MAX: Raw and rough. It suits you.
CHLOE: Max, do you know how awesome this is?
I get my best friend back and she's also supersized?
MAX: We don't know for how long.
CHLOE: Exactly why it's time to have fun.
NARRATOR: This is Mindful Games,
an exploration of the interactive experiences
that help us calm our minds and bodies and understand our emotions.
In this episode, we head back to school
and rediscover Life is Strange.
MAX: Max, you are not crazy. You are not dreaming.
It's time to be an everyday hero.
MAX: Don't laugh but I saw a doe that seemed to be looking right at me,
like it was trying to communicate.
NARRATOR: We all have moments we'd like to do over.
If given the chance, it might help alleviate stress to have our accidents averted
and first impressions repeated to perfection.
Mindfulness helps us observe and appreciate each moment.
So maybe reliving them over and over
could provide a greater sense of clarity and meaning.
In the case of Max Caulfield,
she finds the ability to rewind time
is not as empowering as it sounds.
After five years, Max returns home to Arcadia Bay to pursue a career in photography
and soon finds herself embroiled in all kinds of school and family drama.
On top of outsmarting bullies and reuniting with old friends,
Max learns she can reverse the flow of time.
The unexpected skill allows her to see the possible outcomes of certain decisions,
revealing truths about the world
that Max isn't always ready to handle.
Just because you know how someone else will react to your behavior
doesn't mean the correct choice will magically reveal itself.
You might not recognize the fallout of your actions for hours or days.
So Max can only do the best she can,
one course correction at a time.
The game rarely makes you confident in your decision making.
Regardless of the direction you take,
Max always wonders if she made the right call.
MAX: Man, I should have helped Chloe.
I feel so bad.
NARRATOR: Along with her power, Max receives a vision.
In a few days, a storm of historic proportions will obliterate Arcadia Bay
and she's given a front row seat.
Again, knowledge with a cost.
There may be a way to warn the town or stop the storm.
But if there's not, Max has to watch everything around her perish.
Few would ask for this burden.
But it's also easy to fantasize about predicting the future.
It's a lot for an 18-year-old to manage.
MAX: Oh, this'll be a great nature shot.
I got you.
NARRATOR: Even before the passage of time began to lose its meaning,
Max used her camera to make a permanent
and mindful observation of her surroundings
and eyed locations perfect for some rest and reflection.
Before racing to some of the story markers,
there's spots where she can stop and watch the world flow by.
She'll make a mental note to herself while she's waiting
but you otherwise gain nothing by doing this.
You just take a break.
MAX: Everything is happening too fast.
And none of it makes any sense.
NARRATOR: What are the odds that while you may be willing to pause
for a brief moment of mindfulness in a game
to fulfill a sense of immersion,
you would ignore an opportunity to do so in real life?
These places aren't fancy
but they're well detailed and mostly peaceful.
Based on each sound effect track and character animation,
these moments have their own loops as well.
They can give you just as fascinating a perspective on the passage of time
as using Max's power to say and do all the right things.
Life is Strange teaches us an obvious but important lesson,
that there is always more to the lives of our friends and enemies than meets the eye.
Part of true mindfulness is a lack of judgment,
of your thoughts, yourself, or others.
When Max rewinds time, it reveals more about people than they're conscious of.
And she often has to hold back a comment
when she needs to keep something a secret.
DANA: You're not helpful. You're just nosy.
I think you better go.
NARRATOR: Max's gift is both a blessing and a curse.
If we could turn back time,
would it just inevitably make us set impossible expectations for ourselves?
Looping a conversation over and over
is the opposite of being present
and enjoying each interaction as it is,
while it's happening.
Life is Strange simulates this struggle for absolute truth
with an honesty and innocence that's uncommon in sci-fi games.
With quick decisions and puzzles set up to watch you fail,
it can be stressful.
But the trip is worth it.
Now that we have been given much to consider,
let us take a moment to practice our own mindfulness.
Breathe in, breathe out
and enjoy a few of the many sights and sounds
of Life is Strange.