The Life Is Strange franchise started in 2015 with the release of the much-beloved Life Is Strange, and its first episode "Chrysalis." Since its start, the series has seen several installments, including two mainline games that introduced unique protagonists with their powers and an array of choices to make.
The Life Is Strange franchise is well-known for challenging players with hard decisions that will shape the nature of their game, and may even have consequences in future games in the series. There are a lot of hard choices that players have to make throughout all three games and, unfortunately, there are no right answers.
6 Spite Victoria or Be Nice (Life Is Strange)
The protagonist of Life Is Strange, Max Caulfield, attends Blackwell Academy with fellow student and resident "cool girl" Victoria Chase, who also happens to be a bit of a bully. There are a few moments throughout the game where players can opt to be more spiteful toward Victoria, which will ultimately affect her relationship with Max in the final episode.
Both Max and Victoria eventually fall victim to Blackwell's resident creep: Mark Jefferson, and, in order for Victoria to believe Max's prior warnings, players have to have been amicable with Victoria at previously given opportunities. One of the most notable interactions between Max and Victoria that allows players to really see a different side to both of the girls is right after Max executes a plan to drop paint on Victoria, and she sends her friends inside to get something for her to clean up. Max can either choose to be spiteful and take a picture of the distressed Victoria (as Victoria had previously taken a picture of Max) or to show some sympathy, which Victoria ultimately appreciates and deletes the picture of Max in solidarity.
Something small like this may inspire players to give Max some catharsis with her bully, but could ultimately foil their plans in episode five when players may want to warn Victoria of Jefferson's intent.
5 Tell Grandpa About Daniel's Power or Keep The Secret (Life Is Strange 2)
Life Is Strange 2 is a wonderful story about two brothers and their journey through the United States as they escape Seattle and try to find security along the way. In episode two of the game, Sean and Daniel Diaz are staying with their grandparents; the biological parents of their mother, who Daniel has never met, and Sean hasn't seen since he was a child.
While Sean (the protagonist that the players control) tries to tell his younger brother to keep his telekinesis hidden, young Daniel takes liberties with his power and uses them around the house. Unsurprisingly, their Grandpa eventually sees Daniel using his powers and confronts Sean about it. Up until this point, Daniel and Sean are the only ones who know about his powers and players are given the hard choice to confess the truth to their grandpa or leave him in the dark.
There are a lot of ways this choice can come up again in the episode. At one point, an unstable wardrobe will fall on their Grandad, which Daniel can use his power to lift, to avoid hurting his leg. If Sean chooses to be dishonest, this could potentially affect the scene after where a police officer comes to the door looking for the brothers, or even further down the road where the grandparents become relevant to the story again.
4 Steph or Ryan (Life Is Strange: True Colors)
While not the choice with the biggest stakes in Life Is Strange: True Colors, Alex Chen still faces a difficult choice in episode five of the game, when she gets to choose her romantic partner and, ultimately, who she'll spend the rest of her life with. Up until this point, she's had a wonderful friendship with both Steph and Ryan, who are great characters, and pretty much designed for players to fall head over heels for.
Both of these choices result in beautiful, intimate moments with Alex and her new partner, as players get to watch their life evolve and even make choices for their future together.
3 Surrender or Keep Going (Life Is Strange 2)
The ultimate choice in Life Is Strange 2 is made at the border of Mexico, with Sean and Daniel Diaz being surrounded by the cops. Sean has the difficult choice here to surrender to the law, which he understands will result in him being locked up and Daniel going to the custody of their grandparents, or to keep driving into Mexico and use Daniel's power to remove the police barricade.
The great thing about this choice is that players can experience a number of different endings depending on choices made earlier in the episode and throughout the game. Players will have different experiences and will get different reactions from Daniel, even when they've finally managed to settle on one of the hardest choices in the game.
2 Take Charlotte's Sadness or Let Her Mourn (Life Is Strange: True Colors)
Easily one of the hardest choices in Life Is Strange: True Colors is when Alex is confronted with the reality of Charlotte's depression after the passing of Alex's brother and Charlotte's boyfriend, Gabe Chen. She admits to feeling angry a lot, even at her son, which clearly pains her. While Alex herself is mourning, she feels great sorrow for Charlotte, who she's grown close to. Alex has the realization that she can take Charlotte's sadness from her, and, after the scene of Charlotte confessing her feelings, many players sympathize with Alex's instinct to help her friend.
However, the moral justifications of taking someone's emotions without their consent are truly brought into question here, more so than in later instances in the game. If players choose to remove Charlotte's sadness, they are faced with the rather macabre consequences of their actions as Charlotte proceeds to have very little emotion anymore and appears to just be going through the motions.
1 Bay or Bae? (Life Is Strange)
Colloquially called "Bay or Bae?" The ultimate decision of Life Is Strange had gamers across the world sobbing, regardless of their choice. As a tornado threatens to tear Arcadia Bay from the ground, Chloe Price is ready and willing to sacrifice her life to save the town and everyone in it. This noble sacrifice is one that many players allowed Chloe to make, resulting in a heart-wrenching ending where Max has to go back in time, erasing all she has done and losing her best friend after only just getting her back.
However, just as many people decided to sacrifice everything to stay with Chloe and live with the consequences of all they've done throughout the game, including this. This ending sees the most resonance in Life Is Strange 2 as players will meet David, Chloe's stepdad, and he shares some information not gained from the finale of the first game. Players learn that Joyce died in the hurricane, Chloe's mother and David's wife. However, players also discover that Chloe and Max are alive and well, with Chloe even having a father-daughter relationship with David.