Not weird 😭 their story is universally appreciable, and it’s very moving. I think it’s one of the most profound games I’ve ever played, it hits on some very real shit. 

Thank you friend. The writers did an excellent job pulling on the heart strings!

Nope, there’s a lot of people just like you around here.

Thanks friend. It really is just a great series.

No it's not odd at all. You're a human being (I presume ;) ), and you feel empathy for other human beings and their stories. But don't you find it strange how quite a lot of people seem to believe that they can only empathise with other people who are the same as them? That *is* weird, isn't it. But you see it all the time. But anyway, that's a different topic. It's not strange at all that you can empathise and even *identify* with those characters. They are well written, well-rounded and very relatable. :)

Absolutely friend! The writers really are amazing to pull at the heart strings so much! I think it's important to empathize with anyone of any age that is going through really rough times for sure!

Regarding your middle point, I think it's less that people believe they *can* only empathize with others that are like them, and more that people internalize this expectation that it's uncouth to do so, **especially** when we're talking about 30+year-old cis-het men (such as myself; I don't dare to assume the orientation of the OP, but he at least falls into the "30+year-old men" category) absolutely falling in love with a story about queer teen girls. For me at least, there's a deep internalized feeling of "it's creepy for 30-year-old straight men to be into stories about queer teen girls." But I push past that internalized feeling, because for me at least the love for this game doesn't at all come from any "creepy" perspective: it just comes from a deep human empathy. These girls go through so much trauma in such a short span of time (to say nothing of Chloe's pre-existing saga of trauma in the years leading up to the game), and the game does a lot more than **just** telling the story - it gives us a window into their lives, and all the messy complexities involved therein. There's a reason why my flair over on Pricefield is "I just want these dorks to be happy." Very few stories, and even fewer games, really sell the idea that these characters are intended to be **people.** They are complicated, they are messy, they are irrational. They have shit going on in their lives outside of the story and beyond the player's control. And for me at least, this particular story, with these particular characters, just really clicked with me. In a way that no other story, and no other characters, really have. Probably the closest that has done so for me is Days Gone, which despite its superficial veneer of zombie apocalypse and violent machismo, honestly has more in common with Life is Strange than it does with, say, Left 4 Dead. At its core, Days Gone is a story of a grieving man who thought he lost everything he loved, fighting against the decades of toxic masculinity he's internalized to protect his ego as his last best friend, his last tie to the world he knew before, lays dying and he is powerless to help him. Watching Deacon fight his demons and lose is heartwrenching - and watching him fight them and overcome them is a celebratory cause. But as much as I empathized with Deacon and rode that emotional rollercoaster with him, his story still didn't click with me quite as much as Life is Strange did. And I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that Deacon has already decided on who he is, whereas so much of Life is Strange's story is built on the fact Max doesn't have that - she *doesn't* know who she is, and the game is just as much a story about her discovering herself as it is about time travel and a murder mystery. Both Deacon and Max have tragic, traumatic stories. But Max's is inherently more intimate, being such a personal journal of self-discovery, for me.

>Regarding your middle point, I think it's less that people believe they *can* only empathize with others that are like them, and more that people internalize this expectation that it's uncouth to do so, **especially** when we're talking about 30+year-old cis-het men This internalisation absolutely relates to the fear of being "seen as creepy" as well, in that so much of media, even society in general is so heavily sexualised, that often the first impression we (especially 30+ year old cishet men, but I'd also presume outside of this as well?) have when hearing a game/story is about a queer relationship between two adolescent (ie, young but of legal age) girls/women is very much from a fantasy male-gaze sexualised perspective, because that's what 95% of the media that is catered towards us gives us. So even though we're playing a game which is about coming of age, emotions, etc, we've internalised the idea that any (even potential) relationship between two young women either has an inherant focus on any sexual elements of that relationship, or admitting that we like it it will be seen as that's the reason why we like it, regardless of whether it's there or not.

