts are likewise threatening.
Nightmare Sequence: Episode 5 has an extended one featuring a scary and strange landscape filled with subconscious fears.
No Celebrities Were Harmed:
- During the game, you come across several self-help books written by a "Dr. Bill", an obvious stand-in for Dr. Phil.
- In Episode 5, Max turns on a car radio to a rant by one Truss Limpbow, an obvious parody of American conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.
No OSHA Compliance: The End of the World Party (and possibly other Vortex Club parties not seen on screen). Swimming pools don't mix well with electrical equipment or intoxicated people.
Notice This: Things you can interact with are outlined in a messy doodle-like texture and have an arrow pointing to them, even from a distance, allowing the player to easily see what can be fiddled with in a given scene. In the case of the first interaction, failing to figure out what to do will eventually cause the game to interrupt and move to the next task, by which point the player should get the idea.
One Degree of Separation: Chloe's stepfather just happens to be the Jerkass security guard Max has to deal with a couple times before bumping into Chloe for the first time in over five years.
One of These Doors Is Not Like the Other: The dormitory puzzle during the Nightmare Sequence. Only specific doors let you progress, all other doors lead back to the starting point.
One Steve Limit: Averted on several occasions:
- Aaron Price and Harry Aaron Prescott.
- Two odd examples with surnames: there's Alyssa Anderson and Anderson Berry, and Taylor Christensen and Samuel Taylor.
Pet the Dog: One of the few things Frank is said to care about is his dog. A cop relates a tale about how he freed a bunch of dogs that were part of a dog fighting ring, one of them being the one he owns now. He later mentions he rescued Pompidou from a highly abusive owner.
Power Strain Blackout: After using her powers a bit too much at the junkyard, Max faints.
Previously On: Each episode starts with a clip montage of earlier scenes.
Product Placement: An odd, yet hilarious subversion. One of the lead writers insisted on putting in a reference to Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within despite Square Enix being hesitant due to how poorly received it was.
Railroad Tracks of Doom: In Episode 2, Chloe and Max hang out on the railroad tracks. When Max goes off to take a picture, she has a vision and wakes up to find that the track switcher has pinned Chloe to the tracks. She has to then free Chloe, either by breaking the switch or messing with the fuse box so she can switch it long enough to free Chloe without sending the train down the wrong track.
Reckless Gun Usage: Chloe shows off her gun to Max by pointing it directly at Max's face.
Replacement Goldfish: After Chloe's father died, she became friends with Rachel to help fill the void that Max had left. Max is implied to fill it once more after she returns and Rachel is gone.
Riddle for the Ages: So how did Max gain the ability to time travel? It's never fully addressed, there are barely any hints as to how or why she got it.
Roadside Wave: At one point, Alyssa gets splashed with puddle water by the road side which you can warn her of.
Scenery Porn: Some of the sets are just gorgeous, especially the ones where the whole town is visible in the background. Despite its limited graphics, the game absolutely nails the look and feel of a small Pacific Northwest town.
Sealed Room in the Middle of Nowhere: The Dark Room is located under a barn in the middle of nowhere.
Searching the Stalls: In the bathroom early on, Chloe checks the stalls to see if anybody was there to overhear her talk with Nathan. However, she Failed a Spot Check and missed Max hiding in the janitor space at the end.
Second-Hour Superpower: Max doesn't receive her powers until after you play through a dream sequence, a scene in class and then the title credits sequence.
Shipper on Deck: If you convince Daniel to go to the End of the World Party, then you can find him and Brooke happily chatting together, with the implication that the two of them are about to become a couple. This is a bit downplayed if you turned Warren down on his offer of a drive-in date, which Brooke takes him up on instead.
Shoot the Fuel Tank: In the junkyard, you can instruct Chloe to fire at the gas tank of a rusted car sitting atop a pile of junk. Not only does hitting the intake at an angle manage to ignite the gas inside, it explodes harmlessly.
Signs of Disrepair: In Episode 5, the Two Whales Diner sign is damaged, leaving only "DIE" and a "W" off to the side.
Signs of the End Times: The tornado premonition as well as the flash snowstorm, the unscheduled eclipse and the dead birds all seem to indicate that The End Is Nigh.
Sinister Surveillance: Chloe's home is under heavy surveillance by David and he plans to install security cameras all over the campus as well.
Sir Swearsalot: Everyone curses to varying degrees. At best, some will spout at least one foul word throughout the game. At worst, some swear like sailors, which makes sense considering the game's setting. Chloe definitely takes the cake for having the most colorful language in the game.
Slipstream: The only fantastic elements in the game are Max's time travel powers and their apparent connection to the coming storm, which are never given any explanation. Take those out, and you have a fairly mundane (if very dark, towards the end) high school teen drama.
Slut Shaming: Everyone calls Kate the "viral slut" after her video spreads around. To add insult to injury, Kate gets letters from her fundamentalist Christian family (including a particularly nasty one from her Westboro-ish aunt) shaming her for what happened.
Solve the Soup Cans: The bottle fetching at the junkyard, which was inserted to help the players get immersed in the universe.
Soundtrack Dissonance: After completing Episode 4, the idyllic sunset in the main menu is replaced by a massive tornado and violent thunderstorm. The peaceful guitar music in the background, however, does not change.
Stealth Pun: When Max and Chloe were kids, they loved to pretend to be pirates. In the present, they start referring to themselves as "Blackwell Ninjas" during their more cloak and dagger antics. This echoes the old Pirates Versus Ninjas meme.
A Storm Is Coming: A tornado is threatening the town and Max has four days to prevent it from happening.
String Theory: All the evidence for David, Nathan and Frank is pinned to a drawing board in Chloe's room and you are asked to piece together the clues.
That Makes Me Feel Angry: Max's internal monologues are prone to lines like "That's so sad" or "That makes me feel sad".
This Is Reality: At the end of Episode 1, Chloe tells Max that her insistence of having time powers is ridiculous, as "this isn't anime or a video game."
Time Travel: Max's powers, crossed with a bit of Reality Warper since her soujourns into the past of her photographs leaves the present progressively more and more distorted. It also effects her differently so she appears to cross space as well as time from the perspective of others.
Total Eclipse of the Plot: There's an eclipse in Episode 2, even though there's not one scheduled.
Two-Teacher School: Ms. Grant and Mr. Jefferson. The rest of the faculty includes the principal, groundskeeper and chief of security. Theoretically, there are more teachers, but they are never shown.
Use Your Head: In Episode 1, Nathan headbutts Warren in the parking area when the latter tries to help out Max. Warren returns the headbutt to Nathan in Episode 4 at the boys' dormitory.
Watching the Sunset: Episode 2 ends with Max and Warren, among others, watching the unscheduled eclipse.
Weather Dissonance: Episode 1 ends with snow falling in October during fairly mild weather. It's just one of several anomalies heralding the deadly tornado approaching Arcadia Bay.
Wire Dilemma: When trying to save Chloe from the onrushing train Max can use the pliers to cut a wire in the fuse box. There are three wires present (green, yellow, red) but only cutting the red one leads to the desired outcome.
You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Chloe, whose hair is dyed blue. One of the background characters, Alyssa, has hair different shades of purple.
You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Frank pulls this one on Max at the junkyard when the latter draws a gun on him. Of course, he's quite shocked if you do decide to pull the trigger and backs off.