In 2015, Square Enix trusted the French studio DontNod Entertainment for the development of Life is Strange, a new narrative license featuring Maxine Caulfield, a young teenager and photography student at Blackwell University. The action took place in the fictional town of Arcadia Bay in Oregon.
The idea of Life is Strange was to highlight people with strange, inexplicable powers and to address sensitive topics: school bullying, gender identity, sexism, racism, suicide and many other delicate themes that have been perfectly sensitized through the different episodes of the series.
After two successful installments (in 2015 and 2018), DontNod was dropped from the license in favor of Deck Nine Games. The American studio had already offered a nice stand-alone, Life is Strange Before the Storm, in 2017, serving as a prequel to the first title. We then discovered Alex Chen's story in Life is Strange: True Colors in 2021. The Deck Nine games managed to keep this soul and this atmosphere, but there was always something missing to make the difference compared to the DontNod games. With Double Exposure and the return of Max, there is a real desire to rise to the level of the French studio by returning to its roots. Has the bet been successful?
- IMPORTANT POINT (OCTOBER 14, 2024)
The test will be offered in two stages. We have only had access to the first two episodes of Life is Strange: Double Exposure so far. This review is therefore a preview of the game, before the final review which will be released later this month, once we have had access to the entire game, namely all five episodes.
Welcome to Caledon
Several years after the tragic events of Arcadia Bay, Max Caulfield is back, older, more mature, and in a whole new life. Still passionate about photography, she is now a professor at the prestigious Caledon University in Vermont, far from Blackwell. She is surrounded by new friends, including Moses and Safi, two acolytes with whom she spends most of her time.
Forget student life, Max now lives in a superb wooden cottage, with large bay windows offering him a sublime view of the snowy landscapes of this early December. Everything seems to be going well for the heroine, who tries as best she can to bury the traumas of Arcadia Bay.
Unfortunately, the past always ends up catching up with us. One evening, Max comes across the lifeless body of Safi, her new best friend. And that's when his powers resurface, allowing him to change dimensions. After playing with time in Oregon, Max can now pass between alternate realities with a simple gesture. This is the starting point for a new investigation to understand what happened and try to save Safi's life.
A still unique atmosphere
Like all the Life is Strange installments, this Double Exposure immerses us in a rather extraordinary universe. The atmosphere of Caledon is incredible, just like that of Arcadia Bay, with the road trip of the Diaz brothers in Life is Strange 2 or that of Haven Springs in True Colors.
The action takes place in early December, when Vermont is covered in a thick white blanket. Max, Safi and Moses watch the shooting stars in the evening around a good hot coffee. Caledon University looks like Hogwarts Castle with brick walls, wood finishes, a multitude of Christmas decorations. The school is lively, with many students busy, reading, and chatting with each other. It is even possible to discreetly listen to some conversations to learn a little more about some residents.
Unsurprisingly, photography is omnipresent in the game, and you will have a lot of opportunities to take pictures and share them on Max's networks. As was already the case with the previous opus, the aspect of networks is well highlighted, with funny and sometimes teasing comments.
All the elements are combined to give us the impression of being in a small community where everyone knows each other and rubs shoulders in joy and goodwill. Of course, the dream will only be short-lived, since as soon as Safi dies, this universe switches to another atmosphere where everyone can be a suspect of what seems to be a murder.
Regulars of the license will not be lost, overall, Life is Strange: Double Exposure takes up the same gameplay as the previous ones, always offering contemplative moments with an exceptional soundtrack that makes us want to lose ourselves for hours in the title simply watching Caledon University come to life before our eyes.
The power of parallel worlds
After playing with time, giving Max the opportunity to go back in time and even travel through the ages, we will now be able to change reality. In different places in Caledon, you will have sparkling areas, allowing Max to move from one reality to another. In one reality, Safi is alive, in the other, she is dead. The transition from one reality to another allows to gather elements to understand certain things and discover that in Caledon, everyone has their little secrets.
Among the other possibilities of his new power, Max is able to listen to conversations from the "other world". For example, if she is in the reality where Safi is dead, she will be able to listen to conversations that are taking place at the same time, in the other reality where Safi is still alive and vice versa.
Similarly, if she dives into one reality, she will be able to recover objects or change certain things so that it can have an influence in the other reality. It's all quite complex, but it's done quite well. However, it must be noted that the first two episodes do not allow us to form a definitive opinion of the situation.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure, an intriguing first look
For the moment, the power seems a little too exploited, forcing us to multiply the back and forths that are not always very useful and quickly redundant. In addition, the narrative plot really begins to take off at the end of episode 2, not allowing us to form a definitive opinion.
After about ten hours of play, we are left with a rather positive impression, with quite a few good points, but also some reservations. We can't wait to discover the last three episodes in order to form a definitive opinion on these new adventures of Max Caulfield. We'll see you by the end of the month for an update of this test with our final verdict as well as the positive and negative points of this Life is Strange: Double Exposure.
As a reminder, the Deluxe and Ultimate versions of the game will be available tomorrow, allowing you to play the first two episodes of the game in preview. You will then have to wait until October 29 to have the sequel and the outcome on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC and Nintendo Switch.
Life is Strange: Double Exposureis available on PS5
- UPDATE (NOVEMBER 8, 2024) – THE FULL REVIEW
After finishing the last three chapters, it's high time to reveal our final opinion on this new installment of Life is Strange: Double Exposure.
A good start, but a chaotic ending
If the first two episodes of this Life is Strange Double Exposure had something to intrigue us, it is clear that the sequel of the adventure was not as enjoyable. The third episode continues in the same vein, offering some interesting innovations, but the last two episodes struggled to convince us.
It is obvious that Deck Nine wanted to follow the path traced by Don’t Nod in the first opus in 2015, offering similarities with Max’s first adventures in Arcadia Bay. Over the course of the episodes, we understand that the abuse of his powers begins to disrupt realities and the climate. Several elements of this opus are very similar or even modeled on the events of the first Life is Strange.
Thus, as in the first game, the different realities begin to go in all directions and will even unite and intertwine, offering us moments completely out of time with offbeat situations. The problem? It's just that not everyone has the narrative touch of the Don't Nod teams. And if it worked rather well in Life is Strange, it gets stuck in this Double Exposure.
The American studio got somewhat lost, offering a poorly constructed narrative with numerous inconsistencies. We thus end up with characters who will disappear during a scene, and from whom we will have no further news, even after the end of the game. We could provide other characteristics concerning non-playable characters in the game, but this could spoil some readers.
Let's just remember that in principle, some choices can be interesting, but they are unfortunately poorly handled and we don't really understand how all this is set up.
In the end, we realize that we had already discovered the full potential of Max's power at the beginning of the game. In the last three episodes, there are no new features. Max can only pass from one reality to another and listen to conversations in a world while she is in the parallel universe. Unfortunately, this feature, which is rather interesting, is not used much. Most of the time, the game will only ask you to pass from one reality to another, multiplying the back and forths that can sometimes be quite repetitive and useless.
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