![]() ![]() While Detroit: Become Human touched on a similar theme earlier in the year, here the real world setting makes the situation far more relatable. ![]() Stealing was wrong, obviously, but the game does such a great job of putting you into the shoes of two desperate boys that I found myself thinking about the greater need. When you can’t afford to buy enough food or supplies at a petrol station to camp another night, do you risk stealing from the shop owner? And if you succeed, how do you tally that with the effect it has on your brother who may think that this is now an acceptable approach? Conversely, if you take the high road, will your rumbling stomachs and lack of morale be compensated by knowing you did the “right” thing? In my case the decision was a greyer one: paying for everything we could afford but stealing a chocolate bar and water for sustenance. The player’s part in this is two-fold: doing what needs to be done to keep up Daniel’s spirits, while presenting Sean as a role model for Daniel to emulate. With barely any money and a hastily grabbed backpack, Sean is thrust into the role of protector at a time in life when he’d much rather be focusing on house parties and girls. The first challenge is keeping them both alive on the road. ![]() In Roads, the threat is immediate and unknowable, at least to the Diaz boys. The incoming storm at Arcadia Bay was devastating, but it was also five chapters away. What pushes this first chapter even further forward is that they’re supplemented by a more immediate and pressing need for survival. The building blocks that made the original point-and-click a hit are still present: the text messages, the personal descriptions and reminiscences of your surroundings - in this case, a lived-in family house - the events that seem so important to people of a certain age. But along with their father, the family unit immediately portrays a feeling of closeness to the player which Max and Chloe’s relationship touched on but never quite cemented. The Diaz brothers Sean, sixteen, and Daniel, nine, have the kind of sibling rivalry one would expect for their age gap. The voice acting is exceptional: it really makes you care about the pair. This may be Life Is Strange in Trump’s 2016 America, but deep down it’s about family looking out for each other. It may be more overtly political than the first game but that remains a by-product of our current climate rather than the core of the story. The first game touched on friendship within a middle-class community the sequel addresses two young Mexican brothers forced on the run after a tragedy. The overwhelming feeling you get when playing is that of humanity’s essence, both good and bad, which is captured in a way that few games have been able to manage. It has always had an unmistakable atmosphere, the result of exceptional writing capturing pockets of life and presenting them in a natural setting, despite whatever supernatural goings-on are occurring elsewhere or how closely linked to the story they are. The Life Is Strange series is no different. Games are no different, and as storytelling evolves along with the technology to depict it and the opportunities for us to shape it in real time, we’re likely to see more and more crossover between the real and digital worlds. Books, films, paintings and sculptures all have the artist’s feet firmly planted in the moment of creation, where a snapshot of the wider world influences - to a greater or lesser extent - can be seen in their craft. Art is nothing if not a reflection of the time in which it was made. ![]()
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