Life is Strange hit the marketplace with incredible success. The first installment told the story of Maxine Caulfield who mysteriously finds herself with a supernatural ability in which she can rewind time. As a result, Max and her best friend make use of the power to unearth dark crimes that the town of Arcadia Bay seems to be tainted by. Most of the game is centered around the narrative with gameplay mainly focused on solving puzzles and dialogue choices.
Depending on the choices will alter the narrative storyline and potentially give you an even harder time to solve problems later on in the narrative. With the sequel now out and future episodes in the works to release throughout the coming months, players may want to enjoy another emotionally tolling video game or choice based titles that to tie over the gaps between episodes.
If you enjoy Life is Strange then check out these great titles well worth picking up and enjoying today.
#15 Game of Thrones
- Developer: Telltale Games
- Publisher: Telltale Games
- Platforms: PC, PS4, PS3, XBO, X360, Android, iOS
- Release: December 2, 2014
Game of Thrones has been popular in a few mediums now after it first started out as a novel series that is still going on today. However, since its television adaptation, Telltale Games was able to dive into the world and deliver fans a video game journey.
Taking place across six episodes, players will be following the journey surrounded by northern House Forrester. Players will take control of a few different characters that were spread across different areas and while the television series doesn’t feature the House, it was made mention about briefly in the novels. Ultimately, this gave Telltale Games a bit of freedom in how to steer the story where it takes place after the third season and wraps up prior to the events of the fifth season.
Despite the game focusing on new characters, there were a few different series favorite characters that showed up throughout the game. While the game wasn’t as highly regarded as some of the other Telltale Games, it did capture a following. A sequel was in the works but because the studio was closed down the sequel was scrapped.
#14 Remember Me
- Developer: Dontnod Entertainment
- Publisher: Capcom
- Platforms: PC, PS3, X360
- Release: June 3, 2013
Dontnod Entertainment is best known for their Life is Strange franchise. The video game development studio, however, got their start with Remember Me which released back in 2013. This first developed game is an action-adventure title that follows a protagonist named Nilin. Overall the game takes place in the future where Nilin is a memory hunter but has been stripped from all of her memories by a megacorporation named Memorize.
Players are then on a goal to track down and stop Memorize while also saving her memories. Gameplay is a bit more action-oriented compared to the Life is Strange franchise, but there is also a number of puzzles that must be solved along with a unique mechanic which features tapping into different NPC memories and make slight modifications that will cause the character to remember a memory differently.
#13 Beyond: Two Souls
- Developer: Quantic Dream
- Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
- Platforms: PS3, PS4
- Release: October 8, 2013
Beyond Two Souls is another Quantic Dream video game title and if you ever played a Quantic Dream video game then you should have a good idea on how this game will play out mechanically. The center focus on these games is narrative where players must go through gameplay in a series of picking up clues, QTE’s, and choices. This game in particular also has a supernatural element to it much like the Life is Strange franchise.
Players take on the character Jodie Holmes who is connected to an invisible supernatural being called Aiden. With the help of Aiden, Jodie can defeat hostilities or interact with objective out of reach but as those realize there is something unique to Jodie, she ends up being taken under the care of the government, doing their bidding.
This narrative follows Jodie’s journey throughout her life and paints a picture of the struggles and joys our protagonist has had because of Aiden.
#12 Firewatch
- Developer: Camp Santo
- Publisher: Panic, Campo Santo
- Platforms: PC, PS4, XBO, NS
- Release: February 9, 2016
Firewatch is the debut title for development studio’s Campo Santo. Within the game, players take on the role of a forest fire lookout named Henry. Set back in 1989, Henry’s only form of communication is through a walkie-talkie to another nearby forest fire lookout named Delilah.
Overall, Henry is tasked with maintaining the safety of the forest and preventing forest fires if possible. However, there seems to be something more going out in the woods leading to potential sabotage. During this narrative adventure title, players will discover the reason behind Henry taking a job that essentially secludes him from the outside world.
#11 Spec Ops: The Line
- Developer: Yager Development
- Publisher: 2K Games
- Platforms: PC, PS3, X360
- Release: June 25, 2012
Spec Ops: The Line may be drastically different from Life is Strange in terms of gameplay mechanics, but the narrative journey is incredibly deep. If you enjoy third-person shooters then this game may be easy for you to go through and it has even received a pretty positive reception over the various gameplay mechanic aspects. However, what really puts this game on the list is the story.
This is a deep narrative that has players looking at war through a different angle. When players go through the journey, it will show something quite depressing and real, but as another means to give players a bit more control of the story, there are different endings. Depending on the actions players make will determine when and how the journey ends and despite this game being popular with gamers, it failed to surpass other shooters at the time. As a result, developers will not be moving on to create a sequel likewise, some developers were not interested in going through another game with a dark narrative story.
