Needle in a Stack of Needles: The Nightmare Sequence in Episode 5 has a door with a keypad and possible combinations to it scrawled all over the walls. The mirrors in the room don't reflect anything other than the right code.

The Needs of the Many: What the final choice is about. Will you have Max save all of Arcadia Bay or just Chloe?

Never Give the Captain a Straight Answer: When Chloe and Max break into the principal's office, Chloe scans the monitor and calls Max to "better come and check this out" instead of telling her what she found.

Never Trust a Trailer: The trailer for Episode 4 was an egregious offender. Not only was Chloe edited out of every scene, but Max's exploration of Chloe's house was narrated with the line "there's no sign of life," which was taken from Max looking into the forest in an entirely different scene.

New Ability Addiction: In the opening of "Out of Time", it's revealed that Max has abused her newly discovered Time Master powers to stay up all night studying time travel and quantum theory. You then meet up with Chloe, who encourages this further, by testing it (to prove she has it), and then taking her to the junkyard to help her shoot bottles with perfect accuracy. This is deconstructed when Max starts suffering from a Psychic Nosebleed and dampening of her powers from overuse causing them to short out right at the end of the chapter, meaning that you can't rewind if you fail to talk down Kate from her suicide attempt .

New Powers as the Plot Demands: Every new episode, Max gains new abilities that help her when she needs it. In Episode 2, she manages to stop time long enough to get to the rooftop before Kate jumps when she can't outright reverse it, and in Episode 3, she learns how to time travel with a picture just so she can prevent the death of Chloe's dad . It is implied that these are all different applications of the same power. She has no idea how it works, after all.

Newspaper Dating: Early on, Max discovers her vision takes place on October 11, four days later, thanks to a newspaper clinging to a post.

Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: One of the game's main themes is that Max's time travel powers can sometimes make things worse: If you water Max's houseplant Lisa in both Episodes 1 and 2, it drowns . Due to a scripting error which prevented a text from Max's mother warning about this, most players didn't know any better until Episode 3, where it was patched.

. Due to a scripting error which prevented a text from Max's mother warning about this, most players didn't know any better until Episode 3, where it was patched. At the end of Episode 3, Max changes history so William Price never died. As a result, the five years between then and the present are radically altered. Max is now a member of the popular crowd, Warren doesn't have eyes for Max, David is a school bus driver, and Chloe is paralyzed from the neck down. Furthermore, since Max has Ripple Effect-Proof Memory , she has no memory of this version of herself or others

In Episode 3, Max can erase a voicemail from a cop alerting David that the police (correctly) suspect that Chloe broke into the Blackwell swimming pool . If Max deletes the message before David and Joyce can hear it to spare Chloe the trouble, the police decide to question Chloe. Allowing David to hear the message causes him to lie to the police and give Chloe a fake alibi.

. If Max deletes the message before David and Joyce can hear it to spare Chloe the trouble, the police decide to question Chloe. Allowing David to hear the message causes him to lie to the police and give Chloe a fake alibi. In Episode 5, if Max warned Victoria about Nathan and she believed her, Victoria will go running to Mr. Jefferson for help. Jefferson decides that Victoria has learned too much and kidnaps and murders her.

In Episode 5, Max finds out that saving Chloe from being killed in the first place is what causes the storm.

Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: During the Nightmare Sequence, Max's journal is changed to a bunch of hostile ramblings and her texts are likewise threatening.

Nightmare Sequence: Episode 5 has an extended one featuring a scary and strange landscape filled with subconscious fears.

No Celebrities Were Harmed: During the game, you come across several self-help books written by a "Dr. Bill", an obvious stand-in for Dr. Phil.

In Episode 5, Max turns on a car radio to a rant by one Truss Limpbow, an obvious parody of American conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

No Communities Were Harmed: Arcadia Bay is a fictional town, but its location (as shown by the coordinates listed in David's locker, plus a map you find in Life Is Strange 2) places it right in the middle of the real-life Tillamook Bay, a water-filled estuary. This could, depending on how deeply you interpret it, foreshadow the destruction of the town in a violent storm . The actual layout of the town, plus some landmarks, is based on the city of Garibaldi, which is adjacent to Tillamook Bay.

No Ending: The Sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending is like this. Max and Chloe watch the storm destroy the town and we see them drive through the destruction as they head out of Arcadia Bay, but aside from knowing they're alive, we know little else: who survived the storm (if anyone), where they're going next, what they're going to do, if the universe will keep coming after Chloe, and so on.

No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Warren's fight with Nathan is more like Warren beating him until he's crying.

No OSHA Compliance: The End of the World Party (and possibly other Vortex Club parties not seen on screen). Swimming pools don't mix well with electrical equipment or intoxicated people.

No Periods, Period: Averted. There's a tampon machine in the girls bathroom. Max declares she's fine on that front if you examine it: Max: I'm good to flow, thanks.

Not Quite the Right Thing: Convincing Victoria to be wary of Nathan results in her turning to Mr. Jefferson for help and getting kidnapped and murdered in Episode 5. Going to the Cool Teacher for help with a troublesome student sounds like the right thing to do, except when said teacher is real threat behind said student

Not So Different: Depending on your choice earlier, Mr. Jefferson will tell Max that she is not so different from him since she let Warren beat Nathan till he was bruised and bloody.

Notice This: Things you can interact with are outlined in a messy doodle-like texture and have an arrow pointing to them, even from a distance, allowing the player to easily see what can be fiddled with in a given scene. In the case of the first interaction, failing to figure out what to do will eventually cause the game to interrupt and move to the next task, by which point the player should get the idea.

Once per Episode: Alyssa suffers some sort of harmless misfortune in each episode, which Max can warn her of. Her final misfortune in Episode 5 is anything but harmless, though, and will get her killed without intervention .

. Chloe, on the other hand, suffers much more dangerous misfortune each episode, which Max must then rescue her from. Episode 3 plays with this, making Max the cause of said misfortune as a cliffhanger .

. Max can take a picture of a squirrel outside the dorms once per episode, culminating in Max taking a picture of two giant squirrels standing outside the dorms during the Nightmare Sequence

A major environmental or astronomical anomaly that captivates everybody - usually as part of the end sequence.

One Degree of Separation: Chloe's stepfather just happens to be the Jerkass security guard Max has to deal with a couple times before bumping into Chloe for the first time in over five years.

One of These Doors Is Not Like the Other: The dormitory puzzle during the Nightmare Sequence. Only specific doors let you progress, all other doors lead back to the starting point.

One Password Attempt Ever: Subverted. While most cases where you need a password or electronic PIN have a limit on the amount of guesses (as you'd expect), you can simply reverse time and try as many times as you like.

One Steve Limit: Averted on several occasions: Aaron Price and Harry Aaron Prescott.

Two odd examples with surnames; there's Alyssa Anderson and Anderson Berry, and Taylor Christensen and Samuel Taylor.

The Password Is Always "Swordfish": David's password for his computer is the date of the day he met Joyce for the first time .

. Nathan's pin code for his phone is his birthday, though if you can't figure that out, you can always use the PUK to reset the password.

Pet the Dog: One of the few things Frank is said to care about is his dog. A cop relates a tale about how he freed a bunch of dogs that were part of a dog fighting ring, one of them being the one he owns now. He later mentions he rescued Pompidou from a highly abusive owner.