>Days Gone... has more in common with Life is Strange than it does with, say, Left 4 Dead That's because it's set in Oregon? :)

i'm a 45yo male and i played these games last year. Cried like a bitch after the first game. was melancholic for a month. couldn't start a new game. just listened to the soundtrack and watched let's plays.

It’s such a good soundtrack!!! I can relate to watching let’s plays, I did the same thing. I couldn’t experience it for the first time again but I could watch other people and relive it that way.

I'm almost 39 yrs old now living with my partner and my 3 months old daughter and I vividly remember playing LIS during the first lockdown because I just wanted to try playing these kind of narrative games, once and for all. I thought it would also be a "lighthearted" and "easy" game...it ended up wrecking me in different ways and I sometimes would burst into tears cause I would easily think about my life choices while playing it. Same happened with Before the Storm and LIS2. True Colors also hit me quite hard in the end because again I could relate myself to the protagonists. Also the soundtracks of these games are amazing! You definitely must play Detroit Become Human because imho it's a masterpiece among these narrative games. Have to play Heavy Rain and Beyond two souls soon.

I'm 36. I cry like a school girl when I play LiS

The best games will make you connect with people nothing like you in my opinion. I'm a woman who was born around the protagonists' ages. But the second game in the series about two brothers also struck me emotionally.

That was me and Rachel. We got nothing in common... except the flaws. She was an incredible character.

Not weird at all. The Story is really moving, and the characters are all normale teenagers (except for their various powers ofc, but they don't really make it any easyer for them). We've all been at that age so i guess it's easy to relate to them and imagine how you yourself would feel in a similar situation. (also the music is brilliant)

If it’s weird we can be weird together. I lost my absolute shit over LiS multiple times. Glad you enjoyed it!

This sub gets a post like this just about every day lol

I was in my mid 40s (also a male) and I could still relate to the characters. While the small tasks in the game revolve around being teenagers, the big events and decisions have very little to do with age.

No it’s not odd. And yes, it is completely relatable that you cared about these characters. Because LiS games hold a very special place in my heart. I mostly play open world games like Cyberpunk 2077, RDR2, Ghost of Tsushima, Assassins creed Odyssey, The Last of us 1 and 2 and so on. I love the soundtrack of the LiS too! Fits so much in the game. Excited for you to play all LiS games! Have fun!

Thanks friend and same here. Love the sound track and the music that played when Rachel and Chloe sit on the train, lol. It's pretty crazy coming from RDR 1 and RDR 2 and playing LiS. I love how much different the medium can be.

Yes! More soundtracks to be added when you play more of it for sure! Thats why i love gaming. Different genres and characters but they could all have the effect on you - a good effect.

I actually started up my first playthrough of 2077 shortly after finishing LiS for the first time, and designed my V to basically be Chloe/made choices based on how I thought a slightly older Chloe would act. It was a hella fun way to play the game

Thats cool! Having a character like Chloe for your V would definitely help in choosing what decisions to take! Some decisions are haaard! Also, the wardrobe outfits? Damn

It was really fun - usually I feel like my rpg characters have to be super diplomatic for the best results, but between the setting and taking a "what would Chloe do" approach, I could cut loose, intentionally make mistakes I thought the character would, let V lose her temper, etc. Also I was absolutely running that white punk tanktop the whole game lol

I didnt have that character so i had a hard time choosing decisions sometimes but in the end, i settled for “what would a mercenary for hire do?” and “My fixer would be disappointed if i went the other way.” Yeah the tank tops like River’s tank top really suited Chloe!

I'm a man who first played it in his 40's and I cried like a baby at the end.

not weird to me, i was in my late 30s when i played the game 6 years ago and it really impacted me then and still does now

Not at all! It’s an amazing story, human beings have emotions. Embrace your love for LiS.

The story is a masterpiece. Doesn’t matter how old you are to play the game.

