Journey vs Life is Strange
Journey
Journey is literally a quintessential "artsy" adventure game. Why so? Well, the game puts you in the shoes of a mysterious robed figure who you will control throughout your adventure across beautiful, quiet and mostly desert landscapes. Each landscape provides players with a puzzle to solve that will allow them to move on to the next scene, though players can simply roam around the place and drink in the gorgeous visuals.There isn't a lot of buttons in the game and that's fine enough since you really don't need much to solve the puzzles, but personally, I'm incredibly intrigued by the Sing function. Although it is used to solve certain puzzles, most of the time you'll probably be using it idly while your character is travelling. Depending on how long you press the button and how fast you do so, you can actually create amazing little tunes that you'd love to have it recorded down and turned into perhaps a ringtone or something.
That said, Journey is a game that's so much more than composing music and solving puzzles. It is a journey (like its namesake) to help the robed figure discover who he/she is and to help you figure out what's happened in the game world, resulting in the sprawling desert that spans most of the game.
Life is Strange
Life is Strange is an episodic graphic adventure game where you'll get to follow the story of Max Caulfield, a photography student at Blackwell Academy who accidentally discovers she can rewind time when she stumbled upon a murder scene in the academy's bathroom. Soon after, she hooked up with her new friend, Chloe Price, in an attempt to use her gift to solve a string of disappearances around the town of Arcadia Bay.Featuring an incredibly engaging story that has multiple endings depending on the choices you make, the game doesn't only perfectly presents its characters' personalities, but also touches on the so-called butterfly effect that time reversals will cause. The game is also filled with brilliant indie soundtracks that enhance the overall game experience, further immersing you into its story.
Life is Strange can be purchased on Steam and is available in 5 episodes in total. There is also another expansion, Life is Strange: Before the Storm, that's coming soon. You can try its First Episode demo for free as well!