Philosophical Choice Endings: Let your best friend / Love Interest die to save the town of Arcadia Bay from destruction, or save her and let the town be destroyed, killing who knows how many people?

Phlebotinum Breakdown: Max is unable to use her time travel powers when she has to save Kate . It is implied to be due to earlier over-use of said powers.

Player Data Sharing: Downplayed; the game records your choices, and the final screen displays the total percentage of people who picked each choice.

Plotline Death: Most character deaths are either preventable by rewinding (e.g. Chloe on the rail tracks) or is undone by cutscene right after it happens (e.g. Chloe at the beginning). Some can only be prevented by playing the right choices (e.g. Kate in Episode 2, Alyssa and Victoria in Episode 5 ). There are some exceptions that cannot be avoided though: The most notable is Chloe getting shot at the end of Episode 4 . Max spends most of the next chapter trying to undo it and ultimately succeeds .

. Max spends most of the next chapter trying to undo it . Nathan is killed offscreen by Mr. Jefferson. There is no way you can save him (except by choosing the Sacrifice Chloe ending in which case you undo everything that happened in the game).

Pool Scene: The End of the World Party in Episode 4 takes place in Blackwell's indoor swimming pool, with the bars and dance floors set up around the pool and lots of beautiful young bodies on display.

Power Perversion Potential: Chloe suggests Max could use her powers to bang people with no consequences, even specifically suggesting that Max has hit on her with this method. Max disagrees. The player gets a chance to make good on this in Episode 3, after Chloe dares Max to kiss her. If you refuse, Chloe suggests you went for it then rewound .

Power-Strain Blackout: After using her powers a bit too much at the junkyard, Max faints.

Precision F-Strike: In Episode 5, Max is asked to answer a question. Unfortunately, as she has just come round after changing the past using a photo , it isn't revealed what the question was. The only options are "Fuck You" or "Eat Shit and Die".

Pretty Little Headshots: When Mr. Jefferson murders Chloe in the last scene of Episode 4, there's only a small red hole in the middle of her forehead . It's the same gun Nathan had in the first episode, which appears to be an FNP-9. The 9x19mm (which the FNP-9 chambers), .38 Special, and .357 Magnum rounds all use projectiles that are .355 inches in diameter. The difference of course comes down to the amount of propellant (each of these rounds have different case lengths) and the weight and even length of the projectile itself. This should be a spectacularly gory scene, but it plays this straight and isn't.

Previously On : Each episode starts with a clip montage of earlier scenes.

Product Placement: An odd, yet hilarious subversion. One of the lead writers insisted on putting in a reference to Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within despite Square Enix being hesitant due to how poorly received it was.

Pun: Mr. Jefferson uses the phrase "selfie-expression" when Max takes a selfie with her old camera, then apologizes to the class.

If Max examines the tampon dispenser in the girl's bathroom, she mentions that she's "good to flow".

Victoria tells Max to "go fuck your selfie". Max admits this is "mean, but funny" if you're nice to Victoria later on.

Near the beginning of Episode 2, you can check Max's computer. There you'll see that Warren has left some movies related to time, and he makes some pretty good puns: Warren: That's all the TIME I have for now as I have actual quantum physics to plow through.

In Episode 2, Max tells Warren to "go-dium" when she recommends using sodium for his science class experiment. He calls out the pun, but does it anyway. He's not quite as harsh with "go-tassium" (potassium).

In Episode 3, Max calls Chloe her partner in crime. Chloe responds that Max is her "partner in time." Max: Insert groan here.

There's two puns on the the last name Price in Episode 4. Max calls Chloe "priceless", then swears it wasn't meant to be a pun. Later, William says "the Price is always right" and apologizes for it.

Railroad Tracks of Doom: In Episode 2, Chloe and Max hang out on the railroad tracks. When Max goes off to take a picture, she has a vision and wakes up to find that the track switcher has pinned Chloe to the tracks. She has to then free Chloe, either by breaking the switch or messing with the fuse box so she can switch it long enough to free Chloe without sending the train down the wrong track.

Reality Ensues: It seems that Nathan is a typical popular jock at school. He's in with the Vortex Club (the popular clique) and if you accuse him of having a gun in Episode 1, the general reaction from faculty will be "but he's a Prescott!" However, his steadily-increasing unsettling behavior—violently lashing out, threatening students, and other sketchy doings—eventually catches on. Even members of the Vortex Club will admit to being freaked out by him.

The game gives a fail scenario if you shout a warning too soon about Max's kidnapper lying in wait for the rescuer. After all, he is in range to slug Max ; why would he not silence her?

Reckless Gun Usage: Chloe shows off her gun to Max by pointing it directly at Max's face.

Red Herring: The ax in the train puzzle. Max refuses to consider using it on Chloe, and it's of no use in cutting the wires in the fuse box.

Trying to stop William Price from taking Joyce's phone call. You'll get caught trying to intercept the call, attempting to call her first doesn't work because you only know her work number, and unplugging the land line causes her to call his cell phone instead. You have to hide William's keys to fix things .

from taking Joyce's phone call. You'll get caught trying to intercept the call, attempting to call her first doesn't work because you only know her work number, and unplugging the land line causes her to call his cell phone instead. . The Prescotts. Other than being indirectly responsible for Nathan's unstable and dangerous behavior, they're ultimately irrelevant to the larger plot, despite their talk of Nathan inheriting his "legacy" and a number of conspicuous references to the Pan Estates in Episode 4.

Other than being indirectly responsible for Nathan's unstable and dangerous behavior, they're ultimately irrelevant to the larger plot, despite their talk of Nathan inheriting his "legacy" and a number of conspicuous references to the Pan Estates in Episode 4. The Vortex Club. They're heavily implied throughout the game to be a conspiracy with some connection to the apocalyptic storm, but in the end, they really are just an exclusive group of rich kids.

They're heavily implied throughout the game to be a conspiracy with some connection to the apocalyptic storm, but in the end, they really are just an exclusive group of rich kids. Nathan and his role in the drugging and photographing of young women against their will. While he's far from innocent, he isn't actually the Big Bad . Mr. Jefferson is.

Several characters, major and minor alike, turn out not to be what they seemed at first. David starts out as an unsympathetic Control Freak who seems to be stalking (especially female) students, but this very trait leads to him finding and saving Max from the Dark Room. There's a whisky bottle in the Dark Room implying that Principal Wells, the only character in the game known to drink whisky, might be involved, but he isn't. Samuel has a suspicious box filled with women's clothing and his comments to Max about time suggest that he knows more than he lets on, but none of this is ever resolved.

The only consequence that comes with watering Lisa the plant is that the plant will stay alive and healthy.