Nah, I played it for the first time 3 years ago when I was 35 The story just hits differently than others and you get attached to the characters, nothing wrong with that

Absolutely friend! Thank you :-)

Why I read so much fanfiction of Life is Strange, the story just hits so hard Also the music is amazing and one of the reasons I went to see Wolf Alice and Fials live

I'm 33 finally beat the game for the first time earlier this year and i more or less the same way you do. Theirs just something about the core cast of characters (Max, Chloe, and Kate specifically) and the plot that just pulled me in and won't let go. Arcadia Bay is NOTHING like my hometown, but I can heavily relate to Chloe and Rachel having an overwhelming desire to leave and never look back.

Not at all. I'm 34, and this still hits my feels as hard as it did the first time 9 years ago. You are in good company!

Thank you! It really does tug at the old heart strings :-)

Not weird at all. There's a lot of emotionally charged themes, and the characters feel real and fleshed out (despite the hella cringe dialogue, haha.) I think you might also enjoy Telltale's The Walking Dead series. It's one of the games that really popularised choice and narrative-driven games in the early 2010s. Unlike Life is Strange, the sequels continue to focus on existing characters (for the most part,) not that I don't like the new characters in later LiS games.

Same for me. If you really liked the Pricefield ship, I suggest you the fan fiction "Better then". It's novel length, but very good. If you cared about the character, you'll care even more.

That's a sign of a well-made game and a well-told story.

Listen to me. I played LiS for the first time when I was like 13 years old. When I got to the very ending of the game, I yanked my computer cord straight out of the wall and had to lay down for hours to recover. I still haven't 🤣 Now I'm 21. Hella is unironically a part of my daily vocab, whether I like it or not. I'm planning on at least a half-sleeve of tattoos dedicated to Life is Strange motifs. This game is seared deep into my brain folds. All that is to say: I need as many people as possible to enjoy this game as much as I did so I can feel less bad about my entire personality being molded around it from the second I became a teenager

Gaming is ageless and genderless, why would it be so odd for you to experience such quality games like the LiS series?

There's plenty of literature that features characters around this age, and people generally wouldn't think it was weird for a guy in his 30s to be affected by their stories, so if someone were to consider it weird in this case, it would be an issue of their perspective on video games, or possibly their perspective on appreciating queer stories (sadly). I'm in my 40s, and some parts of LiS and BtS just wreck me.

Very true and very insightful. Thank you friend! :-)

Bro nothing odd at all. I'm 37 and generally not an emotional person. I still get emotional playing the first LiS. I've cried many times.

Nonsense. Stories/storytelling has always been for everyone regardless of age. It’s up to you to allow yourself to enjoy and appreciate what is being told to you. You may find a different meaning in things depending on your age but regardless of that you should always be able to enjoy a story no matter what.

My dude. I am 53 (almost 54) and recently played LiS... This game had me in a puddle of emotions and tears.. and I'm all for it!

I actually think this game kinda hits more if you're a millennial or older than if you're a zoomer This game really hits and nails that millennial or gen z "missed opportunities at love and friendship" that I don't think Gen z or alpha will ever understand You know what I'm talking about. That girl in high school that understood you but you never thought twice about That missed connection. That "acquaintance" that you now wish was your full fledged friend. LiS is a fucking buck wild game. None of my zoomer friends Got it. They all called it gay, even the literal gay ones. I literally think you had to be in high school in the 00s for this game to hit hard.

I think thats part of why it hits different for me as someone who graduated in 09..I think mostly negatively about the kind of person I was back then and all the things I wish I had done differently or what actions or words i would or wouldn't'd take back if I could rewind like Max..cant really relate to abrupt reunion with a former best friend. My high school did have afew scandals rock our campus though including an apparently well known junior/senior getting accidentally shot by a friend of his..and a worse still scandal involving the head of our photography club/yearbook club teacher.

