I usually don't want to replay purely narrative titles (especially those with multiple scenes): unless you get rewards for making different choices, I prefer to keep my story intact.
So it had to go with too Life is Strange, the title of DontNod that I played two years ago and that received acclaim everywhere, even on our pages. Taking advantage of the Xbox One copy that I bought back on the occasion of the retail version release in January last year, I finally convinced my partner to play the DontNod title by taking it as an excuse to review Max and Arcadia Bay and to prepare myself for the return. on our consoles with three episodes developed by Deck Nine, another team, set in Chloe's past, with a Rachel Amber still full of life.
A prequel about which I have many doubts and of which when you read this special, the first episode of Life is Strange: Before the Storm (while the review will arrive in the next few days).
So I followed the gameplay of my girlfriend, who was facing the game for the first time, noticing several things that I had missed in the first step (one in particular that I hope will amaze you as much as it amazed me), plus other trifles that you may have missed and finally some different dialogue choices, based precisely on the comparison between two experiences. The article obviously contains all sorts of spoilers on all five episodes, but we won't go into the finale as we both chose to save Arcadia Bay (and most of all there is a special affixed to the finale!).
To learn more:
Galeotto fu: Life is Strange (Guide to the best ending)
Twin Arcadia Peaks
Before unhooking the strong point, let's start slowly with a brief excursus of the five episodes and how the story of Max Caulfield is connected to the TV series par excellence, which started the modern era of serials and which is about to conclude its third season twenty-five (twenty-six) years after the last episode. We are obviously talking about Twin Peaks, the series created by David Lynch which will end next Sunday. That the title of Dontnod mentions without too much hesitation the town of the woods is obvious to any self-respecting cinema lover, but are you sure you have noticed everything? For example, at the first passage two years ago, I only noticed the most obvious tributes, such as the license plate of the van Chloe (TWNPKS), the writing on the mirror "Fire walks with me”And the inexorable parallelism between Laura Palmer and Rachel Amber.
To learn more:
Controller walks with me: the playful aspects of David Lynch
Watching my partner play, however, I noticed many other small similarities between the work of Dont nod and the work of Lynch (thanks to the weekly vision of the new episodes) starting with a small but important quote, like the policeman who compliments himself for Joyce's cake at the diner, similarly to Cooper and Sheriff Truman in Twin Peaks. And again, moving on to the settings, in addition to the similarities between diner, landfills and forests, during the party of the Vortex Club (reminiscent of the Fire Walk with Me party) Max finds himself crossing red tents, the same tents that are a symbol of the Black Loggia, one of the cult places of Lynch's work. The same motto of the Vortex Club, which invites you to enter another world, is a further parallel to the Lodge, like the unconscious events in Max's mind in the next episode, where all the girl's fears come to life in a similar way to supernatural events. by Twin Peaks.
And again, again in the last episode, inside the Dark Room, Max finds a letter signed by Nathan Prescott's psychiatrist, Doctor Jacobi, the same psychiatrist from the town created by Lynch, and who now spends his life recording videos. of propaganda against the state. I don't want to hurt you further for the similarities of the other protagonists of Life is Strange with those of the Lynch serial, but after reliving the entire adventure, the thread that links the Dontnod video game to Twin Peaks is even more evident. A thread full of respect for the original work of course, but which cannot help but be seen.
Obviously Life is Strange also mentions other films such as the butterfly Effect and Donnie Darko in several passages, but I wanted to focus mainly on the link with Twin Peaks because in my opinion it represents the most important influence.
Before the storm
I borrow the subtitle from the prequel that just came out, to talk about some different choices my girlfriend made in her race to save Arcadia Bay, different from the ones I had taken on my PlayStation 4 journey. Although as mentioned above, the conclusion is it was the same, and we both decided to sacrifice Chloe for the good of the city, there were a couple of different stops in Dontnod's merry-go-round. Let's start immediately from the first episode, after having stopped Nathan in the bathroom, I had not put my school career in danger and I had told everything to the principal, my girlfriend, on the other hand, fearing the repercussions of the bully, decided to do not say anything. Result? I caught the Prescott family with threatening messages throughout the game, she was called several times by the principal.
Anything you say?
Let's move on then, continuing in the episode, we will have to decide whether to defend Chloe or stay hidden in the closet of her bedroom while she is scolded by David, and while she has decided to leave the blue-haired girl to herself, I have slightly cheated, first by staying hidden, and then rewinding time to be able to go out and take the blame, ultimately I opted for the second choice, just to make David hate me and not let Chloe get into trouble, which in case I stayed hidden, it would be taken a slap by the stepfather further cracking the relationship.
An already more serious choice but which is still not a real crossroads in the two paths.
The next one slightly changes the course of events, but does not irremediably alter them: after Kate's attempted suicide which, for the record, we both saved, Max is summoned by the principal, along with David, Nathan Prescott and that son of a sultan Jefferson. . At this point she is asked to name: who is connected to Kate's crazy gesture? In my third episode naivety, aware that I would then stay a month wondering what would happen, I immediately blamed Nathan thinking that in any case he was already threatening me via SMS, thus causing his expulsion and removal from the scene. . Unfortunately, my girlfriend, thanks to having played the title two years after its release, has suffered what is probably the biggest spoiler, or who is behind the disappearance of Rachel Amber. Come again and tell me that you can still enjoy a work knowing certain things that are so important. This led her to make a strange, but at the same time correct, choice, suing Jefferson himself for Kate's actions. The latter is then removed from the photographic project, although he will still be able to reward the winner of the competition.
If Nathan disappears from the scene except for a few provocative messages, Jefferson is not seen until the Vortex Club party and subsequent final cliff hanger of the fourth episode in the landfill. The last different choice is when we meet David after escaping from the Dark Room, where he had to decide whether or not to tell him about Chloe's fate. My girlfriend decided to tell him he was safe, causing only a physical conflict between the stepfather and Jefferson, I was more emotional, telling the truth I in fact proved that David cares about blue-haired punk, and especially the moment of enjoyment with Jefferson collapsing to the ground dying was priceless.
But then you have to rewind everything to save Chloe, and once saved the choice to sacrifice it for Arcadia Bay will make the two races the same, although the pit stops at different points. However, it was nice to appreciate Max's story from another point of view, very similar to mine and almost never diametrically opposite.
Final statements
So far I have limited myself to quotes and comparisons between two ways to play, but I have not yet answered the claim of the title: what I have noticed is so shocking that I have to spend almost fifteen hundred words while I wait for the pre-load of Before the Storm to run out ?
Okay, is it time to confess, if I told you that in Jefferson's first monologue, the infamous confess he's the culprit? But what obviously we could not have noticed if we had not previously been aware of it?
I know it's hard to believe, but Dontnod really did it: During the explanation before Max's Selfie, Jefferson confesses.
Ok it doesn't actually say “I killed Rachel Amber” but it's basically the description of what happens in the Dark Room.
It upset me enough, and it was something I would never have noticed if my girlfriend hadn't decided to play Life is Strange on the occasion of Before the Storm, so even if the latter fails me, it will at least have the merit of making me. rediscover certain aspects of the Dontnod title.
