LIS perfectly balances its low-poly graphics and simplistic gameplay and level design with an absolutely beautiful and poignant slightly non-linear narrative, wholeheartedly brought to life by its lovable protagonists Max Caulfield and Chloe Price alongside a spectacular score and a variety of indie songs. You play as Max Caulfield, an aspiring yet introverted and good-natured 18 year old photography student at Blackwell Academy in a fiction town called Arcadia Bay. After experiencing a traumatizing event, she was blessed/cursed with the ungodly divine power to be able to rewind backwards in time, or even able to stop time altogether and alter past events to change the future. With her newfound power, she and her longtime childhood best friend Chloe set out together to uncover the twisted and dark secret of a missing person's case, while at the same time coming to understand the unforeseen dire consequences of abusing the usage of Max's power. As Max, the gameplay mostly revolves around standard 3rd person exploration as you move around a linear level inspecting items and have conversations with NPCs, and you have to make a number of in-game decisions that will ultimately affect your relationships and outcomes with various characters. As Max, you are also able to just sit down at certain levels and just have a quiet and sentimental moment to yourself while listening to Max's inner thoughts and feelings. No other game has really done this before and it really managed to make me feel very connected to Max as a whole. No over-the-top thrilling action sequences that forces players to showcase their innate ability to mash their mouse and keyboard (or controllers) at a destructive rate. Rather, players get to experience a gradual buildup and introduction of believable characters as you progress throughout the story, and the game is not afraid to cover certain mature topics that accurately reflects on our modern society such as bullying, kidnapping and murder. LIS did a phenomenal job at making me grow strongly attached to these characters, even those that seemingly appear to be antagonists at the start of the game, but most especially, Max and Chloe. I was truly captivated and enthralled by the inseparable bond and dynamic shared between these 2, and every moment shared between Max and Chloe truthfully felt like they're real people just trying to be happy together. None of the dialogue/interactions felt overly-forced or cheesy, and it is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be able to just jump right into the shoes of a teenager not far from my age and venture into a modern world not too different from real-life with the god-given power to be able to alter the events of reality and discover the consequences of doing so. There is just an indescribable yet irreplaceable beauty and charm within LIS, encapsulated between these 2 characters, that truly warms my heart to the core and made me feel an emotion like no other.

LIS is an incredibly breathtaking, vibrant and compelling tale about love, friendship, acceptance of choices as an adult, and most importantly, learning to accept the fact that nothing in this world can be perfect and every choice no matter how harmless, always comes with a consequence. I wholeheartedly enjoyed this masterpiece and highly recommend anyone looking for less-of-an-adrenaline-rushing story-rich experience. I definitely wish we get to see more of these 2 beloved characters in any upcoming LIS games in the future. It is safe for me to say that LIS has the greatest and most captivating storyline ever displayed in media that is sure to grip the hearts of players, and will always be my #1 favourite form of masterful storytelling and artwork ever, because it is just THAT GOOD.

Super-exceeded my expectations from an indie game, a true masterpiece in every sense of the word.

Bae > Bay

10/10.

LIS perfectly balances its low-poly graphics and simplistic gameplay and level design with an absolutely beautiful and poignant slightly non-linear narrative, wholeheartedly brought to life by its lovable protagonists Max Caulfield and Chloe Price alongside a spectacular score and a variety of indie songs. You play as Max Caulfield, an aspiring yet introverted and good-natured 18 year old photography student at Blackwell Academy in a fiction town called Arcadia Bay. After experiencing a traumatizing event, she was blessed/cursed with the ungodly divine power to be able to rewind backwards in time, or even able to stop time altogether and alter past events to change the future. With her newfound power, she and her longtime childhood best friend Chloe set out together to uncover the twisted and dark secret of a missing person's case, while at the same time coming to understand the unforeseen dire consequences of abusing the usage of Max's power. As Max, the gameplay mostly revolves around standard 3rd person exploration as you move around a linear level inspecting items and have conversations with NPCs, and you have to make a number of in-game decisions that will ultimately affect your relationships and outcomes with various characters. As Max, you are also able to just sit down at certain levels and just have a quiet and sentimental moment to yourself while listening to Max's inner thoughts and feelings. No other game has really done this before and it really managed to make me feel very connected to Max as a whole. No over-the-top thrilling action sequences that forces players to showcase their innate ability to mash their mouse and keyboard (or controllers) at a destructive rate. Rather, players get to experience a gradual buildup and introduction of believable characters as you progress throughout the story, and the game is not afraid to cover certain mature topics that accurately reflects on our modern society such as bullying, kidnapping and murder. LIS did a phenomenal job at making me grow strongly attached to these characters, even those that seemingly appear to be antagonists at the start of the game, but most especially, Max and Chloe. I was truly captivated and enthralled by the inseparable bond and dynamic shared between these 2, and every moment shared between Max and Chloe truthfully felt like they're real people just trying to be happy together. None of the dialogue/interactions felt overly-forced or cheesy, and it is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be able to just jump right into the shoes of a teenager not far from my age and venture into a modern world not too different from real-life with the god-given power to be able to alter the events of reality and discover the consequences of doing so. There is just an indescribable yet irreplaceable beauty and charm within LIS, encapsulated between these 2 characters, that truly warms my heart to the core and made me feel an emotion like no other. LIS is an incredibly breathtaking, vibrant and compelling tale about love, friendship, acceptance of choices as an adult, and most importantly, learning to accept the fact that nothing in this world can be perfect and every choice no matter how harmless, always comes with a consequence. I wholeheartedly enjoyed this masterpiece and highly recommend anyone looking for less-of-an-adrenaline-rushing story-rich experience. I definitely wish we get to see more of these 2 beloved characters in any upcoming LIS games in the future. It is safe for me to say that LIS has the greatest and most captivating storyline ever displayed in media that is sure to grip the hearts of players, and will always be my #1 favourite form of masterful storytelling and artwork ever, because it is just THAT GOOD. Super-exceeded my expectations from an indie game, a true masterpiece in every sense of the word. Bae > Bay 10/10.