Played on Xbox Series S
Life is Strange will be ten years old next year, and throughout that time the series has been rocking from side to side. The first part is elevated by fans almost to the status of a masterpiece – it was a pleasant “movie” with memorable characters, an interesting story and elements of the “paranormal” that were well integrated into it. Then a prequel came out from other people, which turned out to be not entirely necessary. After it comes the second part, where everything is completely different, and we, in the role of the older brother, travel to different cities with the younger one. The familiar atmosphere evaporated from there, not everyone appreciated the experiment, so in the subsequent True Colors they decided to return to the cozy town and all sorts of mysticism, but even here the audience was divided. Apparently, after this, the developers made a strong-willed decision – we are returning the main character of the first part, and perhaps the former glory of the series will return with her.
⇡#Long time no see
But the longer you play through Life is Strange: Double Exposure, the harder it is to understand why Max is even needed here. Almost nothing connects the grown-up Maxine with the past: she and Chloe parted ways (or she died – decide for yourself at the beginning of the game), we will not visit the city of Arcadia Bay, we will not meet familiar people. Sometimes the player is shown old photographs depicting characters from the first part, and Max comments on this with a couple of phrases – that’s all. The fan service is so minimal that it almost doesn’t exist. Ten years later, the heroine has a new life – now she teaches at Caledonian University, and therefore hangs out with completely different guys.
Max’s hairstyle was left “plasticine” in appearance, as in the first part, but at the same time made more flexible
Everything seems to be going as usual, but suddenly her best friend Safi dies under mysterious circumstances – the girl is found with a gunshot wound. It is impossible to immediately understand who was involved in this, since she allegedly had no obvious enemies. The old Max would have used time rewind, as she already did to save Chloe in the first part, but the heroine vowed not to use this ability – she didn’t want to destroy another city. But suddenly she discovered a new skill – now Maxine can move between two realities. In one, Safi is dead (this is called the world of the dead), and in the other, nothing terrible happened to her (the world of the living). The whole game is built on jumping from one reality to another – learning something in one world, we use it in another.
Mystery stories like this have always been one of Life is Strange’s greatest strengths, and Double Exposure’s plot is intriguing at first, especially the ending of the second episode. However, it’s not for nothing that the first two “series” were given out in advance to buyers of the most expensive edition of the game – after that the plot becomes more and more delusional, illogical and so strange that it is impossible to predict it, in a bad way. At moments it seems as if this is a draft script: some scenes are absolutely unnecessary, some do not sufficiently reveal the motivations of the characters, Max acquires new abilities on the fly, which appear in her at the most necessary moments. I want to get to the end, since I started the passage, but interest is rapidly fading.
You can get to know the characters better on a local social network or by reading their messages, but all these menus are overloaded and inconvenient
The strangest thing seems to be how uninteresting the main ability was given to Max. Rewinding time doesn’t seem to be the most original skill either, but it’s hard to think of something more boring than the transition between two realities that are practically no different. If a character doesn’t want to communicate with you in the world of the dead, what should you do? We go to the world of the living, learn some interesting information about it, return to the world of the dead and try to get him to talk. Or we grab an object in one reality and transfer it to another, be it a key or a stepladder. Max cannot make the transition at any time – she needs to find a cluster of white midges in the location. And so you first talk to someone, then you go somewhere to cross, cross, turn around, go back…
Because of this, the gameplay as a whole leaves a mixed impression. There are very few puzzles and interesting situations – the same transfer of objects from one world to another is very rare, and the most interesting gameplay “chips” are only in the first episodes, then they are forgotten about. The rest is walking, talking, walking and talking again. Conversations are not annoying, but sometimes it becomes a bit boring – so much so that you begin to be distracted by something else and realize that you haven’t missed that much important thing. This especially suffers from the third episode, where you seem to be immersed in the investigation, but suddenly the writers rush in the other direction and launch two love lines at once, devoting most of the time to them.
It is not always necessary to move to another reality – Max can see and hear ghosts just like that
⇡#Bad company of good people
Perhaps I would have treated the dialogue differently if I liked the characters, but in Double Exposure you don’t feel sympathy for them. I would like to draw parallels with the first part, where the characters’ characters were rather formulaic (rebel Chloe, shy Kate, upstart Victoria with her friends fawning over her), but they fit perfectly into the surroundings of the school – many could even see their acquaintances in them. In the new game there is no such clear division – everyone is somehow too… ordinary. Just an impressive guy, just the daughter of an executive, just a girl bartender. The characters either make contact too easily or get offended at the first opportunity – there is a severe lack of depth, and this once again suggests a rough draft of the script.
