Life is Strange is a graphic adventure that was published by Square Enix and developed by DONTNOD Entertainment in 2015 initially for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Playing through this supernatural story, it is clear to players that DONTNOD drew inspiration from a plethora of areas in popular culture with references to books being scattered everywhere.
A remaster is coming out in fall 2021, making now a great time to get reacquainted with Max Caulfield, Chloe Price, and the lazy Pacific Northwest town of Arcadia Bay. With so many book references scattered throughout the original game's five chapters, it would be easy to miss any of these nods.
George Orwell's 1984 Shows Up Through Flyers & Dates
George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 is a book that most U.S. high school students have had the pleasure of reading. Life is Strange offers a couple of different nods to Orwell's ultimate novel. At the beginning of the game, the player sees a flyer written by Ms. Grant denouncing the new security cameras as "Big Brother" watching.
Later in the game, Max looks at the missing persons webpage from the Arcadia Bay Police Department. Here, Winston Smith is shown to have gone missing on June 8th, 1984. Smith is the protagonist of 1984 and June 8th, 1949 was when the book was first released.
J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings Has A Subtle Nod During A Fetch Quest
J.R.R. Tolkien's epic The Lord of the Rings series places its mark in many areas of pop culture, with Life is Strange being no exception. During a fetch mission to retrieve Warren's flash drive, the player is treated with Max's nod to Lord of the Rings stalwart Gollum, saying "Must protect my precious, so Max never has to chase it down again."
Gollum famously spent the LotR trilogy trying to gain control of The One Ring, or as he affectionately called it, his "precious."
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter & Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Series Are Not Welcome At Blackwell
Rowling's magical series has been a cultural phenomenon since releasing in the 1990s. The town of Arcadia Bay is not immune to Harry Potter mania, but Blackwell Academy does humorously touch on the series. While exploring Max's dorm, there is a flyer advertising for the "Geek Grrls Book Club." On the flyer, the club specifically calls out that no "boy wizards" are allowed.
Much like the Harry Potter series, Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series caught the attention of teenagers in the 2000s. The Geek Grrls, however, explicitly ban "sad vampire fiction." Blackwell fans of these series will need to find their own club, apparently.
J.D. Salinger's Catcher In The Rye Plays A Central Theme In Life Is Strange
Life is Strange's main protagonist, Max Caulfield, is a very straightforward nod to JD Salinger's protagonist Holden Caulfield. Both characters are angst-ridden teenagers rebelling against the machine in their own ways.
While the nod to Salinger's Caulfield is pretty obvious, players may have noticed the poster hanging up in Max's room that reads "The Winger and the Cow." This piece of art is an almost identical copy of the cover of Catcher in the Rye.
Room 217 From Stephen King's The Shining Has Blackwell Academy Students On Their Toes
As Max first walks through her dormitory, she walks past a whiteboard with "REDRUM" written on it. Redrum is a callback to Stephen King's The Shining. In it, Danny Torrance sees the iconic "word" in a bathroom mirror.
Doubling down on this reference, the whiteboard is located next to room 217, a hotel room that plays a prominent role in King's thriller.
Stephen King's It Haunts Max's Nightmare
DONTNOD did not want to let The Shining be the only King novel to get love in Life is Strange. The most obvious It reference comes from Kate Marsh. Max learns that Kate's middle name is Beverly. Beverly Marsh is one of the protagonists in It and is the only female character in the book's Loser's Club.
During chapter five, Max experiences a nightmare starring Frank Bowers. Bowers, who shares a last name with Henry - the bully from It. While Max sneaks around behind Frank, Bowers states "Me and Rachel are floating down here in the sewer. Come on down!" A similar taunt is used by Pennywise the Clown in It.
Max Paraphrases Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
If Douglas Adams lived long enough to see Life is Strange released, there is a great chance the Hitchhiker's author would have been a fan. Alternate timelines, time travel, and supernatural abilities? Right up the British author's alley.
After a pivotal point in the game, Max updates her social media status to the Douglas Adams quote "Time is bunk." This is paraphrased from this passage in the middle of Hitchhiker's Guide: "One rationalization of this problem states that time travel was, by its very nature, discovered simultaneously at all periods of history, but this is clearly bunk."
Thomas Wolfe's You Can't Go Home Again Hits Close To Home for Max
As Max wanders around Chloe's house, she can stumble upon a poster of Arcadia Bay. If the player looks at the poster, Max will quote the title of Thomas Wolfe's posthumous book You Can't Go Home Again, a story about a famous writer that returns home only to realize that residents of his hometown despise how the book made them look.
Wolfe's character, George Webber, laments that he will never truly be able to "return home" because of the way things have changed - a parallel to Max's feelings about returning to Arcadia Bay.
William Shakespeare's Hamlet Foreshadows Future Events
While readers are familiar with the quote "To be or not to be..." from Hamlet, fewer people remember the rest of the monologue from Hamlet at the point. Hamlet later says "To sleep, perchance to dream." Hamlet is contemplating suicide after being faced with the realization that his uncle murdered his father.
While wandering through the junkyard in chapter two, a boat with the name "Sleep Perchance 2 Dream" can be seen. This is a direct reference to Hamlet's quote and foreshadows events seen later in the game.
A Thorough Knowledge of Ray Bradbury's Work Leads To This A Sound Of Thunder Reference
This reference takes a little bit of Ray Bradbury to uncover. Bradbury, most famously known for his book Fahrenheit 451 was a prolific science fiction writer. At the beginning of Life is Strange, the player sees that Max has the Ray Bradbury book The October Country from Kate Marsh.
The reference looks to just be referencing the month of October which plays a prominent role in the game. However, a deeper dive in Bradbury's works uncovers A Sound of Thunder, a Bradbury book that looks closely at Chaos Theory, time travel, and shows how something as simple as stepping on a butterfly millions of years ago could create alternate versions of the present.