Yeah, it’s hard to keep track after they quickly abandoned the numbered naming scheme after 2. And I think that was partly because people were confused anyways by the un-numbered prequel featuring the same setting and cast of characters, while the numbered sequel was almost entirely separate.
(Caveat: I have not played Double Exposure yet so I am not sure how directly connected it is to the first game) The titles are disconnected enough that anyone can basically just jump into the series with any title at any time, the only exception being the first game and Before the Storm, since they’re directly connected. I’ve heard it said that those two can still be appreciated in either release order or chronological order, but would probably be best served played one right after the other either way.
The only other connections I know of are:
Life is Strange 2 - A character from the original game and Before the Storm plays a minor role in the story, but context is not required to understand the plot.
Life is Strange: True Colors - A character from Before the Storm features prominently in the story, but context is also not required to understand the main plot. However, this character has a DLC story that I haven’t played, so I don’t know if that ties in more to Before the Storm than True Colors alone does.
The series is still decently popular, though the newest is the lowest rated one yet. There is also more than one developer involved. Here’s a short list of the main titles, developer, and other notes listed below for each:
Life is Strange (2015)
The original game.
Takes place in 2013.
Developed by Dontnod.
Released in chapters.
Remastered in 2022 by Deck Nine.
81 on OpenCritic.
Life is Strange: Before the Storm (2017)
Prequel to Life is Strange.
Features much of the Life is Strange cast.
Takes place in 2010.
Developed by Deck Nine.
Released in chapters.
Remastered in 2022 by Deck Nine.
80 on OpenCritic.
Life is Strange 2 (2018-2019)
Sequel to Life is Strange.
Features a new cast of characters.
Takes place in 2016-2017.
Developed by Dontnod.
Released in chapters.
76 on OpenCritic.
Life is Strange: True Colors (2021)
Sequel to Life is Strange 2.
Features a new cast of characters.
Takes place in 2019.
Developed by Deck Nine.
Released in its entirety.
81 on OpenCritic.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure (2024)
Sequel to Life is Strange: True Colors.
Stars the original protagonist of Life is Strange.
It’s like how back when the Euro or the Pound were worth nearly 2x what the dollar was, a new device or piece of hardware would sell for $399/€399/£399.
I realized this idea long, long ago, when Rare made Banjo-Tooie.
Banjo-Kazooie was a fun game. You unlock worlds, go to the world, collect 100% of all there is to collect, then continue.
Banjo-Tooie, its sequel, wanted to be bigger and better in every way. Sprawling open world hub, much larger worlds with more sub-zones, interconnectivity between worlds, more things to unlock, more things to do, etc. etc.
And I think, despite having so much more, it was a worse game for it. You go to a new world but find there’s a lot you can’t do yet because you didn’t unlock an ability that comes later on. You push a button in one world and then something happens in another, but now you have to backtrack through the sprawling overworld and large world maps to get there.
And this was just a pair of games made for the Nintendo 64, before the concept of “open world” had really even taken off.
But it demonstrated to me that bigger was not always better, and having more to do did not make it a better game if it wasn’t as enjoyable.
Early open world games were fairly small, and the natural desire for people who have seen everything becomes “I wish there was more,” but in practice it ends up typically being that they take the same amount of stuff and divide it up over a larger area, or they fill the world with tedium just for the sake of having something to do.
When looking at the collectibles and activities on a world map like Genshin Impact, it’s basically sensory overload with how much there is to do.
But almost all of that is garbage. And this is just a fraction of one region among several. Go here, do this time trial, shoot these balloons, follow this spirit, solve this logic puzzle, and then loot your pittance of gatcha currency so you can try to win your next waifu or husbando before time runs out.
And don’t forget to do your dailies!
If a game has a large world, it needs to act in service to its design. It needs to be fun to exist in and travel through, not tedious. It needs to have enough stuff to do that keep it from feeling empty, but not so much stuff that it makes it hard to find anything worthwhile. And it needs to give enough ability for the player to make their own fun, to act as the balance on that tightrope walk between not-enough and too-much.
Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom are the most recent games that seemed to properly scratch an open world itch for me. While they weren’t perfect, the way they managed to really incorporate the open world as its own sort of puzzle to solve, in ways that Genshin Impact failed to properly emulate, made them more enjoyable as an open world than most other games in that genre I’ve played in recent memory.
In a world that is controlled almost entirely by heteronormativity, policing straight representation in a queer-friendly game made by a queer developer does not seem like an equivalent situation at all.
I’ve seen a few valid criticisms, which I get. It’s hard to make a choice-driven narrative in the post-BG3 market and not get held to a higher standard. “Written by committee” is one such descriptor I’ve heard.
For me, as a fan of Dragon Age: Origins, I also can’t say I prefer the dip into the actiony, grindy sort of combat mechanics the game appears to have now.
I bought a PS4 pro back in the day but am giving this one a pass.
I’m all for incremental mid-gen upgrades, but not at that price point. If it can’t be priced competitively with the prices people have been paying, then it should not be made until the hardware they want meets that price point.
Should have made it $499 and drop the base price of the PS5 to $399.
Agreed. I remember there being some controversy around including figures in the game like Poundmaker, whose major mark in history was advocating against the colonial practices his people were submitted to.
Forcing anti-colonial figures to compete in the colonial model of success just doesn’t seem right.