Life Is Strange follows Max Caulfield, a young woman who returns home to Oregon after years away and finds that her old friend Rachel has vanished. While investigating the disappearance, Max discovers that she has the power to rewind time, leading to cascading consequences in the past, present, and future as Max struggles to right what is wrong.
The story plays out over five episodes that Dontnod hopes to release in six-week intervals. You can check out the game in action with commentary from the developer in this demonstration from Gamescom 2014.
Dontnod previously created the science fiction brawler Remember Me, which also happened to feature a female protagonist with a brunette bob and time-warping mechanics. Main character Nilin would manipulate the memories of people to serve her present needs in cyberpunk, memory-hacking sequences, conceptually reminiscent of Inception. The game was otherwise lackluster, but the memory-hacking sequences stood out as fresh and under-utilized.
Life Is Strange: Episode One will be available for download January 30 on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. This first of five episodes costs $5. Should you want to purchase the remaining four episodes, you can do so with a season pass for $17, or you can go all-in from the start and buy all five for $20.
