Life is Strange is one of those surprise games. Before I downloaded episode 1, I had never heard anyone mention the game. It wasn’t one of those games that was hyped like Grand Theft Auto 5 or Red Dead Redemption 2. While the game received mediocre reviews overall, the game has one of the most loyal fanbases I’ve ever seen. You can count me as one of these fans.

I will start this review a little different. I will begin with the bad in the game. The graphics are out of date. A few cut scenes are terrible, as mouths of the characters don’t move while they speak. Some of the script is beyond stupid. I feel the writers were pressured into completion and just threw dialogue in there at times. The plot has more holes it in than a porno script. Normally all of this leads to a game sucking. Not the case with Life is Strange.

Why do we love this game? Max Caulfield and Chloe Price. That’s why. I am near 40 now and I can relate to them growing up. In high school I went through the whole “punk look” like Chloe, wearing leather jackets, gauges in my ears and combat boots. Deep down inside I was a nerd more like Max. Like Chloe, I had a couple of close friends that moved away.

Making decisions in the game actually matter. The first time I played, Frank Bowers hated Max. Second time I played the game, he was mostly nice. All of this was based on things I said and did toward him. During my first ever play through I made some dumb choices. This led to me watching the sweet Kate Marsh commit suicide. That was a shocking moment I did not expect.

The game had a lot of shocking moments. Nathan Prescott goes from rude prep to a crazed stalker. Frank Bowers, mean drug dealer, becomes a major ally in helping solve the mystery of Rachel Amber. Mr. Wells is shown to have personal issues such as heavy drinking, due to him being a coward and letting the rich elite snobs push him around, such as not punishing Nathan for having a gun. David Madsen, mostly portrayed as mentally unstable due to war, ends up saving Max. Then ole Mr. Jefferson. The beloved teacher who turned out to be the mastermind behind Rachel Amber’s death, the kidnapping of numerous girls and the dick who shot Chloe Price.

Life is Strange was the first game in a longtime to actually make me sad. When I saw Mark Jefferson shoot Chloe, I can recall yelling at my TV because Max was too weak to use her rewind power. Watching Kate die almost made me reset and start over, as I didn’t want to see her commit suicide. Having to pick on sparing Chloe or Arcadia Bay was stressful. My first play through I spared the Bay. Having to watch Chloe get shot again, well, it sucked. Sucked bad. Add a funeral scene with sad music at the end, damn you developers.

Max and Chloe have both became favorite video game characters of mine. The chemistry between the two was done well. Chloe is rebellious, but deep down inside she strives to be Max. Max on the other hand, learns to be more self-confident through the chapters as she spends more and more time with Chloe. Chloe learns from Max and offers to give her life for the greater good. A first as throughout the game before that point, everything was about Chloe. She was against her mom getting remarried, upset when she found out Rachel was seeing Frank and would go off anytime Max disagreed with her.

Life is Strange is a great video game. It has a very nostalgic feeling to it. People of the same age group of Max and Chloe can easily relate to them. Someone my age can too, as I’ve been through many of the things they have. A great story and great characters can win people of any age group over. Life is Strange does that well. I am happy I discovered this game by pure accident back in 2015.

While the game is far from perfect, the beautiful story and awesome two main characters make up for the bad. I give this game a 9 out of 10. This game was the sleeper success story of 2015.