felitomkinson:so hey, I never really do this for any games unless it’s a casual response to an ask o
felitomkinson:so hey, I never really do this for any games unless it’s a casual response to an ask or anything, but I feel like this one deserves it. Life is Strange is an episodic game (think The Walking Dead Game, The Wolf Among Us, etc) made by Dontnod Entertainment (creators of Remember Me) and published by Square Enix, you’ve probably heard about it. Episode 1: Chrysalis is out today for $4.99 and available in most platforms, old and new, and you can purchase all 5 episodes in advance if you want to for $19,99. A synopsis, as was advertised before release and quite spoiler-free:After five years of absence, senior photography student Maxine Caulfield returns to her hometown of Arcadia Bay, Oregon. As she reunites with her estranged best friend Chloe Price she discovers that Chloe’s father had died the year Maxine left town. While Chloe was grieving her father, she found support in a girl named Rachel Amber, who later went missing under suspicious circumstances. Max and Chloe decide to investigate Rachel’s disappearance, and as a result of which make their way to unravel the city’s hidden secrets.LAUNCH TRAILER I just finished playing the first episode myself and the best way to describe it would be a The Walking Dead Game/Gone Home/Beyond: Two Souls hybrid, so if you’re into any of those games at all I’d recommend it hard, specially if you want to go for the first episode only in the beginning. Less than 5 bucks for what took me about 3 hours of game time, which started out slow but picked up and I thoroughly enjoyed 100%, particularly for a first episode of a series. It looks very promising as far as the rest of the episodes go, the score is fantastic, the cast of characters is varied in many aspects: body type, ethnicity, sexuality, personalities, it’s all very nice to see so up close. I won’t go in depth as to not spoil anything, but I personally loved what I experienced and being a Square Enix title, there’s actually references to (very minor spoiler) both Final Fantasy and Tomb Raider in it which I thought was pretty cool. The thing I’d like to talk about most though is how this game had a hard time being picked up by a publisher.”In a recent developer’s diary video, Life Is Strange creative director Jean-Maxime Moris speaks about how several publishers originally turned down the title because of its female lead, some even insisting that the lead character be male.Fortunately, Square stepped in and saved the day, agreeing to publish the game as is, which releases later this month.“Square is basically the only publisher that didn’t want to change a single thing about the game,” says Moris. “We had other publishers telling us ‘make it a male lead character,’ and Square didn’t even question that once.”This is important, in this day an age of gaming. I will not spoil but the representation displayed in the title thus far has been very nice and sales do speak to publishers. The problem is that if a game doesn’t do well sales wise (for whatever reason, maybe it’s a bad game, maybe sales expectations were unrealistic) AND has a female lead, they’ll grab that as an excuse to not go down that route again, which is bullshit, but absolutely not unheard of. That is why supporting these titles with your money is so important. ”Voting with your wallet” is a very true statement. Episode 1 has been well received and if you could spare the $4.99 and 3 hours of your time in what was genuinely quite a good experience thus far, please give this game a shot. Loathed episode one? You don’t need to get the rest, since you have an option to buy one episode at a time or all upfront. It’s now on sale on the PlayStation Network, Xbox Market and Steam Store. But give it a chance. If you like it, spread the word, recommend it to your friends. These titles doing well matter when it comes to creating an industry that is more open to new ideas and reaching a wider demographic. I think Life Is Strange deserves a shot, from start to finish. For less than five dollars you’re telling the industry that these games, these characters that are not a carbon copy of what you always see in the media? They matter, and are worth exploring in gaming. -- source link
#hnh#to play