[SPOILERS FOR LIFE IS STRANGE SEASON ONE TO FOLLOW.]

At the start of 2015 I was in the middle of my third university degree after dropping out of the previous two, had just come out of my most serious relationship to date and had moved into a share house to live independently for the first time.

It was a period in my life in which I was going through significant change and learning; dealing with the slow and often confusing transition from childhood, school and lack of responsibility, to well, adulthood. At the same time, and on the other side of the planet, a relatively unknown French studio called Dontnod Entertainment was gearing up to release the first episode of its next big project, an episodic game that would be a beacon for their success and own growth as a studio.

The game would tackle subjects like teenage angst, living in college and attempting to find your place in the world. It would replicate the Telltale formula of storytelling, but with Dontnod Entertainment’s own unique spin. That game was Life is Strange, and has come to be one of the most important games I’ve ever played.

Why? Because the story of the quiet, introverted protagonist, Max Caulfield, is just so relatable. An eighteen year old student, Max returns to her home town of Arcadia Bay after being away for five years to follow her dream of becoming a successful photographer. She’s going to attend the prestigious Blackwell Academy and is initially over the moon, but living in and studying at the academy quickly brings her down to earth and is a huge social obstacle for her to push through, as described in her in-game diary.

Prestigious... and a little intimidating.

I don’t know what your college or university experience was like, but Max’s emotions were all too familiar for me. Similarly to Max, I found the first few weeks were hard. Being thrown into a new environment with hundreds of strangers was a lot to deal with at once. But eventually, I found my feet and settled into my new home.

The next two years at college would go on to be the best years of my life. Belonging to a community all going through the same challenges and anxieties in the early stages of their adult lives, was an unbelievable experience. And Life is Strange would take me back there, over and over, throughout its five episodes.

“ I don’t know what your college or university experience was like, but Max’s emotions were all too familiar for me.

The quieter and more somber moments of Life is Strange, such as exploring the campus of Blackwell and Max’s dorm room (as well as poking around in your classmates’), had me reminiscing of simpler times at college. Of nights spent talking with friends about nothing and everything and playing games well into the morning. Having a small abode amongst a burrow of dorms, which was distinctively my own. Walls lined with posters of genre defining movies and bands, countless textbooks strewn across messy desks and bins filled with pizza boxes.

College was an integral part of my first years out of home and so when it came to eventually moving on, it left a huge hole in me. Reliving those feelings and memories again with Life is Strange tapped into something I was honestly struggling to deal with - a yearning to re-capture those college years again; a nostalgic wish to live in the past instead of moving on.

Season one has plenty of quieter, more reflective moments.

Although Life is Strange has a bigger narrative thread involving time travel, manipulating timelines and stopping the destruction of Max’s hometown, it was Max’s exploration of herself, of her position at her school and her growth through the major events, which connected with me the most.

I found Max’s battle to defeat her anxieties and to push through the self doubt she’d hammered into herself particularly enlightening. “Look at this crap, how can I show to this to Mr Jefferson?”, Max thinks about a photo she’s taken. It is a theme which dominates and holds her back for the majority of the game.

The anxiety rife throughout much of the Life is Strange cast, especially Max’s, was incredibly reflective of my own. At the time I was playing the first season, my goals and dreams were laid out in front of me clearly; like Max, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. The path to them, however, was covered in what seemed like a thick fog, and it created a wall of anxiety, which then stopped me from wholeheartedly pursuing what I yearned to do.

However, the many challenges Max faces, physically and mentally during her journey with Chloe (don’t worry, we are getting to Chloe!) would change her. The confrontations with fellow students and the use of her photography skills and wit to overcome major obstacles, would ultimately help give her the confidence to push past her own fog of anxieties and doubt.

Max and Chloe.

Walking beside Max, helping her navigate a path of uncertainty and fear to follow her dreams, connected with my own struggles deeply. In fact, it eventually encouraged me to take the leap into the unknown and accept whatever was to come myself. It didn’t make the path any clearer, but it convinced me if I didn’t push through, it would consume and block me from moving forward.

Finally, while reliving my college experiences helped me recapture those tender memories and feelings, it also helped me understand the need to eventually move on to the next phase of my life. It might be uncertain, and filled with doubt and mystery, but that’s an inevitability with adulthood. The key was that by taking those experiences of growth and having the confidence in myself to be able to succeed, I could finally leave those most meaningful moments and feelings of college behind me.

“ While reliving my college experiences helped me recapture those tender memories and feelings, it also helped me understand the need to eventually move on to the next phase of my life.

This is paralleled by the two possible choices and endings you have in Life is Strange. One meant not letting go of Chloe, Max’s best friend (and possible love interest if you go down that path), but resulted in the destruction of Arcadia Bay. The other was to let go of Chloe and reverse everything you had done - all your decisions throughout the entire game. (At time of writing, the statistics from the PS4 version showed a decidedly even divide in the final decision, with 48% choosing Chloe and 52% choosing to undo everything to balance out the universe.)

Although both signify the need to let go of something important, whether it is Max’s hometown or her best friend, and move on to a new stage in her life, the latter made far more sense to me. Choosing to not let go of Chloe was easy, she is an incredible character, the type of cool hardcore girl you wanted to be friends with growing up and most likely grew to love throughout Life is Strange (even more so in the prequel Before the Storm, which is out now and in which Chloe takes a starring role).

To let her go though, was tough. It was one of the hardest decisions a game had ever presented me with. But it was one I knew I had to take, not only to make the world in Life is Strange right, but also (as harsh as it might sound) for Max to move on. To hold on to Chloe was to hold onto the past and in doing so, hurting Max and those around her.

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Although my decision in real life was not as clean cut or dramatic as Max’s, and would be a realisation which would eventually play out over the course of a year and the eventual release of all of Life is Strange’s episodes, it was just as tough to stomach. The choice laid out before me was to linger on those blissful nostalgic college memories and try to recapture them again, or to leap into the all-encompassing fog which lay before me. It was Max that helped me finally make a choice.

Life is Strange comforted me and helped me cherish those integral years at college. It helped me deal with the anxieties that tried to persuade me away from following my passion. Most of all though, it made me understand that in the end, there was only one real choice. I had to move forward. Here I am, and I have Life is Strange in large part to thank for that.

Seamus Mullins is an Australian journalist and writer who loves video games, electronic beats and Scott Pilgrim vs the World (in no particular order). You can bet he is getting the vinyl physical edition of Life is Strange Before the Storm and will be posting several pictures of it on Twitter.