Relationship Values: In the first three episodes, there are four choices involving Chloe: her pot in Episode 1, Kate's call at the diner and the confrontation with Frank in Episode 2, and taking the money for the handicapped fund in Episode 3. If at least three of these are resolved in a way that she approves of, examining Chloe's phone in her bedroom shows that she has changed her background to a picture of Max. Otherwise, it's a picture of Rachel. The relationship with Chloe is complicated in further episodes, with the argument between David and Chloe thrown into the mix. If Max sided with Chloe three times and kissed her in Episode 3, then she and Max will share a passionate kiss before Max travels back for the last time in the Sacrifice Chloe ending. Otherwise, they have an emotional hug instead .

in Episode 3, then . Whether or not you intervene when David hassles Kate, support her idea to go to the police, take her call in Episode 2 and are reassuring and non-judgmental in other interactions will color Kate's perception of Max. If Max has been supportive, it is much easier to talk her down from her suicide attempt in Episode 2 .

. If you take the time to save Alyssa from misfortune Once an Episode, she becomes more trusting of Max. If not, she will eventually become convinced that Max is a Doom Magnet, and ask she keeps a distance. If Alyssa thinks the latter in Episode 5, she will fall down a hole and die if Max tries to talk to her when she's trapped in the storm. Max can still save Alyssa's life but it is harder .

. Whether or not Warren and Max can share a kiss near the end of Episode 5 is based on four choices in previous episodes. If Max accepted Warren's invitation, helped him with his exam, changed the grade on his exam, and/or wrote on his whiteboard, she will have the option to kiss him before using the photograph to change history . If Max did none of these things, she will not be able to kiss Warren.

Released to Elsewhere: Subverted. In Episode 5 after Max returns to the Dark Room by destroying her award-winning photo, she notices that Victoria is not there (given that she got kidnapped along with Max in the first place) . This results in the following dialogue: Mr. Jefferson : I had to let Victoria Chase go. Max: You let her... Jefferson : Don't be stupid, okay? She's exactly where she deserves to be. Max: No...

Replacement Goldfish: After Chloe's father died, she became friends with Rachel to help fill the void that Max had left. Max is implied to fill it once more after she returns and Rachel is gone.

Riddle for the Ages: So how did Max gain the ability to time travel? It's never fully addressed, there are barely any hints as to how or why she got it.

Ripple Effect Indicator: In Episode 3, Max can draw a butterfly for this purpose when she travels back to the day William died . Doing so is up to the player.

Ripple Effect-Proof Memory: Max recalls everything she learned in alternate timelines before using her rewind to change things. This allows her to mine people for information, rewind, then use that information to coax further details from them. At the end of Episode 3, she winds up changing the past five years and remembers nothing of the new timeline, which is a problem considering everyone around her is essentially a different person .

. Zigzagged in Episode 5. Max goes back in time to the night before, explains what's happening during the plot with Chloe and readjusts their plans, and explicitly tells Chloe to explain everything back to her as they go through the stages. Max mentions that this is an important step, since she won't remember anything until she catches back up to herself from the point that goes back to change it.

Roadside Wave: At one point, Alyssa gets splashed with puddle water by the road side which you can warn her of.

Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Chloe's friendship with Rachel with quite close. She calls Rachel her "angel", and the creators have remained ambiguous as to if the two were romantically involved. In Episode 3, Chloe admits she "crushed" on Rachel, though she did not think she was perfect . Chloe also does not take it well when she learns that Rachel was apparently in a full relationship with Frank . In the confrontation with Frank in Episode 4, Chloe can state after specific dialogue choices that she and Rachel loved each other. Alternatively, Frank speaks of Rachel and their relationship as something he deeply valued, and through specific dialogue choices he will tell Chloe that Rachel blamed her for the problems she and Frank had in their own relationship. Regardless, Chloe becomes absolutely distraught and bursts into tears when she and Max discover Rachel's corpse .

. Chloe also does not take it well when she learns that . In the confrontation with Frank in Episode 4, Chloe can state after specific dialogue choices that when she and Max . As the game progresses, Chloe becomes increasingly affectionate and flirty towards Max, mainly depending on player actions. With dialogue ranging from asking her if she prefers boys or girls , telling her she's even smarter and more talented than Rachel, calling her hot, calling her cute, commenting on getting her a stripper (if they steal the handicapped fund), commenting on sex, implying that she's daydreaming about kissing her, telling Max no one's good enough to date her "except me", getting all fluttery at the kiss... There's a reason the "PriceField" pairing is so popular, even among a few developers . The endings of the game solidify that, even if they aren't romantically involved, they both mean a great deal to the other. Though romance is the most frequent endgame, it depends on player decisions.

Running Gag: The missing tablet with cat pictures.

Alyssa having a Butt-Monkey moment (typically getting hit by balls, crumpled paper, puddle splash, etc.) that Max gets the choice to help her get out of the way at the last second. Alyssa might or might not return the favor in Episode 5.

Sadistic Choice: Episode 4 offers a pretty cruel one. Help Alternate!Chloe commit suicide or refuse. She gets mad about the latter, but Max has to live with the former .

. The ending. The tornado was created when Max prevented Chloe's death by Nathan in the girl's bathroom. The only option left at the end of the game to stop the tornado from manifesting in the first place is by going back in time and letting Chloe get shot by Nathan. No other option (argued by Chloe and Max or not) can stop the tornado from destroying Arcadia Bay.

Sarcastic Confession: In Episode 5, Max travels back to the beginning of the game. She arrives exactly when Mr. Jefferson says that he could easily put any of the class in a dark corner and photograph their despair. What appeared to be Jefferson criticizing Diane Arbus was actually a sarcastic confession of doing exactly that.

Save Scumming: Played both traditional and In-Universe. Max's rewind power is based on this. You can rewind time to get the choices/information that you want. In some conversations where you give the wrong information and are given the right one, the latter will appear as a new choice in your rewind. For the former, this is something that you would normally do in a Visual Novel when you try to get the desired choices. Even if Max cannot use her power to prevent Kate from committing suicide (as she is too burnt out to use it) , you can still do this and it can be done at any point during this segment. This way, you can get the result you want on your "first" try while keeping the choices you have picked throughout the episode without having to start over.

, you can still do this and it can be done at any point during this segment. This way, you can get the result you want on your "first" try while keeping the choices you have picked throughout the episode without having to start over. Most of Episode 5's Nightmare Sequence will feature the various characters in them calling Max out on using her powers in this way. This reaches its apex when Max is receiving a "The Reason You Suck" Speech from herself over how she's been abusing it and her inability to get by without it.

Saw It in a Movie Once: Max mentions this when she successfully gains access to the Dark Room by trying only the faded numbers on the keypad : Max: Yes! I thought that only worked in the movies.

Scenery Porn: Some of the sets are just gorgeous, especially the ones where the whole town is visible in the background. Despite its limited graphics, the game absolutely nails the look and feel of a small Pacific Northwest town.

Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: When Max and Chloe sneak into the school after-hours to search for evidence, Chloe is confident David won't report her to the police if he catches her, since that would be an embarrassment. She turns out to be right, since David will cover for her if he gets the message from the cops about spotting her car on campus .

Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Nathan boasts of being above the law because his family owns half the town. Since the police is heavily implied to be on his father's payroll, the cop in the diner admits it when questioned by Max, and reporting Nathan to the principal does nothing so it's not an unjustified opinion. Though you can get the principal to suspend him in the wake of Kate's suicide attempt, he just threatens to sue the school and treats it flippantly. His father, however, does not take it so well, and by the time you see him in Episode 3, Nathan's not in that great of a mood. Episode 3 also shows that Nathan's father has bought Nathan's record expungement on more than one occasion, and if Nathan is suspended or expelled, he threatens to pull his funding to the school unless Nathan is reinstated .

