I am a massive fan of the Life is Strange series. I have played all of the games multiple times, I have read the graphic novels and I absolutely loved the Steph’s Story audiobook that came out last year and I have a few different Life is Strange playlists on my Spotify. I first played Life is Strange on the PlayStation 4, it was a PlayStation Plus game one month. If I am honest, I had very little interest in it before this but decided to give it a try. To say that it took me on an emotional rollercoaster is a massive understatement. I have done many top fives such as my top five Disney games and my top five Xbox 360 games to name just a couple, but I am really excited about ranking these games.
I am very excited for Lost Records: Bloom & Rage which is being made by Don’t Nod, one of the studios responsible for the Life is Strange series. So I thought I would go through the games and rank them to share which one I feel is the best.
Please note, that this is my list, if you rank the Life is Strange games differently, be sure to leave your own ranking in the comments section down below.
Honorable Mention
Tell Me Why
Ok, hear me out on this one. Tell Me Why is made by Don’t Nod who have certainly made other “Life is Strange” style games. However, I do feel that Tell Me Why could have had the Life is Strange name and no one would have batted an eyelid. This is about a set of twins, Tyler and Alison who are reunited after many years apart, their mother was killed by Tyler under mysterious circumstances and we get to play as both twins as we revisit the past to try and make sense of it and try to move on so that we can have a future. This is fantastic stuff and well worth playing if you are a fan of the Life is Strange games.
Number 6
Life is Strange: Before the Storm
This is a prequel to the first game and here we play as a rebellious Chloe Price. Chloe is having a hard time. She is struggling at school, her mom’s boyfriend has moved in and is a total dick and she is crushing super hard on the most popular girl in school, Rachel Amber. This is a shorter experience than the first, but the way we see the story of Chloe and Rachel play out is just so well done. It is also pretty damn heartbreaking and it has one of the most depressing endings of any game that I have played. I will say, I do miss that it does not have some kind of “supernatural” element to the story, but truth be told, it did not need it.
Number 5
Life is Strange 2
Life is Strange 2 is an awesome game and one that is often ignored when people talk about the series. It does take place in the same universe as the other two games, it even has a fantastic appearance from a character. However, this is the story of two brothers, teenager Sean Diaz and his younger brother Daniel. Daniel has telekinesis powers that manifest and cause chaos, with a cop getting killed. The two brothers end up going on the run, trying to make sense of Daniel’s powers and also find a safe place to live. This is a fantastic story and I think they do a wonderful job of really making you feel like you are in Sean’s shoes as you deal with Daniel, the drama you find yourself in as well as being a teenager yourself.
Number 4
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit
It may shock some people that I have The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit so high. This is a free short game that came out before Life is Strange 2 and it is about a young kid called Chris. Chris lives with his alcoholic father and this is just such a tugging on the heartstrings kind of game. Chris is impossible not to love, you just want this nice kid to be happy, but even though his dad is an alcoholic and can be a mean jerk. You also like him and as you find stuff throughout the game, you sympathize with him and wish that he could get his crap together for his son. It may be short, but this leaves one hell of an impression on you.
Number 3
Life is Strange: Wavelengths
Steph is probably my favorite character in the entire Life is Strange universe. A huge part of her appeal is the awesome voice acting from the talented Katy Benz, who also voices the audiobook. This is DLC for Life is Strange: True Colors and here we get to play as Steph, just after she has come to Haven Springs. Steph is cool, confident, and just generally badass. However, this really has her putting her guard down as we see just how severely the events of the original Life is Strange game still haunt her. It is great stuff, made even better if you read the book or listen to the audiobook.
Number 2
Life is Strange
Life is Strange is just an absolute masterpiece of a video game. This game tells the story of Max who has returned to her childhood hometown of Arcadia Bay. It is here she meets her old best friend, Chloe Price, and where she also discovers that she has the ability to rewind time! Max and Chloe go on a detective style mission as they try to find out what happened to Chloe’s friend Rachel Amber. It is such a well done story, a story where your actions really do feel like they have major consequences. I have played through this game multiple times and Max and Chloe’s story gets to me so much that I have never been able to pick the other ending, I am team Chloe all the way, if you know, you know!
Number 1
Life is Strange True Colors
One of the best things about Life is Strange: True Colors is that it was released all at once. The other main games were released episodically and I hated that! This is the story of Alex. Alex has been in the foster system and she is now moving to a town called Haven Springs where her brother Gabe lives. Alex has an interesting ability that allows her to see people’s emotions and even directly control them. Haven Springs is the perfect place to live (it would be my dream place to call home), but after a shocking accident, a dark past that the town has tried to keep hidden for years comes to the surface and Alex is right in the middle of it. There is a twist that happens in this game that truly blew my mind and shocked me so much I had to put my controller down!
Ranking the Life is Strange games was pretty hard for me. While one had to be at the bottom of the list, I actually love all of the games in this series, and truth be told on another day, True Colors and the first game could switch places.
If you are a fan of the series, I would love to know how you rank them. If you have still not played any of these games, I highly recommend that you do, they are some of the best told stories in all of gaming.