Life is Strange: Double Exposure is a captivating adventure for new players and fans alike

In 2015, the development team at Dontnod Entertainment filled a vacuum left by Telltale Games after several flops with Life is Strange. The teen drama was so well received that it developed into an entire franchise. While Life is Strange 2 and the accompanying episode The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit were also developed by Dontnod Entertainment, Deck Nine is behind the remaining games Life is Strange: Before the Storm and Life is Strange: True Colors. With the two spin-offs, the new development studio showed it knows how to handle the brand.

With Life is Strange: Double Exposure, it’s now been entrusted with returning protagonist Max, so I have high expectations.

A murder case – and Max is in the middle of it again

Several years have passed since the events of the first instalment in Arcadia Bay and Max is now 28 years old. She works as a photographer at Caledon University and has already achieved some professional success.

Her idyllic everyday life is interrupted when Max finds her best friend Safi dead in the snow. Unlike in the first game, she can’t undo this because she’s lost her magical power to turn back time.

Instead, Safi’s death awakens another ability in Max that allows her to enter a parallel dimension – where Safi’s still alive. So, it’s time to use this new power and solve the mysterious murder case in typical Max Caulfield style.

Arcadia Bay’s a thing of the past

Like many other people, before playing, I wondered how Life is Strange and the decisions made in it would be implemented in the direct sequel. If you don’t want any spoilers, I’d skip the next section. However, I won’t mention any specific gameplay moments.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure lets you decide for yourself how the first part ended. However, because the development team hasn’t decided on an official ending, the options for implementation are limited. This increases the focus on the new story, which doesn’t need to hide behind the first game. This solution’s also friendlier to newcomers who have no connection to Arcadia Bay or Chloe.

I actually think it’s really nice to see that Max has developed since the first game. She’s no longer a shy teenager and is in the prime of her life – so, she remains interesting for the players who’ve grown up with her. Fortunately, she’s retained her quirky sense of humour and likeable nature.

Two worlds, double the fun

In Life is Strange: Double Exposure, the focus isn’t only on solving the murder case; it’s also on Max’s new abilities. She can now move freely between two worlds. The difference between the two parallel dimensions is that Max’s friend Safi was murdered in one world and is still alive in the other. So, while Max is witnessing a lively breakfast scene between Safi and her mother in one moment, a change of dimension is enough to find Safi’s mother sad and alone at the table instead.

Max’s new powers affect not only the people around her, but also her surroundings and some objects. The dimension shift becomes a new game mechanic that helps you solve puzzles and move the plot forward.

For example, Safi tells Max in the «living» world that someone threw a cow skull through her car window. Maybe the murderer? But she doesn’t want to show Max the skull so she can get a closer look. That’s no problem, because I notice that the cow skull comes from Max’s local bar. So, I switch to the «dead» world and lo and behold – the skull’s hanging on the wall, untouched. After all, in a world where Safi’s no longer alive, nobody has to throw the cow skull through her car window.

The puzzles in Life is Strange: Double Exposure focus primarily on the dimension change, but they always throw in some variety. For example, Max can get a free-standing stepladder from the other dimension if it’s currently being used by someone else in the current one. Pretty handy.

Simple but effective gameplay

During my manageable 13 hours of playing time, the puzzles kept me entertained and never got boring. As in the other Life is Strange games, they’re mostly simple without becoming dull.

The only thing that suffers a little from adding in Max’s abilities is my sense of immersion. For example, I enter a colleague’s office to find out where she’s hiding her important papers. As soon as I find out, I change the dimension to the empty version of the office in the same room, where I read through the documents in peace and quiet. Five minutes later, I appear out of nowhere in the office and confront my colleague with my findings. She doesn’t comment on the fact that I’m continuing our conversation as if it hadn’t been interrupted for minutes. This is classic video game logic where the only thing you can do is turn a blind eye.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure also introduces a photo mode that suits photographer Max down to the ground. She regularly picks up the camera to photograph her surroundings, and now you can do it yourself. She then sticks the photos in her journal or shares them on social media – a nice gimmick that makes perfect sense and is a minor part of the story.

Aside from the new dimension mechanics and photography, you can expect simple gameplay by talking to people, exploring the area or answering text messages. All of this contributes to the world-building and draws you – like Max – deeper into the action. Important decisions are also part of the game again. But this time you can’t reverse them.

A nice, but not flawless experience

The graphics leave a positive impression. A lot’s happened in the nine years since the release of Life is Strange, and I enjoy looking at the vivid faces of the characters.

The music also hits a similar note to the first game – although not on the same level. The soundtrack is calming and turns up the volume at the right times. However, when something really needs to make an impression, vocals are added in.

What I don’t like so much are the bugs that I encountered several times during the game. During the first two episodes, my screen on the PlayStation 5 flickered black several times. I imagine that would be particularly annoying for people who bought the pre-release version, which, like my colleague Phillip Rüegg, I’m not a fan of. In the later chapters, the issues became even more intrusive.

For example, the door to a room that Max shouldn’t have entered in her current dimension was open. The result was that she couldn’t interact with anything in the room. Odd, but bearable. Unlike a weird bug that left me with no sound for two scenes. Quitting the game didn’t solve it for me. I had to reload it several times or move the plot forward.

None of the bugs made Life is Strange: Double Exposure unplayable, but they were still annoying. However, I can well imagine that a day-one patch will fix the problem.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure is available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch and PC. The PS5 version was provided to me by Square Enix for testing purposes.