Sealed Room in the Middle of Nowhere: The Dark Room is located under a barn in the middle of nowhere.

Searching the Stalls: In the bathroom early on, Chloe checks the stalls to see if anybody was there to overhear her talk with Nathan. However, she Failed a Spot Check and missed Max hiding in the janitor space at the end.

Second Hour Superpower: Max doesn't receive her powers until after you play through a dream sequence, a scene in class and then the title credits sequence.

Second Love: Max eventually falls in love with Chloe. Rachel is heavily implied to be Chloe's first love. Life Is Strange: Before the Storm confirms this .

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: In the end, it's revealed that Max's use of her time travel powers is what causes the superstorm that destroys Arcadia Bay. Or at least, that's the characters' best guess. They have no confirmation of this at the time, nor on how it works, nor do they have any idea if going back one more time will actually fix things and not just make the storm worse : it's various characters making guesses and suppositions based on their familiarity with time travel tropes.

Serial Escalation: If you thought Episode 3 was a Wham Episode, Episode 4 tops it in every way. Nathan and Mr. Jefferson have been kidnapping, drugging, and possibly raping students after taking photos of them in tortured positions and fetishist poses. With Rachel, they murdered her. Furthermore, Chloe gets shot in the head, and since Max gets drugged, there's no undoing it .

Serkis Folk: Characters are animated using motion-captured performances .

Set Right What Once Went Wrong: In Episode 3, Max stares at an old photograph and travels back in time to the day William died. She saves his life, changing everything from then on. She still left town and came back, but now she's a popular girl in the Vortex Club. Chloe, on the other hand, is confined to a wheelchair and slowly dying. Then she has to reset again to fix what was wrong with this timeline.

Set Wrong What Was Once Made Right: Max finds out in the middle of the story she has the power to travel back in time via any old photos she uses her powers on. So she attempt to go back to when she was younger and prevent Chloe's father from going on a trip that resulted in his death. When she goes back to the present, however, she finds out that Chloe is paralyzed from the neck down since her father brought her a car for her 16th birthday and she got into an accident. The lifestyle is so hard on Chloe and her parents' finances that she ultimately ask Max to kill her (which is up to you). Either way, Max goes back in time to correct history.

This is ultimately the result of the "Save Arcadia Bay" ending . Since Max first started using her powers, this caused a temporal anomaly to form as a typhoon that'll destroy the town. The only way to prevent it is for Max to use a picture she took when she first discovered her powers and use it to go back to the day and allow Chloe to be killed by Nathan, which Max had prevented and set the events of the game in motion.

"Shaggy Dog" Story: The "Sacrifice Chloe" ending demonstrates that the entire game is one. If Max had let Chloe die in Episode 1, Nathan would have been arrested for her murder and then told the police about Mr. Jefferson abducting and killing women. This would lead to Rachel's corpse being discovered. The circumstances that lead up to Kate's suicide also don't occur. The game basically admits that there never was a practical, heroic reason for Max ever having her powers .

. The "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending is only marginally better in this case. Chloe survives and it is implied that other people do too but the death toll is officially unknown. Everyone's lives are completely uprooted even if they did survive. Nothing Max did altered her start-of-game vision in any way.

Whether you view the game as meaningless is up to the player: Word of God states that whoever survives in the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending is up to the player and was left deliberately ambiguous, and that the reason Victoria, Kate, and others show up at Chloe's funeral is because Max made a positive difference in their lives and they're there for her as a show of support.

Shipper on Deck: If you convince Daniel to go to the End of the World Party, then you can find him and Brooke happily chatting together, with the implication that the two of them are about to become a couple. This is a bit downplayed if you turned Warren down on his offer of a drive-in date, which Brooke takes him up on instead.

Shoot the Fuel Tank: In the junkyard, you can instruct Chloe to fire at the gas tank of a rusted car sitting atop a pile of junk. Not only does hitting the intake at an angle manage to ignite the gas inside, it explodes harmlessly.

Signs of Disrepair: In Episode 5, the Two Whales Diner sign is damaged, leaving only "DIE" and a "W" off to the side.

Signs of the End Times: The tornado premonition as well as the flash snowstorm, the unscheduled eclipse and the dead birds all seem to indicate that The End Is Nigh.

Sinister Surveillance: Chloe's home is under heavy surveillance by David and he plans to install security cameras all over the campus as well.

Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Chloe is deliberately edited out of scenes in the Episode 4 trailer, to the point of showing her truck racing down a road without anyone driving it. This is likely to keep up the suspense about the changed timeline, as Chloe walking around would give away that twist .

Sir Swears-a-Lot: Everyone curses to varying degrees. At best, some will spout at least one foul word throughout the game. At worst, some swear like sailors, which makes sense considering the game's setting. Chloe definitely takes the cake for having the most colorful language in the game.

Slipping a Mickey: Turns out Nathan drugged and then kidnapped Kate and Rachel at the Vortex Club party.

Slipstream: The only fantastic elements in the game are Max's time travel powers and their apparent connection to the coming storm, which are never given any explanation. Take those out, and you have a fairly mundane (if very dark, towards the end) high school teen drama.

Slow-Motion Fall: Chloe, when Mr. Jefferson shoots her at the junk yard and also when Nathan shoots her in the bathroom at the end .

Slut-Shaming: Everyone calls Kate the "viral slut" after her video spreads around. To add insult to injury, Kate gets letters from her fundamentalist Christian family (including a particularly nasty one from her Westboro-ish aunt) shaming her for what happened.

Soundtrack Dissonance: After completing Episode 4, the idyllic sunset in the main menu is replaced by a massive tornado and violent thunderstorm. The peaceful guitar music in the background, however, does not change.

Stalker Shrine: In Episode 5, during the Nightmare Sequence , Max can open up Warren's locker and find a shrine filled with photoshops of Max's face on bikini models and a bikiniclad Max doll

Stealing the Handicapped Spot: In Episode 1, the first time Max sees Chloe's truck, it's double parked in the handicapped spot for no apparent reason.

Stealth-Based Mission: There's a brief scene in Episode 3 where Max and Chloe have to avoid getting caught after sneaking into Blackwell in the middle of the night.

There's a much longer one in Episode 5 when you have to evade characters in order to reach the lighthouse during the Nightmare Sequence

Stealth Pun: When Max and Chloe were kids, they loved to pretend to be pirates. In the present, they start referring to themselves as "Blackwell Ninjas" during their more cloak and dagger antics. This echoes the old Pirates vs. Ninjas meme.

The Stoner: Chloe, Stella, Hayden, and Justin all love pot. Max notes that Hayden is almost always high.

In the alternate timeline , there's an interesting new addition to the lineup if you read Max's texts : Alternate Victoria: I do try BTW I scored that Killer bud from You know who FYI

Alternate Max: Save me a bowl. Gotta bounce TTYL

A Storm Is Coming: A tornado is threatening the town and Max has four days to prevent it from happening.

