Game review: Life Is Strange: Double Exposure
The first Life Is Strange game released episodically back in 2015, and it centered on a high school student by the name of Max Caulfield. The special thing about Max is that she can rewind time, and this becomes important thanks to the death of her girlfriend named, Chloe Price.
Max uses her powers to try and prevent the death of Chloe, but rewinding time has consequences that affect the place they live in called Arcadia Bay. To cut a long story short, the canon ending is sad because Max has to let Chloe die in order to save the citizens of Arcadia Bay.
Life Is Strange: Double Exposure is a direct sequel to the first game with Max vowing to never use her time powers ever again. She has moved to Lakeport, Vermont, and now works at the local Caledon University. Things seem to be going well for Max until another tragedy strikes…
This time around, Max has a new friend named Safi, and for some reason, Safi gets shot by an unknown assailant. Instead of having the power to rewind time, Max has a newer ability in Life Is Strange: Double Exposure. In this game, she can enter an alternate timeline where Safi is still alive!
As the player, you have to control Max as she enters both timelines to get any clues she can as to who is responsible for the death of Safi. Both the dead timeline and the alive timeline feature the same people and locations, but they will give different answers to Max and how they might feel about Safi.
It's hard to describe anymore about the story without giving spoilers, but it is interesting to see the contrasting moods between the two timelines. In the dead timeline, many of Safi's friends and family members are depressed, but in the alive timeline, everyone is happier, although Max still suspects someone still wants her dead.
The interesting thing about Max's powers is that she can enter different timelines to benefit her own investigation. For example, Max needed to get Safi's camera from one timeline, but she couldn't enter the building because a cop is in the way. To bypass the cop, she enters the same room in the alive timeline where the cop isn't there and then changes back to the dead timeline to find the camera. Max can also take objects to and from different timelines to aid her in snooping around.
I have to admit, that Max's tactics to find clues on her friend's murder aren't ethical, but it is necessary for her to seek out justice. I found it funny how Max can enter the offices of university staff and read all of their private emails and other personal notes.
In terms of gameplay, don't expect this game to have much action because Max cannot fight, and this is a narrative experience. Life Is Strange: Double Exposure is similar to a game like Heavy Rain because a lot of the gameplay requires you to search for clues and interrogate a lot of people. There is even a small stealth section where Max has to avoid being seen by a curious cop.
Graphically, this game looks far better and prettier compared to the first game. What I like most about the locations is that a lot of objects are interactive, and Max is able to talk to a lot of people in the game. Speaking of Max, her character model looks very similar because she resembles one of my favourite singers Cassadee Pope. Pope isn't a household name, but she used to sing in a band called Hey Monday and she won Season 3 of The Voice.
Anyway, Max has to make some choices in the game, and this can lead to different outcomes. There is a bit of replay value on offer so you can see what happens when you choose a different decision. That being said, the decisions aren't as dramatic as Heavy Rain or Until Dawn where characters can die really early or anything like that, which is a bit mundane.
Another thing that disappointed me is that Life Is Strange: Double Exposure is a really small game because Max is only allowed to visit less than half a dozen locations. The only major locations in the game are the University, Max's house, the local bar and a snowy hill. It can get boring visiting these locations all the time in an eight hour game.
Life Is Strange: Double Exposure also has a somewhat confusing the supernatural-heavy ending too. It's hard to describe without giving spoilers away, but it didn't satisfy me how everything ended. I understand the writers wanted to make the conclusion unpredictable, but some parts of the conclusion were just confusing and weird.
While it may still have some flaws, Life Is Strange: Double Exposure is still a fun game with interesting characters and an engaging storyline. While the experience might be short, it's one of the more unique games I have played all year long.
Verdict: 8/10
