Life Is Strange: Double Exposure is a worthy return to Max’s story

Life Is Unusual: Double Publicity isn’t your typical homicide thriller recreation. As a substitute of being a half-baked Select Your Personal Journey, Double Publicity is an intuitive and largely player-driven psychological drama that rewrites the dialogue between an artist and an viewers, and which invitations its personal viewers to analyze the significance of self-acceptance.

Developed by Deck 9, Double Publicity is a direct sequel to 2015’s Life Is Unusual, and very similar to the studio’s earlier work on True Colours and Earlier than the Storm, it’s a serialized whodunit that ultimately turns right into a “what the hell is occurring?” Happening 10 years after the tragedies of Arcadia Bay, Oregon, it follows Max Caulfield — who was additionally the protagonist of the 2015 recreation, and whose life has since circled round to Lakeport, Vermont, the place she works as a brand new photographer-in-residence at Caledon College. Max continues to be Max — she nonetheless is dreadfully awkward at flirting, has a knack for sneaking into folks’s rooms, and thinks The Return of the Dwelling Useless is a zombie apocalypse masterpiece — however she hasn’t used her time-rewind powers in almost a decade, as they’ve solely prompted her “extra issues and much more heartbreak,” in her phrases. That’s, till her new finest pal for all times, Safiya Llewellyn-Fayyad, is murdered at a campus lookout, and Max discovers that her capability to reverse actuality has developed into having the ability to tear open a subdivision of the astral aircraft and soar between two alternating timelines.

Max won’t be capable to rewind her personal selections, however her new powers permit her to stay with them and look at any ripple results that comply with. Mechanically, Max can now use a capability known as Pulse to view timelines from her present world, and her new Shift capability to create a metaphysical portal that permits her to traverse the 2 realities at set areas all through Caledon. She will be able to additionally use yet one more capability, known as Entanglement, to intertwine objects between the 2 timelines. All three skills permit her to discover totally different eventualities, puzzles, secrets and techniques, zen moments, and dialogue choices that aren’t fastened to a singular narrative. Double Publicity nonetheless adheres to the Life Is Unusual collection’ common trademark of getting main and minor selections alter environments and interpersonal relationships — like accepting a joint from a fellow professor or altering the grade on a pupil’s paper — however the actuality browsing additionally permits gamers to dive into anecdotes on who Max has turn into.

As a late-20-something who nonetheless empathizes with everybody, Max is transferring on from the introverted idiosyncrasies that outlined her as an 18-year-old, however she continues to be traumatized by the casualties of Arcadia Bay, which has made her a recluse each time she reminisces about Chloe Value and different points of her life which have turn into “a was.” Max nonetheless struggles to course of loss, heartache, and each different sophisticated emotion that makes her really feel like a tiny dot that doesn’t slot in with the RGB values of the world round her, however her new powers present her a approach to course of the totally different phases of grief and absolutely settle for duty for her personal selections.

It’s troublesome to debate her arc with out veering into spoilers, however Deck 9’s proclivity for world-building continues to be A-tier. Double Publicity’s visuals are an absolute delight as Lakeport blends the colour palette of Haven Springs and the cinematography of Earlier than the Storm to create a midwinter panorama that’s equal elements Donnie Darko, Teen Wolf, and The Lady Who Leapt By Time. It makes for a setting that’s much less about subtlety and all for stoned backyard gnomes, LGBTQ bowling leagues, Krampus events, true-crime podcasts, and sanctums just like the Snapping Turtle — a campus bar lined with whiskey and complex murals drawn from identification and multiculturalism that recall works from visible artists like Ola Volo, Tristan Eaton, and Mariell Guzman. After which there’s the music — whereas earlier Life Is Unusual installments upped the comfortable tragedy style with songs from Bonobo, Daughter, and Angus & Julia Stone, Double Publicity muses intimacy with NewDad, Chloe Moriondo, Tessa Rose Jackson, and a Really feel For Music jukebox stuffed with in-house tunes that explores various levels of “indie sleaze” all through the whole thing of the totally different timelines.

The voice expertise and screenplay are the place the sequel actually shines. Hannah Telle reprises her function as Max and is joined by a wonderful supporting solid, which incorporates Safi (Olivia AbiAssi), Moses (Blu Allen), Amanda (Samantha Bowling), Diamond (Ilasiea Grey), and Gwen (Rachel Crowl) — all of whom contribute to Double Publicity’s blunt however bittersweet moments and not-true-crime assist group fanfiction. The narrative’s restraint helps extra sincere discussions about loneliness, emotional stakes, the price of relationships, and l’esprit de l’escalier, and whereas there’s definitely room for extra, these themes are aided by the participant’s capability to disclose extra context and clues by replying to textual content messages and preserving tabs on mates via an in-game social media platform known as Crosstalk. Not like within the first Life Is Unusual, Max can even use her analog on the spot digital camera, a Polaroid Now Technology 2 i-Kind, to take in-game “snapshots” of impromptu moments round Caledon. It’s an addition that would have used extra capabilities like filters, flashes, and adjustable aperture ranges and shutter speeds for added immersion, however her digital camera is built-in with a double publicity function that’s integral to creating two divergent experiences throughout the sport’s 5 chapters.

There are only a few conditions in Double Publicity that really feel disconnected, as the one obvious lens flares are its pacing and reluctance to go off the deep finish in probably the most Lynchian means potential. Its run time barely tops 12 hours — in case you don’t select to do a wholly totally different second playthrough — and whereas Deck 9’s designers have created a recreation that respects whichever ending you thought-about canon in Don’t Nod’s authentic, the eternal thread of unfastened ends throughout two parallel timelines can really feel like a dream sequence you by no means signed up for. Double Publicity shouldn’t be seen as an injustice to Max’s narrative, particularly when relationships and romantic pursuits are pushed by participant alternative now greater than ever, however it’s arduous to disregard the main points that would have added to its summary storytelling. Or a minimum of pushed the pendulum in a route that’s within the model of Home of Leaves and The New Bizarre.

Double Publicity continues to be a beautiful and brilliantly written thriller that deserves consideration. It doesn’t do something groundbreaking, however it’s a brand new installment within the Life Is Unusual collection that examines Max Caulfield’s break up from Arcadia Bay, her wrestle with being hung up on the previous, and the way she has slowly embraced a stronger stage of self-acceptance — regardless of a sophisticated observe report of dying at all times discovering a means again to her. It will not be the continuation of “Max and Chloe without end” that many followers (understandably) wished, however it’s a compelling journey that underlines how flaws can construct character — whether or not it’s by serving as motivation to repair outdated habits or to dream concerning the future.

Life Is Unusual: Double Publicity was launched Oct. 29 on Nintendo Change, PlayStation 5, Home windows PC, and Xbox Sequence X. The sport was reviewed on PlayStation 5 utilizing a pre-release obtain code supplied by Deck 9 Video games. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These don’t affect editorial content material, although Vox Media might earn commissions for merchandise bought by way of affiliate hyperlinks. You’ll find further details about Polygon’s ethics coverage right here.