Story Branching: The main gameplay mechanic, though the effect of your choices may not be apparent until following episodes. For particularly important choices, the game will pause and display the available options. At the end of each episode, a journal is brought up indicating every available major and minor branching point, along with percentages indicating how many overall players chose that option: In Episode 1: Choosing whether or not to report Nathan for having a gun, which more or less plays out the same in the relevant conversations to follow. Choosing to report him also colors the principal's perception of Max in later choices, especially if she can't back her accusations up, though it also helps make a case against Nathan later. Comforting or making fun of Victoria after spilling paint on her in order to enter the dorms. Doing the former causes her to take down the unflattering picture she took of you. Doing the latter results in your own unflattering picture of her, only for her to vandalize your room later in retaliation. Rewinding won't allow you to save the picture and comfort her anyway. Taking a picture of David harassing Kate or stepping in to help Kate. Kate will get mad at Max for doing nothing if you take the picture, and will be grateful if you intervene. Helping also plays into talking down Kate from committing suicide , while taking the picture can be used as proof of David's harassment later. As with the above, the options are mutually exclusive in spite of Max's rewind. A four option choice in Chloe's room: hide/don't hide, and take the blame for the pot/don't take the blame for the pot. Not taking the blame always makes Chloe mad, but she's barely on speaking terms with you if you didn't hide and blamed her. By contrast, she'll be impressed if you come out of hiding to take the blame, this being the only scenario in which she reveals the gun she stole . David may also use it against Max later, if he needs to defend his own reputation or if Principal Wells questions how much he can trust Max. Having taken the photo of David will come into play here if applicable.

In Episode 2: Telling Kate to go to the police or wait for more proof. She takes the second decision worse than the first. Waiting also factors into accusing Mr. Jefferson in the final choice of the episode. Answering Kate's call at the diner. Though Kate is grateful if you do, Chloe will get into an argument with her mom in the background and be briefly mad at Max. Not talking to Kate avoids the argument, but this is a point against you in the later confrontation. Resolving the confrontation with Frank by either trying to shoot Frank or not . In the former, you're out of bullets, so it does nothing , but he'll still leave while warning that he won't forget the attempt. If you do the latter, he takes the gun and leaves with a warning to Chloe alone. Chloe will be glad it was taken despite her earlier enthusiasm for the weapon, though she'll also claim that she could manage to find another if necessary. She still nags you about it later, but doesn't seem to be too pissed off. Whether or not Kate commits suicide . Previous choices involving Kate come into play here, as do details of her personal life that can be gleaned from her room. There are a total of six dialog options, five of which need to be correct to talk Kate down . The sixth only occurs if one of the previous five is answered wrong. Any previous negative interactions with her will have to be adequately justified, while positive interactions are counted regardless of which dialog option is chosen. Notably, you can't rewind on this one, so the choices you make have to be right the first time. If you succeed, Max is thought of as a hero for talking her down and the ending montage has a scene of Kate recuperating at the hospital . If you fail, Max is still praised for trying and she laments not being able to help, while the ending montage has a memorial for Kate outside the girls dorm . The results of this continue into the next episode, and almost every character will comment on it in some way — even people you meet for the first time or only speak to in passing, such as the homeless woman outside of the Two Whales diner. A three option choice in the aftermath of the above. While talking with the principal and police about what drove Kate to attempt suicide , you have the choice of accusing Nathan, Mr. Jefferson, or David. The outcome of this choice can vary wildly depending on how you dealt with the participants in previous choices. If you reported Nathan earlier (or didn't report him and didn't take the blame for Chloe), accusing Nathan gets him suspended/expelled on reasonable suspicion, though he threatens to sue and seems rather cavalier about the whole ordeal. If you didn't report Nathan and took the blame for Chloe, accusing him gets Max suspended . Accusing David will get Max suspended if she has no proof of his harassment, reported Nathan, and took the blame for Chloe; result in nothing if Max has no proof and didn't take the blame for Chloe (or if she has no proof and didn't report Nathan); and result in his temporary suspension if Max took a photo of him harassing Kate . Accusing Mr. Jefferson means he will no longer represent Blackwell at the Everyday Hero competition and is put under faculty scrutiny, though he accepts his punishment and Max's accusation with grace. If Max didn't recommend Kate call the police, he'll say she hasn't been taking Kate's calls.

In Episode 3: The first major choice you get is whether or not to let Chloe steal the money for the handicapped fund from the principal's desk. It's more than enough to pay off Frank, but that will prevent the dorms from receiving any upgrades in the next episode. Aside from Max regretting her decision when she learns of the cancelled upgrades, it doesn't have any negative consequences during gameplay. Choosing whether or not to kiss Chloe after she dares Max to. Kissing her results in a brief peck on the lips, but neither of them seem particularly displeased about the situation, and they banter about it a few times afterwards. Choosing to side with Chloe or David. If you side with David, Max does so primarily out of concern for Joyce and the already unstable family situation, though Chloe calls you out on how you were just calling him creepy. If you side with Chloe and talk about his files, Joyce jumps in and demands an explanation. She then tells David he should stay at a hotel for a few days, and talking with her after reveals that she doesn't blame Max or hold it against her. It will also allow easy access to David's files in Episode 4. When entering Frank's RV, you need to get past Frank's dog. You can either toss the bone into the parking lot or the street. Throwing it into the parking lot means the dog barks as Max and Chloe leave. Frank hears the barking and turns around, watching the two of them leave in Chloe's truck. Throwing it into the street means the dog gets hit by a semi and Frank won't notice, but Max feels pretty bad about it. If, in the confrontation with Frank last episode, you chose not to shoot him, David's gun is in his RV . You can choose to take it and give it back to Chloe, or leave it where it is. Otherwise, the gun will be in Chloe's room and the choice is skipped.

In Episode 4: Whether or not to assist Chloe's suicide. Yes means she dies and no means she doesn't but criticizes Max . Letting Warren beat Nathan to a pulp or stopping him . Warren thanks you for the latter, while doing the former causes Chloe to take Nathan's gun . The confrontation with Frank. This can go a number of ways, depending on how the player chooses to leave things. If Chloe has a gun and Frank's dog is loose, she'll kill them both in self defense if he gets mad. If the dog is locked up (or was injured in Episode 3, and thus not around), he gets shot in the leg if he gets mad, or stabbed if Chloe has no gun. Finally, Max can convince him to cooperate with the right choices. The confrontation in Episode 2 and the money Chloe wants to steal in Episode 3 come into play here, though Frank can be talked down even if both options weren't done in his favor. Chloe will get her gun back from Frank if she doesn't have it already, regardless of the outcome. Telling Victoria about the Dark Room . If Max didn't make fun of her for the paint spill and doesn't insult her at the party, Victoria will believe her. Otherwise, she won't. The player can choose not to tell her at all.

In Episode 5: If Victoria believed Max in Episode 4, she'll be in the Dark Room with Max. Telling David that Chloe is dead . If you don't, he'll take Mr. Jefferson to the police . If you do, David will kill him in cold blood . Once you get Warren's photo, you can either hug him, kiss him, or do nothing . The kiss option may be absent depending upon past interactions with Warren. It factors into some later dialog. Either save Chloe or Arcadia Bay . Doing the former causes the storm to destroy the town and likely many (but officially unknown) others whilst Max and Chloe leave town together . Doing the latter means Chloe dies, but Mr. Jefferson and Nathan pay for their crimes since Nathan is arrested for killing Chloe and apparently sells Jefferson out under interrogation. Everyone else gets to live, too, even Kate if you didn't save her the first time .



