![]() In my eyes, dragging them back out for another crazy adventure would have tainted what they’d been through (not to mention the ending I’d chosen), even if that wasn’t an opinion shared by a decent number of other fans in the community. Complaints about how the “Bae over Bay” ending didn’t feel as fleshed out as the other potential outcome aside, I felt like we’d seen everything of Max and Chloe’s story that we needed to. And, on top of that, with a hint of supernatural elements that we can use as a way to strengthen and put more emphasis on the themes of the story.”Īs someone who dearly loves the original Life is Strange, I was legitimately surprised when Dontnod announced that Life is Strange 2 would have nothing to do with the duo. It was more about trying to tell a story surrounding relatable characters anchored in reality who will be facing some real-world issues. “It also wasn’t just about rewind powers. “We realized that, for us, it wasn’t really about the story of Max and Chloe,” Koch said. One of the big decisions the team came to during those discussions was also one of the most controversial ones that it could make. Koch recalled that one of the questions the team asked itself was a simple-yet potentially complicated-one: What is the DNA of Life is Strange? What exactly was it that the studio wanted to create, what did they want to do in a game, and how would that lead into a design goal for a second title? The folks at Dontnod held initial conversations on the idea of producing a true sequel with publisher Square Enix, and then sat down to come up with some initial ideas on what exactly to do. With every great review score, piece of fanart, or enthusiastic Let’s Play that hit the internet, the rumblings for a sequel grew a little louder, and the expectations for said sequel rose a little higher. When you create a game, of course we want the players to experience it, but if it then brings something to their lives or helps them in a way, that’s even better.”Īs the success of the original Life is Strange grew, so too did those dark clouds on the horizon. So, it was really touching for us to read all that, to know that our game could have done that for players. “Or, even just knowing that someone out there might be living the same thing, that helped them. “We received a lot of letters from players saying that the game helped them to better understand something about themselves, or maybe just accept some issue that they were facing,” Koch said. One part of Life is Strange that made it so special was that it not only touched on how hard it can be to be a teenager, but also on some of the more personal challenges people can face during that point in their lives, especially in the modern era. Life is StrangeĬredit: Square Enix, Dontnod Entertainment The tale of a time-travelling teenage girl named Max and her estranged best friend Chloe struck a chord with gamers all around the world, and both the story and its characters quickly became beloved by a wide segment of players. Of course, to both the delight and terror of the team, Life is Strange indeed found an audience-one beyond the studio’s dreams. It was the kind of story we wanted to create, but we had no idea if it would resonate with the players, work as an experience, or find an audience.” “We had just started to work on this project, which was like a small storytelling game that I would say we wanted to play as players. “We were a really small team at the time,” Koch explained. ![]() When I recently had the chance to ask Life is Strange co-director Michel Koch about those early days of the game’s development, he told me it was more about playing to the whims of its creators than pleasing fans. As the follow-up to 2013’s underappreciated Remember Me, Life is Strange was set to be a very different project, one that eschewed the ambitions of a big, action-packed epic for a smaller, more intimate episodic story. Such pressure was still looming far out on the horizon for the team at Dontnod Entertainment as they worked on the original Life is Strange. As wonderful as it may be to see something you’ve helped bring to life find huge success, that popularity can then give rise to an incredible amount of anticipation for a follow-up-and that stress has weighed heavily on countless video games, movies, albums, and books that have come in the wake of a popular predecessor. If there’s one thing that can drive fear into the hearts of those who create entertainment, it’s the curse of the sequel.
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