Life is Strange is being made into a live-action series

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Square Enix and Legendary Digital Studios have announced plans to create a new live-action digital series based on Dontnod's award-winning episodic adventure Life is Strange. The project is being developed in conjunction with DJ2 Entertainment, which recently completed production on the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog flick.

It's not known how closely the series will cleave to the game, although it sounds like it won't stray very far. “Life Is Strange follows the story of photography enthusiast Max Caulfield, a high-school senior who discovers she can rewind time while saving her best friend Chloe Price,” the announcement says. “The pair soon find themselves investigating the mysterious disappearance of fellow student Rachel Amber, which uncovers a dark side to life in Arcadia Bay.”

“Life is Strange is one of those rare properties that combines incredibly developed characters and storylines with deeply engaging gameplay. It lends itself perfectly to live-action imaginings,” Legendary Digital Studios SVP Greg Siegel said.

“We’re proud and excited to be working alongside Legendary to realize a new version of Arcadia Bay and Blackwell Academy complete with our rich cast of realistic, believable characters and memorable events,” Square Enix VP Jon Brooke added.

There's no word on casting—the announcement is really just a “this is happening” kind of thing—which makes this a perfect time to kick around ideas about who'd be best in various roles. And in case you'd forgotten, or just overlooked the matter for some reason, the first episode of Life is Strange is free, now and forever (or at least until somebody at Square Enix changes their mind) so there's no reason not to give it a look if you're curious what it's all about. We've got a few things to say about it ourselves, including a review, thoughts about its ending (spoilers!), and some ruminations on how Life is Strange channels Twin Peaks.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.