I finally got around to playing this and started in on Thanksgiving, little did i know i would plow through the first 3 episodes in one sitting and then after work on Friday finish the other two. It all starts off carefree enough and seems like it will be a fun little teen drama with some time travel sprinkled in, then i got to the end of episode two and made the wrong choice with Kate and she jumped, it made me so sad i made myself replay the end of that episode to get the good ending because i actually couldn't live with it. Little did i know that was only the beginning.

Episode 3 and 4 ended with similar feelings though i had little choice of a happy ending there. Then playing through episode 5 i was the most tense i think i ever have been playing a video game, sweating like crazy and wide eyed. A little part of me was hoping that the game was nearing its end when Max is on the plane and going to the gallery because it was so fitting and felt so happy, but i knew with the nosebleeds that it couldn't be over. I will say the nightmare sequence did break my immersion a tad but the ending brought it all back and was what really did me in, i know i have never had any other game or movie make me feel so sad. I actually didn't eat much that night and yesterday, its a testament to the story and voice acting (which i felt was weak in early episodes, but came around on) that you feel so invested in these characters.

Not to mention i think the music was so well placed and picked for this game, i know most of these songs will stick with me for the rest of my life and continue to have meaning because of this game, and as much as i hate the ending because it was so sad i also realize it wouldn't have had the same effect otherwise. I still feel pretty down about it and the song that plays at during the funeral is still stuck in my head.

It could be argued that it didn't live up to the whole choices have meaning thing because in the end nothing you do makes a difference as either Chloe dies or Arcadia Bay is destroyed, but i still really enjoyed it and can see why they felt it should end that way.

I started playing this on a whim for something to do and it turned me into a mushy teary-eyed fool. This is my Game of the Year hands down, though i am so glad i waited to play it with all the episodes done, having to wait between episodes would have been the real nightmare and i really hope they do something like this again. Im thinking about replaying it already even though i saw both endings. Now if i could get this damn song out of my head.

I finished it a month ago and still think about it daily. I don't really want to let that world go and i constantly think about replaying it. It's that good.

I picked that ending too and it felt like grieving for a good week afterwards. At least i think that's what it feels like. I don't really know, i've been fortunate enough to not lose anyone super close to me yet.

It's my game of the year too. Game of the last couple years even. Playing it at this moment in time was the perfect storm to be so receptive to its themes. Ashly Burch absolutely kills it as Chloe and Max grows so much as a character throughout the story.

You know that game deals with many extremely serious themes, tough moments everyone goes through at one point or another in their lives but the thing that got to me the most is not the suicide, or the drugs or the bullying but instead this incredible relationship between Max and Chloe and how it made me reflect on how much i've been neglecting and throwing away friendships of my own for the last couple years and since finishing it i've seen to that and saw a friend i hadn't seen in years!

Cheers to Life is Strange for that.

Yep, still thinking back to the events in the game after finishing it on ep 5's release day.

Have also being enjoying the fanart and virtual photography that's spun up around the game.

It's nominated for 'Best Narrative' and 'Game for Impact' this year woohoo! But yes I feel the same way. Honestly one of the best experiences I've ever had in a game and one I will cherish forever.

@sanity: not much to add but I agree completely and had a similar experience. The writing isn't the best from beginning to end but somehow by the end I too was left a teary eyed fool having become so incredibly invested in these characters. It's when I realized that I haven't had this strong an emotional response from a video game in a long time that it shot up to the very top of my GOTY list.

I did appreciate Life is Strange, but I don't know if it would be a GOTY contender for me. Maybe tail end of the list.

Episode 3 felt too much of a buffer. Since we live in a 5-episode season cycle, Dontnod needed something to pad out the story. Plus the big twist at the end of Episode 4 didn't hit me like some people did. I was shocked, sure, but, I don't know. It felt like it came out lame.

I chose to side with Chloe. My logic was if I let her die, then Max would have to live the rest of her life without doing something about it. At least with the tornado, it was a symbol of Max making her bed and lying in it. By going back in time and not messing with fate was continuing to mess with fate. It was a paradox. At least that was what I was thinking.

The end when they where pretty chill driving through the wreck was pretty dumb, though.

Life is Strange definitely goes places.

Spoilers for the Playdate: While the gang did manage to save Kate, I remember how relieved they were. I think they did just about as well as you could have with that sequence, but as it was happening and when it was over they were saying "I'm so glad we saved her. I couldn't deal with it if she committed suicide."

I haven't read every opinion out there, but it sounds like the nightmare was a polarizing part of Episode 5. I personally loved it. It was a combination of being in that nightmare dimension, it being something entirely new and different, all of the tricks the developers played against the player, and the overall sense that they went out of their way to create something completely crazy and unnerving.

I wrote a thing maybe a month ago about player choices, and where I sort of came out of it was I didn't mind, because I felt so connected to Max's story and her world. I didn't need like 10 different endings or to have every decision act as a variable to unlock something unique. There were two choices and it still took me like 15 minutes to make up my mind. It's also kind of funny to have permanent player consequences in a game like this, since it is a time travel game where the character could jump almost anywhere in time to undo an event. Anyways, yeah it didn't deliver on that promise as one who hasn't touch the game might think, but I don't think it matters.

Glad to hear you liked the game! For me, unless something astronomical happens in the next two or three weeks, I'm probably going to have Life is Strange unofficially tied for my Number 1 GOTY spot along with MGSV.

@wjb said:

One of the developers said that they wanted to do more for that ending but couldn't because of budget and deadlines :(

I also chose your ending first because I still remembered in Episode 1 when Chloe said she wishes she could just smash Arcadia Bay like glass.

Yeah and Alex's face going red and making random facial expressions like he was about to go crazy at the end of Ep. 3 XD

Yeah, I don't have much to add except to say that the game quietly blew me away. Wouldn't have touched it if it wasn't for GBeast's coverage but it left me with the most memorable gaming experience I've had in years.

It's sitting at my #1 for 2015, ahead of Witcher 3, MGS 5, Fallout 4 etc.

I also played through the whole thing over the holiday. It's in my top 10, for sure, for reasons everybody else already mentioned. Parts of it really resonated with me in my own life, because I've known people a lot like some of these characters. Sure, the writing wasn't always hitting, but it didn't hinder my enjoyment at all.

Only two things REALLY bothered me about this game:

1. The exposition dump at the beginning of episode 5 was straight up not good. That could have been handled a million different ways (from a writing standpoint) that would have been much better.

2. I didn't like how all of the working class townspeople had southern accents. Joyce for example, who was apparently born and raised in Arcadia Bay (Oregon is NOT in the south), sounded like she was from Alabama or something. I realize this could just be a result of foreign developers not understanding how accents work here, but it really took me out of the game at times and bothered me because I felt like it implied that all poor American people have southern accents or something like that. I was actually confused that Frank didn't have a southern accent, considering who he is.

But, those things aside, the game was great.