Search results
Welcome to the Life is Strange Wiki, an encyclopedia maintained by fans of the episodic video game franchise, Life is Strange. The games are available on PC, consoles and some also on mobile.
Currently you are able to watch "The Nan Movie" streaming on The Roku Channel, Tubi TV, Redbox, Freevee for free with ads or buy it as download on Amazon Video, Vudu, Microsoft Store, Redbox, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube.
- (56)
- 30
- Josie Rourke
- 95 min
Oct 21, 2015 · When you are ready, head into Nathans room, which is the one that has the whiteboard talking about the Prescotts. There is a lot of wild stuff to see in Nathan's room, so take the time to...
- Overview
- Story
- Development
- Game Editions
- Reception
- Trivia
- External Links
is a five-part episodic adventure game that sets out to revolutionize story-based choice and consequence games. It is developed by DONTNOD Entertainment and published by Square Enix. The developers describe the game as a nostalgic coming-of-age story that combines the present with the past, creating key moments for each episode. Episode 1, "Chrysalis", was released on January 29, 2015 and the final episode, "Polarized", was released on October 20, 2015. A Japanese version was released on March 3, 2016. A macOS and Linux port by Feral Interactive was released on July 21, 2016. On December 12, 2017, a version for mobile platforms was announced, fully released in March 29 and July 18, 2018.
The game's protagonist is Max Caulfield, better known as Max, a shy 18-year-old photography senior who discovers she can rewind time to change the course of events. Back in her hometown Arcadia Bay, a picturesque seaside town in Oregon, Max is reunited with her old friend, Chloe Price, and they start to uncover the truth behind fellow student Rachel Amber's mysterious disappearance, and soon they find themselves exposed to the darker side of Arcadia Bay.
Max gets disturbing premonitions of the future, and must take on the responsibility to prevent a devastating destiny for her town. As she struggles to understand the implications of her power, she must quickly learn which consequences her interfering in time and space holds.
The characters have to deal with everyday life issues created by their own families and school mates, and as you can expect in a typical public high school environment, there is a lot of high school drama, and sometimes teens make bad decisions. Players will be given the opportunity to make choices while playing Max, and each choice will have consequences in gameplay. Her ability to 'rewind time' will impact the game's narrative. There are multiple endings depending on the choices the player makes for Max. The game has a licensed indie soundtrack and hand-painted visuals.
The game approaches real world issues and problematic situations such as depression, bullying, suicide, domestic violence, mental illness and the loss of loved ones.
Official Key Features:
Episode 1: Chrysalis
On October 7th, Max finds out she can rewind time when she uses it to save her old friend Chloe from being shot by Nathan Prescott. They later reunite and Max senses that a storm is coming after getting premonitions.
Episode 2: Out of Time
On October 8th, Max tries to find out more about her ability to rewind time, and finds out the reason for Kate's sudden change in mood and behavior. Chloe tests out Max's rewind power intensively and Max starts to discover the limits on her ability. Max will eventually discover the ability to stop time itself to save her friend Kate from a suicide attempt.
Episode 3: Chaos Theory
On October 8th, Max and Chloe’s investigation into Rachel Amber’s disappearance lead them to break into Blackwell Academy after dark, searching for answers. It’s here and in the following day, they discover that Rachel kept many secrets and was not the person Chloe thought she knew. Max meanwhile discovers she has another power that brings with it some devastating consequences.
Early Development
The development of Life is Strange took place over the span of three years, starting circa in April 2013. During the first year of development, it wasn’t the main project at DONTNOD Entertainment so they only had a small team of around fifteen people working on the prototype of the game. DONTNOD Entertainment considered over a hundred different names for Life is Strange. What If? originally was the game's working title, while Life is Strange was only supposed to be the title of the first episode. What If was discarded as because a Daniel Radcliffe film of the same name had been released in 2013 and 2014 earlier. When they started to work on the game, they couldn't imagine how successful the game would turn out to be. They merely focused on what kind of story they were passionate to tell, and disregarded factors such as target audience and marketing. In the development diary, "A New Beginning", DONTNOD Entertainment's developers state that every publisher except Square Enix asked them to make their protagonists male instead of female. Before being accepted by Square Enix, seven different publishers rejected the game, mainly for the reasons mentioned above. At the time, most prospective publishers were unwilling to publish the game unless it featured more action sequences or had a male protagonist due to "little sales potential", a problem they had already faced with their first title, Remember Me. CEO Oskar Guilbert had also challenged the idea at the start. Square Enix, who loved the game's storytelling element, was the only publisher that that supported the project with no intention to change it. Originally, Dontnod had pitched a larger game to Square Enix that the publisher was not interested in, whereupon Dontnod chose to present their smaller narrative project Life is Strange. The team's size would eventually grow up to a number of 40 people working on the team. was composed as a self-contained story. After the release of the final episode, Co-Director Michel Koch explained that they told the story about Max and Chloe that they had planned from the beginning in the course of five episodes and that their story was done. Prior to the release of Life is Strange 2, Koch reconfirmed that the story of Max and Chloe was done and that Dontnod wanted players to imagine what happened after the endings on their own.