The Story That Never Was: As well as referencing a famous example of this in Star Trek in one of Max's journals: Max realizes she can jump back in time via photos at the end of Episode 3 (as well as just reversing it briefly as is done in normal gameplay) and tries to fix the death of Chloe's near angelic father. note kicked out of school because they can't accommodate her rather than delinquency, the family are on the verge of poverty because of medical bills despite her father's job, Max still moved away (and seems socially isolated at school as an Alpha Bitch instead of a wallflower) and all the mysterious events they were investigating — including the random death of animals, freak weather events and the disappearance of Rachel (who Chloe never met) — are still happening In the new timeline, Chloe suffered a car accident instead and is dying a slow, painful death while confined to a wheelchair, suffering many of the bad things that were previously caused by her father's death,culminating in a choice of whether you kill her with an overdose at her own request, or not. This is finally enough to make Max restore the original timeline, where Chloe is miserable and went through hell for the last five years, but still alive.

You first see Chloe when she's shot by Nathan, causing Max to manifest her Time Master powers and undo it in a Justified Tutorial. At the end of Episode 5, note Nathan sells out Jefferson after being arrested for her murder (and presumably gets the care he needs), the Prescotts are being investigated for their involvement, Rachel's body is discovered shortly after as a result and Kate never attempts suicide, as the much larger scandal prevents the video of her going viral (and/or the arrest of Nathan and Jefferson making it clear she was a victim). you have a Sadistic Choice of endings; "Sacrifice Chloe" or "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay". The former follows this, as Max goes back in time (via a photo you took just before it happened) to let her get shot and Dying Alone (as far as she knows), never to be reunited with the former best friend crying her eyes out just feet away. A montage reveals that this also solves most of the story's other conflicts.

The other ending subverts this as to how many survivors there are). After it subsides an unspecified amount of time later, Max and Chloe leave the ruined town together, moving on with their lives. as well as another ). Max tears the photo up (echoing an earlier moment when she destroys her prize winning photo to retcon herself back to the town and be able to save Chloe), having decided to Screw Destiny and let the storm that this damage to the timeline summoned destroy the town (with a Shrug of God as to how many survivors there are). After it subsides an unspecified amount of time later, Max and Chloe leave the ruined town together, moving on with their lives.

Story-to-Gameplay Ratio: Often the puzzles take a backseat to the exploration of the environment and characters, making Life Is Strange a hybrid of Environmental Narrative Game and Adventure Game.

Stranger in a Familiar Land: Max returns home after five years to find her former best friend a different person in the wake of Chloe's father's death and Rachel's disappearance. She comments a few times on how nothing's changed, and yet everything has. This is expanded upon in Episode 2, where Max gets to ask several people about how things have changed over the past couple of years.

At the end of Episode 3, Max changes history so William Price never died. As a result, the five years between then and the present are radically altered. However, because Max's memory hasn't changed with the timeline, it's a completely different town to her. She's now a member of the popular crowd, Victoria's now Max's BFF, Warren and Max aren't friends, David is a school bus driver, and Chloe is paralyzed from the neck down .

String Theory: All the evidence for David, Nathan and Frank is pinned to a drawing board in Chloe's room and you are asked to piece together the clues.

Surreal Horror: The nightmare sequence in Episode 5. Among others it includes: Max sitting in a class that casually continues as normal while hundreds of birds pelt the windows turning it into a bloody mess, Max being forced to declare her love for Mr. Jefferson or something equally repulsive, and Max having to sneak around a maze of Jefferson's tortured photographs while he and other people Max know yell insults at her.

Survivor Guilt: This is written all over Max and Chloe's faces during the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending, stemming from the fact that the Bay is the cost for the latter's life continuing .

Symbolic Baptism: In the opening, Max excuses herself to the ladies room to splash water on her face. She then promptly acquires her Time Master powers (which make up the main game mechanic). At the end of the game, this moment is what she jumps back to, if the player chooses to sacrifice Chloe and Cosmic Retcon away the entire game's events.

Take That!: Mr. Jefferson appears to be a fan of a thinly veiled Rush Limbaugh parody.

Take Your Time: You can walk around examining objects and admiring the scenery at your leisure, but the important events won't occur until you trigger them. This is especially noticeable with the bathroom confrontation in Episode 1. The first time around, you walk slowly and may waste a bunch of time looking at stuff. After the rewind, you run straight there and the event plays out the same. However, it's played with when it comes to events like Alyssa's regular misfortunes, Chloe being trapped on the train tracks or the Two Whales diner exploding during Episode 5. All of them can be rewound to set things right in case Max didn't intervene in time, but they do play out in real time again and again until you figure out the solution.

Talking Down the Suicidal: Max attempts to do this with Kate, who wants to jump three stories to her death at the end of Episode 2, due to all the bullying she's taken . Player choices decide if she succeeds.

Tempting Fate: When leaving the diner, you get a call from Kate. Answering the call leads to Max saying afterward that she could just not take the call. It's not like she won't see her later in class, right? Then, when she does go to class, Kate is somewhere else... Max saying she feels bad about ignoring her friend in need. Chloe will then offhandedly tell her to not beat herself up as Kate will survive her not taking that one call. Max doesn't seem too convinced, and in fact, not taking the call will make it more difficult to talk Kate out of committing suicide later unless you say your phone was on silent mode, so Kate might not survive you not taking that one call after all .

That Makes Me Feel Angry: Max's internal monologues are prone to lines like "That's so sad" or "That makes me feel sad".

There Are No Bedsheets: Episode 2 starts with Max waking up in her bed, but there are no bedsheets. Similarly, there is a scene in Episode 3 where Max and Chloe wake up in Chloe's bed.

There Are No Therapists: Justified with Nathan Prescott; there are indeed therapists available who are more than willing to help him. Unfortunately, his father considers allowing him to see them a sign of weakness, forcing him to self medicate with illegally purchased drugs.

Played straight in Blackwell, where Kate isn't offered any sort of counselling despite being publicly shamed and bullied to the point she's shut down (and showing obvious signs of suicidal thoughts even before her attempt at the end of Episode 2 ). Although Mr. Jefferson (noted as the teacher she had the most contact with) was trying to push her towards suicide to cover up Nathan (and his) crimes...

). Chloe seems to have had absolutely no help recovering from the trauma of losing her father and Max moving away. Similarly Joyce doesn't seem to have had any help getting over William's death, and her attempts to move on with David are questionable at best. Also justified because it's unlikely Joyce could afford one.

This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: When Max makes a bucket of paint drop in Victoria , she says this: Don't mess with Max, bitches!

This Is Reality: At the end of Episode 1, Chloe tells Max that her insistence of having time powers is ridiculous, as "this isn't anime or a video game."

