Emotional, gripping story
Mentioned in ~1 in 2 positive reviews
“I ended up sitting through the credits wondering what the hell I was supposed to do with my emotions afterwards.”
Steam review · 41.1 h played ↗
Life is Strange - Episode 1
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Overwhelmingly PositiveOverwhelmingly Positive · 97%DONTNOD Entertainment, Feral Interactive (Mac), Feral Interactive (Linux)2015Mystery · Point & Click · Adventure
The verdict
A beloved, emotional choice-driven teen mystery with a great soundtrack and the Max and Chloe bond. Skip it if you want real gameplay, or if teen drama and Chloe grate on you.
Great for
Fans of slow, story-driven, choice-based dramas who like indie music and character-focused stories
Main risk
Finding Chloe and the teen drama grating, or feeling the choices don't matter in the end
What players love
Excellent indie soundtrack
Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews
“One of the best aspects of this game is its audio.”
Steam review · 14.7 h played ↗
Max and Chloe's friendship and characters
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews
“The relationship between Max and Chloe is the heart of the game.”
Steam review · 105.2 h played ↗
Rewind mechanic makes choices weighty
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews
“The rewind mechanic is honestly what makes everything click.”
Steam review · 12.2 h played ↗
Beautiful art style and atmosphere
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews
“the beautiful watercolor-esque visuals, the nostalgic small-town setting”
Steam review · 16.2 h played ↗
Memorable, life-changing experience
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“This isn't just a game, it became my whole personality since 2015.”
Steam review · 27.4 h played ↗
What players complain about
Choices don't really matter; ending is binary
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“For a game that constantly flashes "This action will have consequences" on your screen, the illusion of choice falls apart fast.”
Steam review · 13.2 h played ↗
Slow, boring pacing with unskippable dialogue
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“No skipping, endless dialogue, makes you sit through every single second of passing time even when its not necessary at all”
Steam review · 6.2 h played ↗
Chloe and other characters are unlikable
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“She is an adult who constantly acts like a 10 year old brat”
Steam review · 13.1 h played ↗
Cringey, stereotyped teen writing
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews
“the forced lingo that gives everything a sour "40 year old trying to sound like a highschooler" aftertaste”
Steam review · 15.7 h played ↗
Little real gameplay or interactivity
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 negative reviews
“hardly has any gameplay. It primarily consists of watching dialogue cutscenes”
Steam review · 15.9 h played ↗
Weak facial animation, lip-sync and audio bugs
Mentioned in ~1 in 21 negative reviews
“The lip syncing is absolutely abysmal”
Steam review · 14.1 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: PlayableController support5 GB
Minimum
OSWindows Vista
ProcessorDual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent
Memory2 GB RAM
GraphicsATI or NVidia card w/ 512 MB RAM (not recommended for Intel HD Graphics cards)
Storage5 GB available space
Recommended
OSWindows 7
ProcessorDual Core 3.0GHz or equivalent
Memory2 GB RAM
GraphicsATI or NVidia card w/ 1024 MB RAM (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 or ATI HD 4890)
Storage14 GB available space
OSWindows Vista
ProcessorDual Core 2.0GHz or equivalent
Memory2 GB RAM
GraphicsATI or NVidia card w/ 512 MB RAM (not recommended for Intel HD Graphics cards)
Storage5 GB available space
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