Life Is Strange was a surprise hit upon its release in 2015. Using the new style of point and click gameplay seen in the TellTale titles, Dontnod Entertainment crafted a great narrative experience with a clever mystery and interesting characters.
10 Max’s Opinion On Code Puzzles
Episode five of Life Is Strange features a weird nightmare sequence that plays on Max’s fears and insecurities. During one section of the nightmare, Max is locked in the Two Whales Diner bathroom and she has to figure out the code for the door.
If you manage to input the wrong code fifty times, Max will say, “I’m going to make the designers pay for all these bulls**t code puzzles!” as the door unlocks. It’s unlikely many (if any) heard this funny bit of dialogue on their first playthrough unless they’re really bad at puzzles and refuse to use a guide.
9 Warren Spying On Max
Life is Strange fans will know Warren as Max’s friend who is obsessed with her. While he usually comes off as harmless and even helps Max during the game, this hidden detail shows that he’s more creepy than he initially seems.
After you get out of bed at the start of “Out Of Time,” go over to the window, and for just a second you’ll see Warren spying on Max. It takes an eagle eye to see him (he’s on the left of the above image), yet it clearly outs Warren as a stalker, at least it wasn’t Mr. Jefferson.
8 Chloe’s Not Impressed With Old Tricks
When Max uses her rewinding ability to get into Principal Wells’ office before Chloe, it blows her blue-haired friend’s mind.
Later in episode 3, you can try the trick again. After Chloe opens the locker room door, go inside then rewind time, now you’ll have the opportunity to open the door from the other side for her. The second time Chloe will be much less enthused as she’s already seen the stunt, it also doesn’t help that the door was already unlocked, so this time the use of Max’s power is unnecessary.
7 Kate Marsh’s Video
During the first few episodes of Life Is Strange, there are many mentions of a viral video going around of Kate Marsh being drugged up at a Vortex Party.
When in the bathroom in episode 2, you’ll see Victoria Chase write the link to Kate’s video on the bathroom mirror. The link Victoria writes is actually real, and you can go to the website where Kate’s video is supposed to be. It’s a nice detail for the developers to include, the site even shows that the video has been removed from YouTube, as an underage girl on drugs would break their terms of service.
6 Max Going To The Dark Side
Max’s rewind ability can be useful in many situations, such as never having to pay for a drink at a soda machine. After buying a soda in Blackwell during “Chaos Theory,” you can rewind time to get your money back, which leads to Max commenting that she can get every can with one coin then says “But don’t go to the Darkside, young Max” which is a clear reference to Star Wars.
While buying the first drink is required, it’s unlikely that many players thought to rewind right afterward, making this humorous bit of dialogue easily missable.
5 Who Is Chloe’s Best Friend?
If you pick up Chloe’s phone in “Chaos Theory,” you’ll notice that her background is either a picture of Max or a picture of Chloe and Rachel Amber. Which background image players see depends on how they’ve played the game up to that point.
If you don’t take the blame for Chloe’s weed in episode one then the picture of Rachel appears no matter what, whereas to get the picture of Max you have to say it was your pot as well as doing at least two of the following: don’t take Kate’s call in “Out Of Time,” try to shoot Frank in the junkyard, and/or let Chloe steal the money from the principal’s office in episode 3.
4 The Developers Appreciate Players’ Tears
Episode four is an emotional one as it includes alternate timeline Chloe asking you to end her suffering, the reveal of Mr. Jefferson as the real villain, and the death of the blue-haired version of Chloe (until the next episode at least).
Dontnod Entertainment clearly knew how heartbreaking episode four was as they replaced the message at the end of the credits that usually says, “Thanks for playing” with “Thanks for crying.” Its an easily missable detail as the credits are shown after every episode, so by the fourth one, many fans will have skipped them.
3 Victoria’s Real Feelings About Max
Victoria is mean to pretty much everybody throughout Life is Strange with Max being one of her primary targets. Even when you’re nice to her, she ordinarily won’t return the favor.
When you return to Mr. Jefferson’s class in “Polarized,” you can take a look in Victoria’s notebook that reads, “But Mark Jefferson rules. Everybody in here loves him. But he only seems to care about Max C. I want to hate her, but she wouldn’t care. Envy is a sin, Vic. GET OVER YOURSELF.” So it turns out that the root of Victoria’s dislike of Max comes from jealousy.
2 License Plate References
Life is Strange is filled with references to TV shows and films, most appear in dialogue, but there are more subtle ones in the form of license plates. Frank’s RV has the plate BRKBD, meaning Breaking Bad; Chloe’s truck has TWN PKS, which is code for Twin Peaks; and Warren’s car references The X-Files with the plate THXFLS.
It’s not just the character’s vehicles that include references either, as you’ll be hardpressed to find a single license plate in the game that isn’t a nod to a film or TV show.
1 Mr. Jefferson Reveals His Intentions From The Start
“Seriously though, I could frame any one of you in a dark corner, and capture you in a moment of desperation,” this line is uttered by Mr. Jefferson to his class near the beginning of the game. When first heard, it seems to be a forgettable line about photography, but it’s actually a literal description of what the teacher does to his victims.
It would’ve been an impossible detail to catch when you first played as you wouldn’t have known that Mr. Jefferson was the villain (unless someone had spoiled the reveal for you). Even in further playthroughs, it still can be missed if you have Max take a selfie before Jefferson says the line.
NEXT: 10 Details You May Have Missed In Your First Play Through Of RDR2
