The tenth anniversary of Life is Strange is coming: next January, it will be exactly ten years since Max, Chloe & Co. Entering our lives for the first time and winning our hearts in many cases. For many of us who were introduced to Life is Strange for the first time, it’s fair to say that all these years later we’re still just as enamored with the world and its characters as we were before.
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As a fairly niche choose-your-own-adventure series about marginalized superheroes growing up in modern America, Life is Strange has become a surprisingly massive franchise over the past decade, no doubt inspired by Powered by the deep pockets of publisher and intellectual property owner Square Enix. Life is Strange: Double Exposure will be released on October 29 and will be the fifth main game in the series; but it will only focus on the mainline version. would be depriving itself of some enjoyable side stories in the form of DLC chapters, comic books, a planned TV series, and even now a few novels.
Published on July 31st, Life is Strange: Heatwave is a timely prose addition to the series for those eager to get their LiS fix before Halloween arrives. It follows Life is Strange: Stephen’s Story as the second prose work in the series, and now with two LiS tie-in novels to compare and contrast, my overall assessment of the current state of the series is better than ever Have confidence. Of course, like most long-running series, it’s essentially a fanservice machine; but I’ve always been impressed by the radically different interpretation of “fanservice” here.
You only have to compare Stephen’s story with Heat Wave to see what I mean. “Steph Gingrich” is an episodic drama between “Before the Storm” and “True Colors,” following the rise of fan-favorite Steph Gingrich from a supporting role in “BtS” to The off-screen journeys of TC’s supporting characters (and optional love interests). Author Rosiee Thor absolutely captures Stephen’s voice from the game, and it’s a delightful spin-off that follows the ordinary residents of Arcadia Bay in the aftermath of the original game’s devastating aftermath. What you think and feel. If there’s a downside, it’s that there won’t be any surprises for anyone who’s played these games. Stephen’s story was mapped out from start to finish before Thor wrote a word, and while they had perfect insight into Stephen’s inner life, there wasn’t much more to go into for the Legend Hunters.
Heat Wave, written by Brittney Morris (who, incidentally, is also the author of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales tie-in novel), takes a very different approach. Set in one of the six possible endings of Life is Strange: True Colors, “Heat Wave” is more or less a standalone story about what would have happened if Alex had chosen to leave Haven Springs to pursue a music career with his new girlfriend, Steph. , what happens next. The preface makes it very clear that Heatwave – which like all other tie-in material always follows one timeline or another to some extent – is not there to serve as a specific ending to the classic game, but simply to showcase one. Possible futures resulting from series-specific choices. It’s less of a character study than Steph’s Story and more of a small town mystery in line with most games in the series, with a lot of B-plot time devoted to further developing the relationship between Alex and Steph. Popular (but optional) romance.
So, yes, both books clearly exist for fan service — and let’s be honest, what video game tie-in novel doesn’t exist? – But the approach taken in each case remains very different. This isn’t a review, but if you want to jump to conclusions I have to say that Steven’s Story captures the characters and world of Life is Strange in a more realistic game way, but Heat Wave is more fun to read thanks Branch into an original narrative. Super fans of LiS should definitely read both; in either case, casual or non-fans of the series may be underwhelmed (again, in a nutshell, this is a tie-in novel).
While not narratively related in any way to the upcoming Life is Strange: Double Exposure – it returns to the perspective of original protagonist Max Caulfield, fittingly following up ten years after the events of the first game She – But the fact that Heatwave took the risk of alienating some segments of the audience in order to deliver a follow-up that would satisfy other fan bases explains why Squinix surprisingly decided to make one a decade later A direct sequel to “Life is Strange”, this is not a reason to dismiss the new game as out of control. Like sending Alex off into the sunset with Stefan, follow-up games with the original protagonists have been a hot topic in the fandom since the end of the first game. But for fans of series where tough choices are made, the LiS community is far from swarming, and not everyone is happy that Double Exposure will serve as a sequel to two different endings to Max’s story, meaning that Loy will eventually become marginalized in some way.
Still, when each core entry is so markedly different from what came before, it seems unfair to think that a Max-led follow-up means the developers have run out of ideas for the series. Following the original game with a prequel, then a numbered but otherwise incoherent sequel, then an anthology-style follow-up, and now a direct sequel, could make Life is Strange like one of its disastrous bisexual protagonists Just as confusing, but at least you can stop accusing them of reusing the same ideas over and over again. In the unlikely event that a sixth LiS game comes out in a few years, the only thing I know is the last thing I want them to do next.
The Life is Strange novels (and to a lesser extent the comic book series) are now following a similarly chaotic trajectory. But luckily Chaotic Good is my favorite alignment. Although it’s a shame that Heatwave received so little marketing from Square, I’m surprised they didn’t invest in another book at some point in the future. Now that we’ve broken the seal on the game’s sequel ending, and there’s no time travel in the game as a convenient narrative device, can we still hope for a follow-up novel to Life is Strange 2 one day? Probably not, I think an offshoot of the series might actually be dead and truly buried… but then again, as we’ve already established, Life is Strange seems happy to give fans what they have Always be bold.
