One of the surprise hits of 2015 was Dontnod Entertainment's Life Is Strange. The story-oriented time-traveling tale featuring the perils and drama of teenage life will be receiving a new game, which was announced recently by the original developers of the episodic series.
Over on the official Square Enix blog, the three leads at Dontnod announced that due to the strong feedback from the original Life is Strange, they're working on a new entry in the franchise, presumably for home consoles, PC, and mobile devices.
The blog post that carries the video message also explains that the original game managed to reach 3 million unique paying players, so quite naturally a follow-up was definitely on the cards.
The interesting thing about it is that they avoid specifically saying Life Is Strange 2 or that it's an actual sequel to the events that transpired in the original game.
Instead, the post talks around and about how they're working on a new Life is Strange game. They also dispel hopes of seeing the game at E3 2017 this year, where they explicitly mention in the blog post that the new title will not be announced at the grandest stage of them all, which takes place in the middle of June in Los Angeles, California. Rather, they'll be sitting back and watching things unfold from at home.
The original game followed the exploits of Max Caulfield and her ability to manipulate time. Her powers weren't quite traditional to the standard lore of fourth-dimensional travel nor that commonly hypothesized through string theory, but it did offer players a unique look at how different outcomes could have small and large butterfly effects that echoed throughout history.
The teenage drama may have been a sci-fi tale wrapped up in an end-of-the-of-the-world scenario, not unlike the original Donnie Darko, but at its heart it focused on the awkward development of kids during their teenage years, as well as some more serious topical matter such as sexual abuse, teen suicides, and troubled domestic issues. It was easy to see how a lot of people could get enveloped in the story of Life is Strange due to it hitting on some important social beats throughout the game.
A large portion of the story arc involved Max's relationship and budding love for Chloe, as the two originally begin to investigate the disappearance of Chloe's former girlfriend. This takes the two into the seedy underbelly of the town festering beneath the facade of being a quaint, idyllic coastal getaway.
The episodic nature of Life is Strange mirrored that of Telltale's games, such as The Walking Dead and Tales from the Borderlands (to name but a few). The game received multiple accolades and plenty of positive feedback from the media for its story.
We'll see if Dontnod decides to pick up where the original game left off, or if they'll take a different route and follow a separate set of characters for the new game? It would seem like a direct sequel might go against how they ended the first season, but the sky is the limit when it comes to teenage drama and time travel.
