The past several months have been particularly eventful for the Life is Strange series.
Don’t Nod’s original narrative adventure game celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, and last month, a controversial sequel, Life is Strange: Reunion, was released that starred fan-favourite characters Max and Chloe. And amid all of this, fans have been re-evaluating their thoughts on the wider series, while Hollywood, which has grown increasingly interested in video game adaptations, is working on a Life is Strange TV series for Prime Video.
Given all of this, I thought I’d ask original Life is Strange creators Michel Koch (creative director) and Luc Baghadoust (executive producer) about their thoughts on the series as of late as we were discussing their latest game, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, a spiritual successor made at their Canadian studio, Don’t Nod Montreal. (You can read that larger piece on Lost Records here.)
Max and Chloe in Life is Strange. (Image credit: Square Enix)
When asked about where the series is today without Don’t Nod, Koch first reflects on how fortunate it was to have been made in the first place.
“We knew at a point that we had to find a publisher, because the studio could not have just self-published it. So we had to find a publisher. We found Square Enix, who loved our pitch, our story, and were really willing to make this game that was, I would say, risky back then — especially if you know the kind of game, the kind of protagonist, of story, it was way different from what used to sell,” he says.
“So they took the risk, believing in our vision, and became our publisher, and then, basically, with that, they owned the IP. And then we had the amazing opportunity to do a second game with Life is Strange 2. Then we wanted to do other things, while they went with another studio [Deck Nine] and wanted the [series] to continue to exist.”
Since then, Deck Nine has released several Life is Strange games, including the well-regarded 2021 standalone spin-off Life is Strange: True Colors and two more polarizing Max-led games in 2024’s Double Exposure and this year’s Reunion. But even as Don’t Nod has moved onto Lost Records and, more recently, an unannounced title based on a “major” Netflix property, the developers still find themselves being asked about Life is Strange in amusing ways.
“It’s funny. I think people sometimes still associate Don’t Nod with Life is Strange because we receive on our official website like requests or bugs for Double Exposure saying, “I cannot play Double Exposure,” and we have to answer, “Yes, please contact Square Enix and Deck Nine. We did not do it — it has been a while since we made Life is Strange!” says Baghadoust with a laugh.
Max in Double Exposure. (Image credit: Square Enix)
While fans definitely have many thoughts about the games of both Don’t Nod and Deck Nine, Koch says he’s just happy to see the enduring popularity of Life is Strange.
“It’s still great — the thing that you created, it stands the test of time, and it exists. Of course, as a creator, sometimes you see the way the story is evolving is maybe not the story you would have told. Maybe it’s not exactly the path we had in mind for those characters. But I think that’s okay,” he says. “There are so many versions of the stories we can tell. I think it’s still better to have those stories told than not having the game continue. I don’t know if in another universe we could have made those games, or there are versions of the stories of Max and Chloe that I wanted to tell that we never told. And maybe, who knows, one day we can, I don’t know, in a form or another. We will see what happens in the future.”
For now, one of the other versions of that original story will come in the form of Prime Video’s live-action TV series adaptation. While Don’t Nod isn’t involved with the series, it’s been confirmed that Charlie Covell (The End of the F***ing World) will serve as showrunner, writer and executive producer, while Story Kitchen (Sonic the Hedgehog film series) and Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap (Barbie) are co-producing. It’s currently unclear how closely the series will adapt the game, especially given its branching narrative, but we do know it will focus on Max (newcomer Tatum Grace Hopkins) and Chloe (Oshawa, Ont. native Maisy Stella from the acclaimed Canadian film My Old Ass). The series is rumoured to begin filming in Vancouver in June.
“On my end, the TV show is really something big. And I know [it is] for Michel, too,” says Baghadoust. “We know there are great people behind it, and it feels like, from all the signs we see, that it’s being made with care, and they want to do something great. But just imagining that this is something that will happen… We know that Life is Strange had a huge audience, but a TV show like this, it will reach even more people. So it’s crazy to us. The success of the game was already one of our biggest achievements, but a TV show now is huge. I’m super excited.”
“I’m very excited about it,” adds Koch. “It’s personal pride, but the TV show is an adaptation of the first [game], so it’s really going back to the root of what we created. It’s still good as a creator to know that what you did stands the test of time, and more than 10 years later, they want to tell this story in another format to bring it to the much wider audience. That’s amazing.”
And while we still have a while to go for the series, people have, in the meantime, been finding a greater appreciation for another Don’t Nod work: Life is Strange 2. When the game was released in 2018, it garnered generally positive reviews, although it wasn’t quite as beloved as its predecessor.
Part of that was due to fans’ reluctance to move on from Max and Chloe, an attachment that Koch says he “completely get[s]” and recognizes is a “normal” part of fandom. But beyond that, other criticisms were levied at Life is Strange 2‘s much more politically-charged narrative, which followed Mexican-American brothers Sean and Daniel as they travel along the U.S. border as fugitives. “A lot of critiques we were receiving back then were like, ‘It’s too political, it’s not realistic. It’s a bit cliché. We get it, bad guys, racism is bad, etc.’ We heard a lot of things like that,” said Koch.
Sean and Daniel in Life is Strange 2. (Image credit: Square Enix)
But several years later, we’ve seen more people re-evaluate the game, especially given the ever-worsening political climate. Koch says he’s noticed this, as well, and has been heartened by the reappraisal.
“I’ve seen that, too. And I was really happy — not for the turn of events in the world — but for people just giving a second chance, and maybe even a second life, to Life is Strange 2,” he says. “[Our] three games, Life is Strange 1, Life is Strange 2 and Lost Records, I love them all for different reasons. I feel like Life is Strange 2 was maybe the most heavily charged one we worked on, and I was a bit disappointed back then when it was released [with the response].”
But reception has become more positive over time, and Koch specifically shouts out popular gaming YouTuber Jacksepticeye as a prime example of this. In February, an X (Twitter) user noted that he’d once said Life is Strange 2 was “pushing one type of agenda” and that “there was a lot more depth” to the subject matter than what was in the game. In response, Jacksepticeye apologized for being “naïve” and said he’s “learned a great deal” over the past several years.
“And I’ve seen that from other players recently. So hopefully, some players are giving a second chance to Life is Strange 2 and discovering Sean and Daniel’s story, because I feel like it’s a very important one. We did document a lot. We did our research back then. And yes, we wanted to push on some buttons, but I don’t think those were out of [the reality] of things that were really happening. And we see that today. So I think it’s still an important game to play and experience.”
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is now available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Both Life is Strange and Life is Strange 2 are available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.
Image credit: Square Enix
