Life is Strange - Episode 1
Moderate overall intensityWhat's in it
Frequent strong profanity in everyday dialogue, especially from the character Chloe.
The player witnesses a young man shoot and kill a woman at close range in a school restroom; the death is sudden and shown without blood detail or gore.
Marijuana and cigarettes appear in a character's bedroom and are smoked and discussed, and a local drug dealer is referenced.
Heavy subject matter includes bullying, a peer's emotional breakdown, a missing-girl investigation, and a looming apocalyptic disaster.
The player witnesses a shooting and encounters trespassing, break-ins, and references to drug dealing among the town's teens.
A bullied student's severe distress and suicidal state are set up and referenced through the episode as a growing concern.
Mild suggestive material centers on a viral phone video of a fellow student kissing several people at a party, with teen party and hookup talk.
Who can reach your kid
What it is
In this single-player narrative adventure, players take the role of Max, a photography student aged 18 who learns that time can be rewound so her decisions play out again. The story unfolds at an academy in a small Oregon town, where she reconnects with a friend from her past just as a mystery involving a vanished girl begins. A restroom shooting appears on screen with a small amount of blood; teen conversations carry regular strong swearing; cigarettes and marijuana appear within the surroundings; and weighty threads run through the story, including harassment by peers, psychological turmoil, and suggestions of self-injury. Sexual material stays at the level of suggestive mentions, graphic gore is absent, and the title has no online play, messaging, or purchases built in.
How it's framed
Mature material is handled through a lens of empathy paired with cause and effect. Decisions matter, and the rewind ability nudges players toward second-guessing what they picked. Weighty threads such as peer harassment and emotional breakdown are treated with gravity, woven into a story about growing up rather than staged for shock value or handed out as a payoff.
Details
- Developer
- DONTNOD Entertainment
- Publisher
- Square Enix
- Released
- Jan 29, 2015
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