That's crazy. but yea, for me (graduated high school 09 as well), around the time I was playing the game in 2015/16, some years after the game came out. I had just had my best friend ghost me and stop responding to me. So over the course of the year leading up to playing the game, I'd essentially been dealing with their loss, essentially. Maybe worse? because they weren't gone. they were in the same town and everything, they had just abandoned me and stopped talking to me. So playing this game, like... Max coming back to Chloe, the reunion, losing and trying to find Rachel, then losing her all over again. It was a lot and I related to a lot of it. Part of the game is about accepting what you can't or shouldn't change, and I understood that immediately. I'm a much stronger person than I was when I played the game back then, and I knew that I was going to get "through my own storm" at that time, but that doesn't mean the game didn't hit for me. That being said, I don't really look back with sadness or lament. I do, though, look back so that when I encounter certain scenarios again, I can be sure of what path I will take moving forward. As cheesy as it sounds at the time, after beating the game, it really did stick with me that the things I say and do to people will have consequences. I still made some very strong decisions in my life after playing the game, but I definitely made sure to think critically about the scenarios and consequences I was willing to accept. And that was the first time I had really thought about that. Life is Strange did teach me something. One of like one or two games that did. The other being The Fall. you might like that one.

There is no requirement of or restrictions on any person to be able to enjoy fine art. Keep appreciating everything you feel you should :)

Nope not at all. It resonated more with me now than when I first played it as a teenager. I’m 22 now, so I guess not that old, but damn it hits differently once you’ve gotten the chance to grow up a bit.

Not creepy at all. I first played it when I was in my early 20s, but I keep playing it now and the story just becomes more tragic to me.

Any person, no matter the age, that discovers LIS and becomes a fan is cause for celebration :). I've no problem admitting that this game was the first and currently only game that left me with a bit of a trauma to deal with. Mostly because by the time i finished i cared deeply about Max,Cloe and the others. I think i'm still not 100% over it 😅. So to answer your question, its not strange at all. I think you need to have a hart of stone to get trough this game witouh letting a single tear fall down :p

Born in 84 and I'm here.

It's not weird at all. I've gone back and I've played the series a handful of times, I'm in my mid 30s and the amount of emotion that this series can convey really just shows that video games in all their forms depending on what generation you grew up in and when you played them depending on the genre they are in really only shows how much impact they can have on the person that plays them. It doesn't matter if the main character is a grown man or even a teenage girl, the fact of the matter is that it doesn't matter who the character is but what matters more is the experiences they go through and the experiences that you go through playing those characters and seeing what they go through and what you get an invested in from the adventures they take part in. We forget the beauty of fiction and how it's able to move us, make us happy, make us angry, show us things that really we feel uncomfortable seeing as well as seeing how a person can emote in a variety of different ways just shows how stories can be told. Video games are probably the best example of how you can engage with the audience through the stories they tell, Life is Strange is one of the best examples of how you do that.

Everyone used to go to school and was a teenager once... So even if you're 80, you can relate.

That's true! Thanks friend. :-)

30s here , I still cried after replaying once the remasters came out. Playing a game like LIS I get lost in it every single time. I love it because it was such a lovely experience and thus I feel it through.

You're literally playing a video game there's literally nothing creepy about that If you start playing nekopara and then asking if that's weird then I'm going to direct you to the yes line. Congratulations you enjoyed a narrative driven story and video game. As this was released 10 years ago, you would have been in your late 20s when this released and therefore this would not have been weird then and it's still not weird now and it never will be weird to play a video game but it is always weird to ask if it's weird to play a video game in my mind because that's like just you needing permission and you don't need permission You're an adult.

Nah man, that's the whole point of the game is to get emotional over these characters! I can understand why you *think* it's weird, but you're fine! It's not weird to get invested in these characters. Hopefully you enjoy Seasons 2 and 3, plus Detroit and the DPA as well!

not at all i'm 32 and the lis series always tugs at my heartstrings.

