Hands on Impressions: Life is Strange Episode 3

19 May 2015
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lis3a

The latest episode is out for Square Enix and Dontnod’s Life is Strange.

Episode 3: Chaos Theory, has an ending that easily trumps the hugely impactful ending of the previous episode. Though I can’t help but wonder what kind of changes this will have on the story going forward into Episode 4. Without spoiling anything, Episode 2’s ending was a huge event for a story and choice driven game like Life is Strange. However, after coming into Chaos Theory being able to see how both outcomes of that event play out, I have to wonder if I made any truly significant difference.

On one hand, I suppose it might be too much to ask that the game plays out drastically different given some of the choices that are made, but the references to the climatic event of the previous episode seemed fairly passive. With a larger event being underscored, it’s not surprise that some of the smaller pieces of dialogue in Chaos Theory feel out of place. During one of my playthroughs, there was a section that seemed to hit every nail on the head. During my second playthrough however with an alternate save file where things didn’t play out the same, that same dialogue was still there, not exactly matching up with the events that had transpired.

As I played through Episode 3 I wondered if my choices really had that large of an impact at all on the world, and then I arrived at the ending which is sure to make jaws drop. It’s almost certain that this ending will play a huge role in the next episodes because it’s not a player choice- the narrative guides you to making the event happen without giving the player an option. Hand holding the player through certain scenes that need to happen is understandable however after coming out of this installment I have to wonder how big of an impact my choices will have when compared to the narrative choices the game makes for you.