So all of you gamers, put your gear on because a colossal volume of revelations are getting poured out in every direction in the tweetosphere. It is something one has to hear to appreciate: Life is Strange, wherein an entire generation was brought to tears regarding Chloe and Max’s relationship in this iconic choice-driven narrative video game, is finally going to be adapted into a TV series on Amazon Prime Video. That was a very mouthful. Prime Video will now take arcane business in Arcadia Bay, and the internet is losing its mind.
And we saw the reply section explode with a weird mixture of hype, fear, and pure confusion. It is like those things where you want to say “wait, is this really happening?,” and then you see the logo and just think… oh. It is happening.
In the very beginning, the reactions went from one extreme to the other. We had some who were totally hyped, such as BarbaraJudge_ who completely screamed, “YES YES YES!!! LETS GO!!!” Guess what? I really agree with her. Others have started to brace themselves for the worst already. h3llachloe reacted with a GIF, warning that “THEY’RE GONNA FUCK IT UP DUDE” and frankly, that is probably the best prediction there is. The track record for game adaptations has been… very hit or miss, to say the least.
Here comes another layer of worrying evolving in the replies. AllasThor pointed out the most intriguing dilemma here: “This will NOT involve the creators of the game!!!” That red flag is pretty high for a lot of fans. Like, the original game’s magic came from Don’t Nod’s specific storytelling approach, so having a completely different team steer the production? It is risky business. Another user replying to them stated that the adaptation was “non canon and doesn’t involve the game creators”, which doesn’t sprinkle much water on the feelings of anxiety at all.
On the contrary, it looks like a few are keeping the faith. User faithiologyyy said, “I trust them they cooked with FALLOUT.” And hey, the Fallout show was pretty damn good, so maybe Prime Video knows what they’re doing with game adaptations. Another user, AskeGaming, said they’re “Really interested what they could do with this. Personally love the first game, so would love to see this become a hit.” So it’s not all doom and gloom.
Now comes the international riffle, which is always fun. We have the Spanish speakers like xph4ntomz that said, “Qué bien cojones,” which can loosely translate as “Holy shit that’s awesome.” The French crowd is divided on whether this is here to stay, or just a passing fad. NeveResK said, “C’est une mode, ça leur passera,” translating to “It’s a trend; it’ll pass.” However, he immediately followed with: “Mais il faut dire que ce jeu s’y prête bien,” which means, “But you have to say this game lends itself well to it.” So the doubters recognize the potential.
Now, the big question on anybody’s lips… how? I mean Life is Strange is all about player choice. The whole emotional weight comes from YOU deciding what happens. So how do you translate that into a linear TV show? Are you going with one ending? Are they going to decide for themselves? A possible argument for this comes from Jared Star: “You never know, look at Bandersnatch from Black Mirror. Could be something like that”. An interactive choose-your-own-adventure style series? THAT would be wild.
And then there’s the much-anticipated fear about what story they’re going to choose to adapt. DlfMarcos commented, “The first game actually fits perfectly as a series (and I hope they get enough support to make a season 2, love the second game).” And less than committed to the nice, optimistic setup, he added, “yall know they will kill chloe at the end cause the new game director.” And well… that would stir some controversy.
Interestingly enough, the whole community today is split not only on if games should even be adapted but on how they should be done. Similarly, user criminal_1105 took the stand: “I think games should not be adapted as they are unique from film and television,” which is a fair opinion to have. Games are a medium on their own with their own strengths. On the flipside, other people say: “WILL BE WATCHING” without so much as a second thought.
Personally, I am cautiously optimistic and terrified in the same breath. Life is Strange means different things to each and every single one of us; it is one of those games that sticks with you forever. The music, the vibe, the characters… it’s special. The pressure on them to do right by it is highest. Still, lately, we have seen a streak of good adaptations – well, that is something Prime is working with, but this is different. This is personal to a good amount of players.
Casting details, potential release dates, and how close it will stay to the plot of the game are yet to be divulged. But one thing is clear, that this production is going to wake up the very sore neck of scrutiny from the global eyes. This is either going to end as one-of-kinds ever or a colossal fail; no space in between. We will be chatting about this for the rest of our lives. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to dive back into the whirlpool of the original and cry about Chloe once again for old time’s sake.
