In Life is Strange: Double Exposure, we find Max Caulfield, the protagonist of the series, who tries to build a new life after the dramatic choice made in Arcadia Bay. A few years have passed, Max has matured, works as a teacher, and has learned to live without her powers. However, her balance is shattered with the mysterious death of her best friend. Even though the police close the case as a suicide, Max is not satisfied and decides to investigate on his own, reawakening his investigative spirit and his extraordinary skills. What’s new in this chapter is the discovery of a further dimension of his powers: Max can travel between two parallel worlds, an expansion of his talents that adds complexity to the story and intensifies the connection with the dynamics of choice and destiny that distinguish the series.
The game maintains the typical mechanics of the franchise: exploration of the environments, interaction with objects and people, and decisions that influence the evolution of the plot. Although there are no significant innovations in the gameplay, the formula works and allows you to focus on what makes this series unique: the narrative plot and the moral choices. In this case, the game opens with growing tension, which is carefully built in the first two episodes, providing captivating cliffhangers and scenes that keep the player’s involvement high. The narrative keeps the audience on their toes, slowly bringing the plot towards a central point that promises revelations and an emotional resolution. However, this careful and well-calibrated construction suffers an abrupt slowdown after the second chapter, when the pace accelerates unexpectedly, compromising the narrative pathos. Where the first two chapters take hours to complete, the following ones are resolved too quickly, leaving little room to delve into new developments.
What damages the plot the most are some less than logical episodes that emerge in the second half of the game. In one scene, for example, Max attempts to hide a compromising photograph. The photo is in plain sight, and the person who shouldn’t see it turns around several times, giving Max the perfect opportunity to hide it. But the interaction to hide the photo is not made available to the player, leading to the predictable plot twist where the person discovers the image. This choice limits interactivity and makes you lose the sense of identification with the character, an essential aspect for a game based on choices. In the second half, the characters’ behaviors become unpredictable and often inconsistent. Some suddenly change their opinion or attitude for no apparent reason, confusing the player and generating a sense of emotional disconnection from the plot. In particular, one character seems to act in an exaggerated way, with gestures and dialogues that appear unnatural and almost caricatured, interrupting the dramatic tone. Fortunately, the other cast members offer more solid performances, helping to maintain some of the quality of the narrative.
From a technical point of view, Double Exposure presents itself with stylized and well-made graphics, which despite not being photorealistic, approaches a level of visual detail that meets fans’ expectations. The facial animations are expressive, allowing you to perceive the characters’ emotions clearly. Only Max’s walking animation appears a little stiff and unnatural, with excessively mechanical arm movements compared to the fluidity of the rest of the game. A small flaw that doesn’t compromise the overall experience, but it’s notable. The game offers two graphics modes: Cold mode, with 4K resolution and 30 fps, and Performance mode, which sacrifices resolution (probably around 1440p) for greater fluidity at 60 fps. Being a title with a slow narrative pace, both modes prove to be adequate, offering a choice that mainly depends on the player’s preferences.
The soundtrack, although well integrated into the atmosphere of the game, does not emerge as a distinctive element. While it doesn’t disturb the experience, the music doesn’t significantly contribute to the emotional intensity of the scenes. Unfortunately, there is also an audio bug that interrupts spoken dialogue in some sections of the game, requiring you to change environments to reload the audio track. This issue temporarily compromises immersion, but hopefully it can be fixed in a future update.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure begins with fascinating promise, drawing fans in with a story that strikes an emotional chord and offers new developments in Max’s powers. The narrative of the first chapters is engaging, supported by escalating tension and refined graphics. However, the progressive acceleration of the plot and the inconsistencies in the characters’ behaviors make the second part of the game less satisfying. The pace and tension of the story are sacrificed for a rushed conclusion, leaving the impression that some subplots and characters could have been developed with greater depth. Although the graphics and facial animations are remarkable, some narrative choices and small technical defects prevent the game from reaching the level of the previous chapters. Despite this, Double Exposure remains an emotional experience that fans of the series can still appreciate, albeit with some reservations.
Format: PS5 (tested version), Switch, Xbox Series, PC Publisher: Square Enix Developer: Deck Nine Games Vote: 6/10