Late 50s male here. I poured tears out my eyes at several points. The characters are engaging, and the choices and consequences forced upon them are genuinely moving. The game tries very hard to be sincere toward the story... so if you have an ounce of compassion, you are going to feel it.

The thing about lis is its going to make people of every age cry so you're not odd!

You, a human felt human emotions from human characters made and well written by other humans. Nothing wrong with it! That’s how you know LiS is a good story - when the story manages to move you beyond the physical limitations of what you can ‘relate’ to.

I'm a guy, first played it at 36. Changed my life. It hits you right in the soul and never leaves.

Very true!

Hell nah

I (38M) first played LiS about 3 or 4 years ago initially because I love time travel stories, but got into it really quickly and couldn't stop playing, and though I didn't get on so well with LiS2 still bought True Colours which again I thought was amazing. Like you I also play a lot of retro games (Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid) but also love newer narrative games (Spider-Man, Horizon) and without saying LiS games are completely unique, they definitely gave/give me something which I haven't got with most, if not any, other game I typically play. Yes there are stories of friendship, romance, tragedy etc in other games, but especially with LiS1, I can't think of any other game which manages to pull of such an emotional roller coaster in such a short space of time, but still making it completely true to the world/narrative where nothing ever seems forced. It also where it reminds me of myself and other people I knew when I was that age, and also (perhaps more importantly for men our age) with a level of tenderness which I haven't experienced before in terms of gaming narratives, and would only get by playing outside of games aimed at our demographic.

Hey thanks! It's good to have others here I can relate with! Lol. Sometimes I felt like the oldest person playing the series, but I've seen people even older than us that loved the series and I think it's awesome. The writers are fantastic and are geniuses at pulling our heart strings. I also LOVE the time travel mechanic. I'm a huge fan of time travel in general.

LiS really got me into it with the first chapter and i was not prepared for the battering i was going to take as i continued playing!

I'm almost 25 and I care about Max and Chloe more than I did at 16 (when I was introduced to this game). Sympathizing with the characters is not a bad thing and it doesn't depend on age.

I (M) was in my 50s when I came across LiS - it was cheap (free even?) and ran on Linux so I played it. It was very engaging and I came to like the Max character a lot. While I didn't identify with the characters per se, I did relate to the setting, the world they inhabited - the insular typical American teenager world. LiS2 was quite different of course and broke the spell. It was preachy and lacked the honest intimate feel of LiS. I haven't played another game in the franchise since. As for tearing up, I did get a little misty-eyed on one scene: The Tempest (when they're putting on the play). That was some fine writing.

Lis 2 is last on my ranking, but if you ever have the chance i'm a big fan of true colour, personally i really recommend playing it :)

I was in my 40s when I first played. Almost 50 and it still gets me in the feels.

I’m 30, AMAB non-binary who still presents male, and first played them when I was 24. It’s wild how much I identified with Max and Chloe. They’re still my favorite characters of any media and I’m planning to get a sleeve inspired by Chloe’s hopefully next year. Nothing has affected my emotions as much as their story.

Tbh it was written by French guys in at least their 20s and, let's face it, not without its barely disguised fetishes, albeit dressed up beautifully and thoughtfully. I first played it when I was like 34 and am 38 now. Given how much the game is seeped in nostalgia and making the early 2000s feel like the mid 90s, I don't blame you for clicking with it.

The lead writer, co-director, and artistic supervisor Christian Divine was born and raised in northern Cali. He also speaks about his teenage nieces practically being co-writers with him as he would run things by them for authenticity's sake.

If you like Life Is Strange you're going to love [Lost Records](https://youtu.be/wRGTt0RS4qI?si=aBQU0uOLFWsN1J97) (Coming out SOON!)

i just wanna say you might want to know that lis 2, that i am playing with my friend currently, is pure pain and mayybe you should watch out a little idk (we have only finished up till ep 3 no spoils:P)