Announcement and Reveal
On October 4, 2013, during the news of DONTNOD Entertainment's "bankruptcy", it was announced that Dontnod were searching for public funding for a new intellectual property titled "What If?". On June 5, 2014 — roughly half a year later — Dontnod officially revealed their collaboration with publisher Square Enix for a "new game on digital platforms" as "a twist on traditional story-driven games" that "feels refreshingly different from traditional story-driven games." During the Gamescom 2014 event on August 11, 3:00 pm, Dontnod and Square Enix officially revealed the title "Life is Strange" and a first gameplay video for their episodic adventure game project. Creative Director Jean-Maxime Moris and Co-Director Michel Koch presented the game to the press in a demo area booth built by Square Enix, a special Life is Strange room that replicates the interior of Chloe's room from the originally revealed gameplay. They also presented the game during the NYCC in October 2014. Jean-Maxime Moris: "Everybody at DONTNOD is excited to be working on such a refreshing title. We’re not only crafting the best game we possibly can, we also feel we’re providing the type of experience that perfectly fits today’s renewed taste for originality and diversity." "When we first saw Life is Strange we immediately realized that DONTNOD have created a unique experience, something special. Everyone who’s seen the game has instantly fallen in love with its distinctive style and mood", said Jon Brooke, VP Brand and European Marketing Square Enix Europe.
Episodic Format
DONTNOD purposefully chose the episodic format inspired by TV shows. Before signing with Square Enix, Life is Strange was imagined as a full-length video game that Dontnod would self-publish. However, the publisher surmised that it would be more successful as an episodic title. The episodic format, which had become a successful phenomenon through Telltale Games' releases, was adapted due to financial reasons as a "slow risk" approach, as well as marketing and creative reasons, allowing them to tell the story in its preferred slow pace. Developing in episodes which released over the span of a year allowed the studio to adjust their story and some details according to the player feedback they received after each episode. Game Director Raoul Barbet: Game and Art Director Michel Koch: TBC
Standard EditionLimited EditionRemastered EditionDuring its release, Life is Strange received generally favorable reviews commending its unique art style, the character development, the rewind game mechanic and its smart take on branching storytelling as well as the use of taboo subjects. It was also praised both among reviewers and fans for featuring female protagonists and for the portrayal of gay romance. Some reviewers disliked the slang, lack of lip-syncing and tonal inconsistencies.
The first episode was ranked fifth among the best selling PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 video games of February 2015. It had sold one million digital copies by the end of July 2015. As of May 2017, more than three million copies have been sold.
•The original title of the game, What If?, is referenced in the achievement that is awarded to the player for unlocking all trophies.
•Dontnod's CEO, Oskar Guilbert referred in an interview (recorded before the first episode came out) to more than five episodes: "We want to be able to tell the players when episodes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc will be available".
•The pre-production budget for Life is Strange was around €4 million. For comparison, the budget of Dontnod's previous game, Remember Me, was close to €20 million.
•Voice actress Ashly Burch, auditioned for the roles of both Max Caulfield and Chloe Price. Dontnod blind-cast Burch as Chloe after hearing her take for the character.
•At the end of the credits on Episode 4, it says "thanks for crying" instead of "thanks for playing".
•In an interview at LiU Game Conference 2015, Game Director Raoul Barbet stated that they heavily modified Unreal Engine 3 to turn it into a PBR/PBL (physically based rendering) engine to create the stylized "impressionistic rendering" that gives Life is Strange its visual style. It was decided that having this kind of stylized rendering would allow the game to "age better". The most important aspect of the visual style, for Dontnod, was the lighting, so even though the visual style of the game was quite simple, they made sure to use high-end technology for the lighting, because they felt that light is one of the most important parts of a visual. They felt that having low-detailed visuals with good lighting was far better than having detailed visuals with bad lighting. They also felt that light is linked to memories and emotions. They also had three dedicated "lighting artists", which was not a very common thing to see in the gaming industry and was even more impressive due to Dontnod's small team size in the game's initial stages. In addition to this, there were two "camera developers".
Dontnod Entertainment
•Official Website •Investor Website •Facebook •Twitter •YouTube
Life Is Strange is a series of adventure games published by Square Enix's External Studios. Created by Dontnod Entertainment, the series debuted with the eponymous first installment, which was released in five episodes throughout 2015.
This category features a full list of characters in the Life is Strange franchise. For pictorial overviews, see Characters (Life is Strange), Characters (Before the Storm), Characters (Captain Spirit), Characters (Life is Strange 2).
People also ask
What is Life Is Strange wiki?
Does the Life Is Strange wiki contain spoilers?
Is Life Is Strange a self-publishing game?
Will there be a Life Is Strange 2?
May 31, 2018 · Below is our walkthrough for Life is Strange. We have broken it down by Episodes, just like in the game itself. Walkthrough Sections. Episode 1: Chrysalis; Episode 2: Out of Time; Episode 3:...
