Posted on: June 16, 2020
polysquirrel
Verified ownerGames: 285 Reviews: 28
This is something else
This is not really a game. Puzzles are few and simplistic, you can't die or fail, and, bar a few selected places, you can (and often are expected to) rewind the time to try different conversation options and select a path based on their immediate consequences. You can't even role play, as there aren't really 'good' and 'bad' choices - even having seen all variants play out, no gain comes without a sacrifice and long term consequences are never clear. Neither it is a visual novel however, with very few final world states - it is the road that counts, not the destination. To criticise it for elements which could be automated (i.e. mandatory clicking) is to fail to see their purpose: the fact that Max can walk freely and the player actually performing those actions serves to increase the immersion. This is crucial, because 'Life ...', despite featuring time travel and a cataclysm, is not an action story. Nor is it a mystery or horror, despite the whole plot being centered around sleuthing for a dissapeared girl and becomes only darker with time. In order to really experience it, you must be able to empathise with normal people and their problems, and this includes teenagers, antiheroes like drug dealers and school bullies. If you can't see the person behind the character, you will discount it as a teenage drama, filled with boring, everyday issues. Talk with any NPC in the game though, and you will find that even extras with no role to play are more than cardboard standouts. By its interactive nature, LiS strikes the points much more strongly then a film would, and it will leave you moved on many occasions, with some of the most powerful moments in gaming. Despite its small scale, the story is far from simple. The mystery is well constructed, far from obvious, but doesn't feature plot twists for the sake of surprise alone. The nature of Max's abilities results in recursive time travel more complex than any you've seen, and is above what one expects from this medium.
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