James

I couldn't finish it, ended up getting it refunded. To me, the game is a hot mess of stereotypes and political issues and it completely poisons any enjoyment I found in the game. Fundamentally, the Life is Strange games have focused on relationships, how people change, circumstances changing with time and the impact the choices we make have on that. In both previous games there were events going on bigger than the characters but by the time you are truly confronting them you have had time to get a sense of the character, the life they lead and their world from their perspective. While characters around you were certainly designed to give off certain impressions, nothing meaningful was decided for you while you adapted your own stance on the goings on of that life. Not here though, you are instantly thrust into a ridiculous situation you have zero chance at influencing. The encounter itself involves a reasonable and intelligent man not realising clear and present danger so he can behave in such a way as to manifest that danger into catastrophe, while another stereotype is played out to bring about the situation to begin with. Neither of which feels authentic and both are mildly offensive as from one perspective they are making entertainment out of what is a controversial topic, and from the other illustrates an incompetence blown well beyond credulity. And that’s just chapter one. I only made it to chapter 3 and it only got worse as I progressed, in short it feels like the studio are changed tunes from trying to tell an interesting and genuinely thought provoking story into one of pushing an agenda at the cost of everything else. It’s certainly possible it somehow pays off in chapters 4 and 5, but from where I progressed to, such a conclusion wasn’t in the cards. As a huge fan of the original and prequal game, I am desperately hoping they do better next time.