“Life is Strange” is a choice-based adventure game that was released on January 30, 2015. The game has received recent attention from a trend circulating on Tik Tok of creators acting to “The Sense of Me,” a song from the soundtrack of “Life is Strange”. The game depicts the supernatural life of 18-year-old Max Claufield as she navigates through high school while uncovering her psychic abilities in the small town of Arcadia Bay, Oregon.
Max attends Blackwell Academy, where she reconnects with her former best friend, and high school dropout, Chloe Price after five years. Blackwell Academy disguises itself to be a prestigious school, however with a personal investigation conducted by Chole and Max regarding the missing student, Rachel Amber, the two reveal hidden tragedies that remain swept under the rug.
Time Is Precious, Don’t Waste it.
Max is gifted with the ability to manipulate time by rewinding to past moments, freezing current situations, and receiving visions from the future. There has probably been a point where we all have wished that we had at least one of these abilities, if not all, but her trials and errors allow viewers to gain the insight of not making decisions so carelessly. Unlike Max, in the real world, we only have one chance at life and one chance at how we interact in specific moments. We must do everything in our power to act carefully, cautiously, and confidently in every decision we make.
People Change, But Stick With Your Day Ones As Best You Can.
Unfortunately, Max had moved away to Seattle shortly after Chloe’s father passed away in a car accident. Although Max did the best she could to comfort and console her friend during this tough time, the two soon lost touch with distance. Max’s return five years later left the two rocky at the start but soon rekindled their old relationship and bonding like before. Time and distance can do damage to relationships, but when two people truly care for each other the two factors are meaningless.
Teachers aren’t always right.
One reason that made Blackwell Academy so desirable for Max was the renowned photography teacher, Mark Jefferson, who worked there. Every year Jefferson encourages his students to enter to be a candidate for the “Everyday Heroes” contest where he will personally work with them so they can fly out to San Francisco and get their work presented in a famous art gallery. Max has a strong fascination with submitting, so much that but that desire quickly dies as she learns that her Mr. Jefferson has been preying on female students and eventually takes them to the “Dark Room” where he intoxicates them and takes graphic photos. It took Max to follow the clues and notice off signs in order to understand why Rachel Amber went missing. At times horrible people use their power and position to prey on the young and naive. Stay vigilant at all times regardless of your relation to the individual.
“Life is Strange” is the perfect name to depict reality while also illustrating the setup of the game. Although we can’t have Max’s powers we all can try to embody her characteristics and the way she navigates through life. There are even more intriguing lessons intertwined in the gameplay but these overarching themes make “Life is Strange” so realistic and relatable.