When we think of games as being influential, there’s usually something concrete we can point to. It’s easy to track this with the evolution of the open world genre, for example.GTA 3practically invented it, theUbisoftformulaof the late ’00s and early ’10s perfected it, and thenBreath of the Wildreinvented it andpossibly perfected the new version at the same time. Along the way, we can see games influenced by various stages of this evolution, and by brilliant games within it, with that ‘influence’ always clear to see. But it’s not always that way.
Life is Strangeis ten years old today, and I consider it a highly influential game. How? Um… me no know. I suppose you may view it as a step up from the point and click adventures of the ’80s and ’90s, still channeling that spirit with optional conversations, linear narratives, and piecing items and clues together to find solutions. But it was not unique in doing that, and even its episodic storytelling (which influenced the wider industry very little) came three years after Telltale didThe Walking Dead.
Games Used To Feel Like Life Is Strange
And yet, it’s hard not to look back on that era of gaming and sharply feel the impact of Life is Strange. When I look ahead to some of my most anticipated games coming this year, likeMixtapeandUnbeatable, it’s hard to imagine them existing without Life is Strange. This was a mainstream game, backed bySquare Enixmoney, and you didn’t really do anything in it.
Oh sure, there were time travel powers. It had a clear gimmick. But mostly you used them to take artsy pictures at a prestigious academy that made you sad just kinda because. There was a rebellious girl with dyed hair and cigarettes and she made everything okay. The vibes of Life is Strange, a washed-out concoction of hopeful romance and nihilistic poetry, became a cornerstone of the era.
Life is Strange was progressive before every inch of progress had to be hard-fought, and is reminiscent of an easier time in gaming. Possibly a more naive one, with the first GamerGate safely in the rearview mirror and gaming embracing a wider range of stories with less violent, more emotional cores. It’s hard to imagine the likes ofGone Home,Firewatch,Oxenfree,Night in the Woods,Call of the Sea, andFlorencewithout Life is Strange.
Is There A Life Is Strangelike?
As you extend the net further, the parallels get harder to see, but they’re still very much there. DoesBroken Swordcome back without Life is Strange? Does the desire for more meaningful character relationships that pullsUntil Dawnand itsDark Picturescabal, or the want for conversational depth that led toDisco Elysium, exist in gaming without Life is Strange? Without the shift of audience demographics, expectations, and redirect of emphasis placed on character interaction, doesBaldur’s Gate 3play as intimately as it does without the butterfly effect of Life is Strange back in 2015?
We will never know the answers to those questions, and taken in isolation it’s hard to see much substantive of Life is Strange in Baldur’s Gate 3. Certainly it’s not as clear as the path you’re able to plot between a game likeImmortals: Fenyx Risingand its obvious riffs on both Breath of the Wild and Ubisoft’s game design. I can’t fully capture how important Life is Strange is. Like I said, me no know.
But ten years on, it’s not only one of my most personal journeys in video games, it feels like it belongs to a previous era that is worth reflecting on for deeper reasons than having individually enjoyed a video game. Perhaps its time has gone -Life is Strange: Double Exposurefeels dated in its return to Max andfailure to offer much new to say, while the closest a triple-A game has gotten to LiS vibes in recent years isDragon Age: The Veilguard, whichlost many of its various fights for inchesand seemed to betrying too hard to reflect a worldthat does not exist. While itssoftening of the lore might have always stung, you get the feeling The Veilguard might have gotten away with some of its characterisation clunk in the more immediate wake of Chloe and Max.
As it stands, it’s bittersweet to look back on Life is Strange. In some ways,we have regressed as an industry and audiencesince its launch in 2015. But in other ways, we have built on what it offered and surpassed it, and I hope we can keep climbing. Shakka brah, Life is Strange. You never knew how much you mattered.
