Life is Strange Complete First Season

Life is Strange Complete First Season is a PC episodic narrative adventure built around mystery, character drama, exploration, and supernatural time manipulation. The original game remains available under the Complete Season naming, while Life is Strange Remastered Collection is a separate, newer package rather than a storefront rebrand of this edition.

Developed by DONTNOD Entertainment and published by Square Enix, the complete season contains all five episodes of Max Caulfield's story in Arcadia Bay. It is a single-player experience with no co-op campaign or competitive multiplayer mode.

How the Time-Rewind Adventure Works

You play as Max Caulfield, a photography student who discovers the ability to rewind time after reconnecting with her childhood friend Chloe Price. The central mystery concerns the disappearance of fellow student Rachel Amber, but the investigation is closely tied to school life, friendships, family problems, and the consequences of personal decisions.

The game uses a third-person perspective with deliberately paced movement through classrooms, dormitories, streets, homes, and other story locations. Most scenes revolve around examining objects, listening to conversations, finding clues, and choosing how Max responds to other characters.

Time rewind is both a supernatural ability and a practical gameplay system. Max can reverse many recent actions, allowing you to test dialogue responses, inspect alternate outcomes, or correct a mistake before committing to a choice. Rewinding does not remove the importance of decisions; it gives you more information before you decide what Max will ultimately do.

Dialogue choices can influence relationships, later scenes, and the way characters react to Max. Some consequences appear quickly, while others are carried forward into later episodes. The structure is branching rather than completely open-ended, so choices reshape scenes and character dynamics without turning the season into five unrelated campaigns.

Investigation, Exploration, and Optional Discoveries

Exploration is intentionally lightweight, but the environments reward careful observation. Max can inspect photographs, notes, posters, personal belongings, messages, and other details that expand the context around Arcadia Bay.

Each episode includes optional photographs to discover. The season also records environmental mementos and SMS messages in Max's journal, giving completion-focused players reasons to revisit familiar locations.

The journal acts as a useful reference point for clues, character information, photographs, and collected observations. It supports the game's detective-fiction rhythm without turning the experience into a traditional inventory puzzle adventure.

After completing an episode, the Choices menu shows important decisions and how other players responded to them. Chapter replay and separate save slots make it possible to experiment with alternate scenes without immediately overwriting a main playthrough.

Five-Episode Content and Editions

The Complete Season package includes Episodes 1 through 5, forming the entire original Max and Chloe storyline. It is the appropriate edition for players who want the complete first season rather than an individual opening episode.

The first episode is also distributed separately as a free starting point on PC storefronts. Buying the Complete Season adds the remaining episodes and provides the full narrative arc in one package.

The original release is distinct from Life is Strange Remastered Collection. The remastered package contains revised versions of the first game and its prequel, while Complete First Season refers to the original edition with its original visual presentation.

Additional content associated with the PC version includes Directors' Commentary, which provides development discussion from the game's creators. It is supplementary material rather than a new story campaign or multiplayer expansion.

There is no character-level progression system, equipment economy, crafting tree, or combat build to manage. Progression comes from uncovering the mystery, developing relationships, and seeing how choices alter later narrative situations.

Who Should Play It

Life is Strange suits PC players who prefer choice-driven storytelling, investigation, emotional character writing, and a measured pace over combat-heavy gameplay. The strongest appeal comes from deciding how Max treats people and how much information she is willing to pursue.

Players who enjoy modern mystery fiction, supernatural drama, and interactive television-style adventures will find a clear fit. The game also works well for people who like replaying chapters to compare dialogue choices and optional discoveries.

It is less suitable for anyone seeking a traditional action game, a large open world, complex puzzles, or unrestricted freedom to redesign the story. Exploration is guided, and the main challenge is interpreting situations rather than mastering combat mechanics.

The tone also shifts between everyday school drama, intimate conversations, mystery investigation, and darker subject matter. Players looking for a consistently light adventure should be aware that the season addresses serious themes and emotionally difficult events.

PC Features, Controls, and Localization

The PC version supports keyboard and mouse controls as well as gamepad play. Controller users should note that the original PC manual describes a fixed default gamepad layout rather than broad in-game button remapping.

Steam provides launcher integration, platform achievements, and access to the individual episode and Complete Season listings. The storefront currently presents the original package as Life is Strange Complete Season (Episodes 1-5), while Episode 1 remains available as a separate free entry point.

GOG offers the Complete Season as a DRM-free Windows release. GOG Galaxy is optional, and the game can be installed through an offline installer without requiring an always-online connection.

GOG lists English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese for the PC edition, with English audio and localized text options. Language selection can also be adjusted through the game's settings on supported storefront versions.

The game is built for single-player use. It has no online matchmaking, shared-screen co-op, competitive mode, dedicated server tools, or anti-cheat ecosystem to consider.

Related Choice-Driven Adventures

Players who enjoy episodic decisions, exploration, and character-focused mystery may also want to compare it with cinematic choice-based adventures such as Batman The Telltale Series. Batman places more emphasis on timed action and investigation, while Life is Strange gives more space to personal conversations and time-rewind experimentation.

Another useful comparison is dark episodic detective fiction like The Wolf Among Us: Complete First Season. Both games use a compact chapter structure and difficult dialogue decisions, but The Wolf Among Us leans toward noir fantasy and confrontation rather than Life is Strange's contemporary school drama.

These comparisons clarify the game's position on PC. It is closer to a narrative mystery and interactive drama than to a traditional point-and-click adventure with elaborate inventory combinations.

The rewind mechanic is also more than a novelty. It changes how conversations, clue gathering, and risk assessment work, giving the player a way to test immediate outcomes before making a final commitment.

Life is Strange Complete First Season FAQ

Is Life is Strange Complete First Season still the current name?

The original PC edition is currently listed as Life is Strange Complete Season (Episodes 1-5) on Steam and as Life is Strange: Complete Season on GOG. Life is Strange Remastered Collection is a separate edition, not simply a new name for the original package.

Does the Complete Season include all five episodes?

Yes. The Complete Season contains Episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Episode 1 is also available separately as a free way to sample the opening chapter before purchasing the full season.

Is Life is Strange multiplayer or co-op on PC?

No. The game is a single-player narrative adventure. There is no online co-op, split-screen mode, competitive multiplayer, or shared decision mode.

Can you play the PC version with a controller?

Yes. The PC edition supports gamepads as well as keyboard and mouse. The original manual documents a standard controller layout, but it does not describe full in-game customization for every button.

What makes the original edition different from the Remastered Collection?

The original Complete Season uses the first game's original presentation and includes its five-episode campaign. The Remastered Collection is a separate package with updated versions of the first game and Before the Storm, so buyers should check the edition name carefully before choosing a PC version.

Is there meaningful replay value?

Replay value comes from alternate dialogue, changed relationships, different consequences, optional photographs, and chapter replay. The Choices menu also lets you review major decisions after completing an episode, making it easier to compare another playthrough with your original path.