That’s why moments in which you make a seemingly important decision for the plot, in most cases, do not encourage you to sit for a long time in front of the screen and think, as happened in previous games in the series. If someone stops talking to you, then God be with him, you will only be glad. If someone sees something that they shouldn’t, then let them see it – the plot may become more interesting. Unfortunately, all these decisions very rarely affect anything – the inscription that appears in the corner warning about the consequences can be ignored. It looks especially stupid in moments like choosing an inscription on a mug – here you understand that the developers simply had nothing to fill out the statistics with at the end of each episode.
In most cases, dialogue responses have no effect
Also surprising is how fearlessly the creators of Double Exposure copy the plot of the first game. Not entirely, of course, but over time there are a lot of similarities. When Max’s friend is found murdered, you consider it a kind of homage – Chloe was also shot in the restroom and all that. But then it begins: a creepy teacher who looks like Jefferson without glasses, Safi’s friend who died several years ago, whom Max didn’t even know about, all sorts of weather phenomena… As a result, something strange turns out – either the authors have run out of imagination, or these are intentional references. If it’s the latter, then fans are unlikely to appreciate it, especially when the rest of the fan service is sorely lacking.
So for the most part the game is disappointing, although in terms of graphics and music it is almost an exemplary Life is Strange. Visually, the project was a big step forward for the series – the artists managed to preserve the cozy atmosphere, and at the same time significantly improve the lighting, facial animation and detailing of the environment. And the soundtrack is generally magnificent – suspense tracks brilliantly complement the most intense scenes, and calm ballads and indie rock allow you to enjoy your surroundings in specially designated places.
There are also places to admire nature while listening to indie rock in this part of the series
But not everything is perfect here either. The developers responsible for the sound were unable to adjust the volume, so some characters scream, while others are hard to hear, so you have to manually adjust the volume all the time. And you pay less and less attention to the graphics when you find yourself in the same locations over and over again. The bar, for example, gets boring pretty quickly, and you have to return there in almost every chapter. And the idea with the world of the dead and the world of the living is not implemented in the best way – sometimes it’s obvious from the color palette where you are, but there are moments in which you can’t immediately figure it out without a hint. Plus, locations in different realities differ in just a couple of objects, which makes exploring them not as exciting as it could be. The corridors of the university, for example, are absolutely identical, except that people sit and stand in different places.
***
Max from the first Life is Strange returned to Double Exposure, but it was a strange return. Replace her with any other heroine (or even hero) – and the game would hardly have changed. There are few interesting references and connections with its predecessor, and the new characters are not even close to those whose names fans still remember. The story is interesting at first, but then descends into some kind of nonsense, Max’s friends are forgotten the next day, her new ability is boring and not very convenient, and the gameplay has not received any development. The new game looks and sounds like Life is Strange, but there is a feeling that the matured Max deserved a much better game. Or she shouldn’t have been brought back at all – although, it feels like it’s not that difficult to come up with a new exciting story with her. And here the girl seemed to be thrown into the script at the last moment. Eh, I wish I could rewind time and warn the developers…
Advantages:
- The surroundings have changed, but the atmosphere is no less cozy than in Arcadia Bay;
- Excellent facial animations that perfectly convey the emotions of the characters;
- Brilliant musical accompaniment.
Disadvantages:
- The story gets worse with each episode;
- Max seems not very necessary in this game – she could easily be replaced by any other character;
- New characters are boring and not memorable;
- Time rewind was replaced with an uninteresting ability that is not so convenient to use.
Graphic arts
The familiar style of Life is Strange was preserved, while at the same time significantly improving every element of the graphics, especially lighting and facial animation.
Sound
The excellent soundtrack complements each scene perfectly. It’s a pity that there is some problem with the sound balance – the characters speak either loudly or quietly.
Single player game
Like all Life is Strange, this game is divided into episodes, and each of them ends on an unexpected note. Fortunately, there is no need to wait months for the next episode – all episodes were released immediately.
Estimated time of completion
12 o’clock.
Collective game
Not provided. Unless there are global statistics after each episode, showing the popularity of certain plot solutions.
General impression
Max’s return failed. While this is a perfect Life is Strange visually, the story and gameplay are quite disappointing. There were so many interesting things that could have been done with Maxine that it’s hard to understand why they surrounded her with such dull characters and couldn’t write a more compelling story for her.
Rating: 5.0 / 10
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