Time Crash: First altering destiny, then tampering with the timeline causes strange, scary things to happen in Arcadia Bay. Though we can't exactly say why or how, other than that the timeline appears to becoming unstable and reality is both "glitching" and trying to right itself by ultimately wiping out Arcadia Bay: The strange things are: snowing unseasonably early, despite being 80 degrees; there's an unscheduled solar eclipse; whales and birds start dying inexplicably around the town; a double moon appears briefly in the sky; and finally the enormous twister that Max keeps having visions of threatens to wipe the town clean off the map. Needless to say, all of these things happening in rapid succession spook the citizens and are seen as Signs of the End Times, which seems to be true at the local level.

The "Nightmare" sequence is the penultimate point of the series. Max collapses, and is sent on a surreal terrifying adventure. Whether this was because her time powers messed with her head too much or whether she fell into some ...scary time thing, is open to interpretation

Time Is Dangerous: The game goes to great lengths to stress the dangers of having time-manipulation powers: Max's altering history from within history itself leads to a point in Episode 5 where she is "between realities" .

. Near the end of Episode 2, Max manages to freeze time entirely

After creating a timeline where she is a member of the Vortex Club, William Price is alive and Chloe is in a terminal condition from a spinal injury , Max decides that her ability to alter history using photographs is far too dangerous because the Butterfly Effect is in full force.

Time Rewind Mechanic: Max's strange ability to rewind time whenever she wants is the central fantastical element of the story. Gameplay-wise, it allows the player to try out different outcomes at critical plot points before committing to a particular story branch.

Time Stands Still: When Max tries to overtax her powers in Episode 2, this is the result. It gets her up to the roof in time to talk to Kate, but she's burnt out and has to talk Kate down without the benefit of rewinding . In Episode 3, Max worries that she might get herself permanently stuck like this if she isn't careful.

Time Travel: Max's powers, crossed with a bit of Reality Warper since her soujourns into the past of her photographs leaves the present progressively more and more distorted. It also effects her differently so she appears to cross space as well as time from the perspective of others.

Timey-Wimey Ball: The time travel logic is fairly consistent for a few notable exceptions: The storm Max has a vision of at the very start of the game doesn't actually have any reason to exist, even in vision form at that point considering that Max herself is implied to be what causes it with powers she doesn't have yet . It could perhaps be excused if either the entire scene in itself was a flashback, or if by some logic You Can't Fight Fate so much that even time travelling to change fate itself is predetermined.

. It could perhaps be excused if either the entire scene in itself was a flashback, or if by some logic You Can't Fight Fate so much that even time travelling to change fate itself is predetermined. The first scene at the bathroom, where Max watches Nathan kill Chloe, ends with a time jump back to Max awaking in class. The creators have admitted that this was not according to the time travel rules established. We should have seen Max rewind from the bathroom to the classroom but that just didn't work as effectively so they changed it.

According to Chloe, the snowflakes and eclipse also happened in the timeline with her being paraplegic, though in this timeline Max never saved Chloe from Nathan which caused the anomalies. So the tornado should not be on its way to destroy the town. Given, this is still a move away from the timeline when Chloe died because she was shot by Nathan, which makes sense in theory, considering it's never clear if Chloe's survival caused the tornado or if Max changing the timeline at all caused it.

Episode 5's numerous photograph jumps are just short of needing a flowchart to explain. Max leaves her timeline to turn Jefferson in to the police and win the Everyday Heroes contest, which makes her out of town in the present, and unable to save Chloe from the storm, so she goes back to that timeline and destroys the photo she had turned in to the contest (before she turned it in), angering Mr. Jefferson and causing him to destroy all of Max's photos, meaning that in the original timeline she never went back to start the whole sequence in the first place.

Title Drop: Subverted in Episode 5. At one point, Max remarks that "life is...", does a dramatic pause, and finishes with "weird".

Later in Episode 5, Chloe ( or rather, one of many possible versions of Chloe ) comes up with "life is.... so not fair."

Too Dumb to Live: There is a reason Chloe frequently dies/needs saving from lethal peril, and it is not strictly because Fate/Death/The Worse/etc. is mad that she didn't die at the start of the game. It's because she makes a lot of bad choices. In Episode 2, Chloe will shoot herself with a ricochet during the bottle shooting scene if you have her shoot the car bumper. She's also been drinking, a fact Max lampshades as a bad combination yet goes along with it anyway. Later on, Chloe gets her foot caught in the track switcher while hanging out on the regularly used railroad tracks. This is possibly justified in that she knows Max is there to bail her out if the worst should happen, which she repeatedly does.

In Episode 5, Evan is in the middle of a tornado trying to take photos. A fridge door will hit him if Max doesn't intervene .

Torture Cellar: The Dark Room, where Mr. Jefferson brings his victims after getting them drugged, just so that he can make photos of them in vulnerable situations .

Torture Chamber Episode: Max spends most of the first half of Episode 5 as a captive in Mr. Jefferson's Dark Room .

Total Eclipse of the Plot: There's an eclipse in Episode 2, even though there's not one scheduled.

Totally Radical: The dialogue is peppered with what is intended to be early 2010s slang, including "salty". There are also some odd British-isms, like "suss out" and "bum" (as in "ass"), among other examples. This is lampshaded by Chloe when Max uses the phrase "Are you cereal?" when she realizes her camera got busted: Chloe: Wow, I haven't heard that one in awhile.

Tragic Dream: Rachel never does get away from Arcadia Bay. Depending on the ending, neither does Chloe.

Trial-and-Error Gameplay: A lot of the dialog involves either accidentally or deliberately giving the wrong answer, then rewinding to give the right one or use what you learned to probe further. The confrontation with Kate near the end of Episode 2 is a straight example, as you don't have the option to rewind and there's not much margin for error in the dialog choices.

Two-Teacher School: Ms. Grant and Mr. Jefferson. The rest of the faculty includes the principal, groundskeeper and chief of security. Theoretically, there are more teachers, but they are never shown.

Uncertain Doom: In the "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending, the town is wiped out but there's no indication as to who died in the process. Max and Chloe simply drive out of town, not another soul in sight.

Use Your Head: In Episode 1, Nathan headbutts Warren in the parking area when the latter tries to help out Max. Warren returns the headbutt to Nathan in Episode 4 at the boys' dormitory.

Vanity License Plate: Chloe somehow managed to get the license plate "TWNPKS" (Twin Peaks). Somebody else at the school has "TWLTZN" (The Twilight Zone (1959)). Nathan Prescott, somewhat disturbingly, has "SXFTNDR" (Six Feet Under). A show about a creepy town with a missing girl, a show about the dark side of sci-fi concepts, and a show about death and the acceptance thereof. Hmmm.

Video Game Caring Potential: Some of the optional photos can only be obtained if you do certain good things, like helping Warren with his science experiment.

In a case overlapped with Video Game Cruelty Potential, some of the optional photos can also be obtained if you do certain cruel things, like re-arrange Victoria's wall of photos into a shape of middle finger or ask Trevor to do tre flip so he accidentally hit himself in the crotch for you to snap a photo of him in pain. Fortunately, since you retain items and optional photos even after you rewound, you can simply rewind so you retain those photos while your cruel action is undone.

Multiple choices in the game let you extend a helping hand to the people Max interacts with, such as being nice to Victoria after you dump paint on her, watering your plant, saving Alyssa from flying objects, and taking the heat for Chloe's pot. This is actually important for talking Kate down from suicide, as it's more difficult to get through to Kate if you haven't been nice to her .

