Life is Strange: Double Exposure is not a typical crime game. Instead of being half-baked, choose your own adventure, Double exposure is an intuitive and primarily player-driven psychological drama that rewrites the dialogue between artist and audience and invites its own audience to explore the meaning of self-acceptance.
Developed by Deck Nine, Double exposure is a direct continuation of the game from 2015 Life is strangeand like the studio’s previous works True colors AND Before the stormit’s a serialized crime story that eventually turns into “What the hell is going on?” The action takes place 10 years after the tragedies in Arcadia Bay, Oregon. The story centers around Max Caulfield, who was also the protagonist of the 2015 game and whose life has moved on from Lakeport, Vermont, where he works as a up-to-date photographer-in-residence at Caledon University. Max is still Max – he still flirts terribly clumsily, has a knack for sneaking into other people’s rooms, and thinks that The Return of the living dead is a masterpiece dedicated to the zombie apocalypse – but she hasn’t used her time-rewinding powers in almost a decade because, she says, they only caused her “more problems and even more heartbreak.” That is until her up-to-date lifelong best friend, Safiya Llewellyn-Fayyad, is murdered at a campus observation post and Max discovers that her ability to reverse reality has evolved into the ability to tear apart the astral plane divide and jump through between two alternating time frames.
Max may not be able to undo her choices, but her up-to-date powers allow her to live with them and explore any consequences that will follow. Mechanically, Max can now employ an ability called Pulse to view timelines from her current world, and her up-to-date Shift ability to create a metaphysical portal that allows her to traverse two realities at set locations throughout Caledon. He can also employ another ability called Entanglement to weave objects between two timelines. All three skills allow her to explore different scenarios, puzzles, secrets, zen moments, and dialogue options that are not confined to a single narrative. Double exposure still harks back to the Life Is Strange series’ popular trademark of making major and minor choices that alter the environment and relationships – such as taking a joint from another professor or changing the grade on a student paper – but reality surfing also allows players to immerse themselves in anecdotes about what Max became.
As a twenty-something who still sympathizes with everyone, Max moves away from the introverted eccentricities that defined her as an 18-year-old, but is still traumatized by the victims at Arcadia Bay, which has made her a recluse whenever she mentions Chloe Price and other aspects of her life that have become ” were”. Max is still trying to deal with loss, heartache, and all the other complicated emotions that make her feel like a small dot that doesn’t fit the RGB values of the world around her, but her up-to-date powers allow her to process different emotions. stages of grief and take full responsibility for your own choices.
It’s difficult to discuss her story without getting into spoilers, but Deck Nine’s penchant for world-building is still A-level. Double exposureThe visuals are an absolute delight as Lakeport combines Haven Springs’ color palette and photography Before the storm to create a winter landscape composed of equal parts Donnie Darko, Teen WolfAND The girl who jumped in time. This creates a setting less subtle, all for stoned garden gnomes, LGBTQ bowling leagues, Krampus parties, true crime podcasts and sanctuaries like the Snapping Turtle – a campus bar lined with whiskey and intricate murals drawn from identity and multiculturalism that bring to mind the works of artists visual artists such as Ola Volo, Tristan Eaton and Mariell Guzman. And then there is music – while before Life is strange parts elevated the genre of cozy tragedy with the songs Bonobo, Daughter and Angus and Julia Stone, Double exposure muses on intimacy with NewDad, Chloe Moriondo, Tessa Rose Jackson and a Feel For Music jukebox filled with her own songs that explore varying degrees of “independent madness” across all time planes.
The voice talent and writing are what really shine in the sequel. Hannah Telle reprises her role as Max and is joined by a stellar supporting cast including Safi (Olivia AbiAssi), Moses (Blu Allen), Amanda (Samantha Bowling), Diamond (Ilasiea Gray) and Gwen (Rachel Crowl) – all of whom contribute Double exposureblunt but bittersweet moments and untrue criminal support group fanfiction. Narrative restraint fosters more candid discussions about loneliness, emotional stakes, and relationship costs stair ghostand while there is certainly room for more, these themes are aided by the player’s ability to reveal more context and clues by replying to text messages and following friends through the game’s in-game social media platform called Crosstalk. Different than the first one Life is strangeMax can also employ his analog instant camera, the Polaroid Now Generation 2 i-Type, to take in-game “snapshots” of impromptu moments in Caledon. It’s an add-on that could employ more features like filters, flashes and adjustable aperture ranges and shutter speeds to provide additional immersion in the game, but its camera is integrated with a double exposure function, which is integral to creating two distinct experiences in five chapters of the game.
Photo: Deck Nine Games/Square Enix via Polygon
Photo: Deck Nine Games/Square Enix via Polygon
Photo: Deck Nine Games/Square Enix via Polygon
Photo: Deck Nine Games/Square Enix via Polygon
There are very few situations Double exposure that feel disconnected because the only glaring lens flares are the pace and the unwillingness to go off the deep end in the most Lynchian way possible. The game’s running time is just 12 hours – unless you opt for a completely different second game – and while Deck Nine’s designers have created a game that respects whatever ending you considered canon in the original Don’t Nod, the timeless thread of the loose game ends in two parallel timelines, it may seem like a dream sequence you never signed up for. Double exposure This shouldn’t be seen as an injustice to Max’s narrative, especially when relationships and romantic interests are now more than ever dependent on the player’s choices, but it’s difficult to ignore the details it could add to this abstract story. Or at least pushed the pendulum in the direction of style House of Leaves AND New quirk.
Double exposure is still a wonderful and brilliantly written thriller that deserves your attention. It doesn’t do anything groundbreaking, but it’s a up-to-date entry in Life is strange series about Max Caulfield’s breakup from Arcadia Bay, her struggle with dwelling on the past, and how she slowly achieved a greater level of self-acceptance – despite the complicated history of death that always found its way back to her. It may not be the follow-up to Max & Chloe Forever that many fans were expecting (which is understandable), but it’s a fascinating adventure that highlights how flaws can build character – whether by serving as motivation to mend elderly habits, or to dream about the future.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure was released on October 29 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on PlayStation 5 using a pre-download code provided by Deck Nine Games. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased through affiliate links. Additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy can be found here.
