February 2022 • Macworld 57slow unfolding of more psychological
horror stories then you’ll find plenty of
chills to savour in Layers Of Fear.
- Life Is Strange
Price: £15.99 from fave.co/3GzWWTN
At first glance, Life Is Strange looks
like a fairly conventional adventure
game. You play a teenage girl called
Max Caulfield who is having a bit of
a bad day at school. Max ducks out
of class and heads to the bathroom
for a time-out, and as you wander
the school corridors you can click
on objects or people around you to
gather information that guides you
through the game. That’s routine
adventure stuff, but life starts to get
strange when Max witnesses the
murder of her friend Chloe – and
discovers that she has the ability
to turn back
time. Saving
Chloe reveals
a deeper
mystery
concerning
a missing
student called
Rachel, so
Max and
Chloe set off
to find Rachel
and uncover
the dark secrets of the sleepy town
of Arcadia. That’s straightforward
enough, but Chloe’s time-travelling
abilities add a whole new dimension
to the standard point-and-click
adventure format. Sometimes a
conversation with another character
will reveal some useful information,
allowing Chloe to go back and
replay recent events so they have a
different outcome. However, changing
past events can have unexpected
consequences, leading to some
difficult – and dangerous – decisions.
The story unfolds in five separate
episodes, but you can check it out for
free by downloading the first episode
through Steam and then deciding
if you want to explore the mystery
further. We enjoyed its haunting,
Buffy-esque depiction of the dark5.