. You can choose to tell Victoria she's going to be the next victim , which, ironically, gets her killed if she believes Max.

Video Game Cruelty Potential: On the flip side, they also let you be kind of a jerk, such as adding insult to Victoria's paint injury and doing some petty vandalism to the photo wall in her room, taking a picture of the kid who messes up his skateboard trick, and letting Alyssa's Once an Episode misfortune go unfixed.

A "cruelty" option comes in Episode 3: you can choose to throw a bone to distract Frank's dog. If you choose to throw it into the street, the dog gets hit by a semi. Doing so means that Frank doesn't notice Chloe and Max leave, meaning he has no reason to suspect them when he finds his keys missing and his RV broken into. It's worth noting that almost every player will toss it into the parking lot instead, so the dog isn't harmed .

. In Episode 3, there are several methods Max can try to steal Frank's keys. Two of these are spilling his beer on his lap or dropping his plate of beans on the floor, pissing him off and resulting in him trying to kill Max. These accomplish nothing, but you can rewind and do them over and over to your heart's content.

You can not tell Victoria about her being the next victim in Episode 4 , which, ironically, ends up saving her life.

Villain Has a Point: During Episode 5, Mr. Jefferson makes an offhand comment about how Rachel would have died in Los Angeles had she not died by Nathan's hand. He's technically right in the sense that Chloe and Rachel would have just left their families and Arcadia Bay and gone hundreds of miles with no money, no place to go and no actual plan for when they do make it there .

The Villain Knows Where You Live: Max receives an anonymous text threat claiming someone "knows where she sleeps." It's likely from Nathan, as there can be another text in Episode 3 proclaiming that "feminazis will be exterminated" note if he was suspended or that she is a "fukup looser" note if Max was suspended. You get proof it was him in Episode 4 .

Volleying Insults: Max's conversation with Victoria in Episode 4 can degenerate into this .

"Wash Me" Graffiti: Early in the game, you can write "I'm so dirty" + a smiley face on the window of an RV that belongs to Frank as an optional photo. If you do so, the graffiti will be there for the rest of the game. Max's thoughts about the situation currently provides the page quote.

Watching the Sunset: Episode 2 ends with Max and Warren, among others, watching the unscheduled eclipse.

Watching Troy Burn: If you choose to save Chloe at the end, the two of hold hands while watching Arcadia Bay getting destroyed by the tornado.

Weather Dissonance: Episode 1 ends with snow falling in October during fairly mild weather. It's just one of several anomalies heralding the deadly tornado approaching Arcadia Bay.

Weird Moon: Episode 4 has the moon doubled in the sky. It's implied to be another version of the moon bleeding over from an alternate timeline .

Wham Episode: Episode 3: Max changes history, saving William but putting Chloe in a wheelchair. A bunch of whales also beach themselves at the end.

Episode 4: Rachel was Dead All Along , murdered by Mr. Jefferson and Nathan. They have been drugging and kidnapping teenage girls and taking grotesque pictures of them to put into photo albums. Finally, Jefferson kills Chloe and kidnaps Max

Wham Line: In Episode 2, when trying to stop Kate from jumping off the roof : Max: I don't have any power... Now I have to do this by myself...

: It might not have a lot of impact on the plot, but this line in Episode 3 certainly turned some heads: Chloe: You can afford to take chances! Whenever and whatever you want to try... for example, I dare you to kiss me!

Then in Episode 4, we get this: Alt!Chloe: I just wanted to feel like when we were kids running around Arcadia Bay... and everything was possible. And you made me feel that way today. I want this time with you... to be my last memory. Do you understand?

In Episode 5, one of two Wham Lines happens, depending on what dialogue option Max picks: Max: I think the storm started... everything started... when I learned I could rewind time... There's no way this is just a coincidence, right? Or: Warren: Max, going back in time is what caused the storm!



Wham Shot: The reveal of Chloe in a wheelchair in Episode 3.

in Episode 3. The reveal that the one who killed Chloe and drugged Max is Mr. Jefferson, not Nathan .

What the Hell, Hero?: After Chloe has saved Max from Nathan and shared some witty banter, she will call Max out on never contacting her after she moved away, and still not contacting her after she moved back.

If you have Max choose not to intervene while David the security guard is hassling Kate for no reason, Kate will angrily say, "Hope you enjoyed the show! Thanks for nothing, Max."

In Episode 5, an alternate version of Max will ream into Max for using the rewind power to mess with people's feelings and saying what they want to hear.

What the Hell, Player?: If you move a plank to take a photo of a birds' nest in Episode 4 and don't replace the plank (by rewinding or by moving it back), the nest will be destroyed before the scrub jay eggs hatch. Joyce's texts and pictures of the damage done essentially call the player out for their carelessness in pursuit of minor objectives .

Where It All Began: Comes into play in two distinct ways: The lighthouse in the first scene is also the site of the game's final decision point.

If you choose to save Arcadia Bay in the end, Max's final act with her powers is to use the butterfly photo to jump back to the moment her rewind powers first manifested and stop herself from preventing Chloe's murder .

Wire Dilemma: When trying to save Chloe from the onrushing train Max can use the pliers to cut a wire in the fuse box. There are three wires present (green, yellow, red) but only cutting the red one leads to the desired outcome.

Xanatos Speed Chess: Max has to play a difficult game of this in Episode 5 in order to defeat Jefferson and save Chloe/Arcadia Bay.

You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Towards the end of the game, Max realizes that the tornado was created by her powers and claims that all she has done with her powers was cause more death and destruction. Chloe won't have that: Chloe: Fuck all of that, okay? You were given a power. You didn't ask for it... And you saved me. Which had to happen, all of this did... except for what happened to Rachel. But without your power, we wouldn't have found her! Okay, so you're not the goddamn Time Master, but you're Maxine Caulfield... and you're amazing.

You Are Not Alone: Max: My powers might not last.

Chloe: It's okay, we will. Forever.

You Can't Fight Fate: After Max saves Chloe in the opening, Chloe has numerous close calls within the span of a week, verging on Cosmic Plaything territory, even dying by gunshot at the close of Chapter 4, until Max jumps through a lot of hoops to reverse it . The implication being that Chloe was destined to die early in the story, and that all of these close calls is the timeline trying to right itself, while the strange phenomena around the town is a side-effect of the timeline being tampered with. However, you can save Chloe for good, at great cost: Near the end of the game, Max and Chloe conclude that it was Chloe's fate to die in the bathroom. However thanks to Max's powers and her saving Chloe, she has caused the tornado and other calamities. Chloe is willing to accept her fate of dying in the next timeline if it means to save Arcadia Bay. However, the decision lies in Max's hands.

This sums up the Sacrifice Chloe ending. Max goes back in time where she met the blue butterfly in the bathroom and lets Chloe get killed by Nathan.

On the other hand, this is averted by the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending. Max and Chloe watch the tornado as it destroys the town and the two leave the next day.

You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Chloe, whose hair is dyed blue. One of the background characters, Alyssa, has hair different shades of purple.

You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Frank pulls this one on Max at the junkyard when the latter draws a gun on him. Of course, he's quite shocked if you do decide to pull the trigger and backs off.