Life is Strange: Double Exposure

As warm, deep, and emotionally engaging as it ever was, Life is Strange: Double Exposure delivers another great adventure for beloved hero Max Caulfield. With a great new cast of interesting characters, a banger of a mystery, and enough ethical dilemmas to fry your brain, Double Exposure continues putting players through the wringer in the best possible way. A few minor technical issues cannot distract from the great story and beautiful visuals.

Both a worthy sequel to the beloved original and an excellent game in its own right, Life is Strange: Double Exposure is one of the series' most engrossing outings to date.

With its excellent writing, exceptional characters, and fun-to-use new powers, Life is Strange: Double Exposure is a worthy sequel to the 2015 original.

Overall, Life is Strange: Double Exposure is a rather good game. Although it’s held back from being great by an almost too confined campaign, repetition and some pacing issues, it’s a quality release that should appeal to most, if not all, fans of this series and its genre. It’s worth checking out if it intrigues you, and is deserving of recognition, though I wouldn’t say it’s the best game in the series. I personally enjoyed the original and True Colors more.

A satisfying sequel to the first Life is Strange with an exciting story, plot twists and only a few technical problems.

Original Life is Strange protagonist Max Caulfield makes a welcome return in what is an immensely compelling and enjoyable sequel to her 2015 introduction. Unravelling Life is Strange: Double Exposure's murder mystery, using its timeline-hopping mechanic, is remarkably good fun.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure is a journey I'm thrilled I got to go on... Great characters, a wonderfully crafted world, and a twisting narrative all help elevate the game over what holds it back.

Max Caulfield returns years after the events of the first Life is Strange to show how her life continued after Arcadia Bay. The new installment features an interesting dual-reality concept that significantly refreshes the plot. The downside is that the experience is short, and it seems that its new elements were underutilized.

Max Caulfield is back and she's stronger than ever. A narrative game in the vein of Quantic Dream's works, but with its own identity, Life is Strange Double Exposure is an astonishing experience. While managing to emancipate itself, the game narrates a different poetry for a result that does not leave you indifferent. Despite a somewhat slow pace and some events that are a little too disjointed, nostalgia works and we become attached again to the one who was a teenager at Blackwell. Without being revolutionary, the formula, tinged with parallel worlds and temporal powers, manages to move us. Without going all the way with its intentions, this long-awaited sequel opens a door to new adventures of the very charismatic Maxine. Can't wait for her return.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure is a good game, but it's not even close to the original title. Although the plot is interesting and leaves the door open for a sequel, the new entry in the famous franchise lacks something that made the first game so impactful: a moving story that makes players identify with it. As a result, Double Exposure fails to be as memorable as its narrative predecessor. While the original Life is Strange perfectly balanced the relationships between the characters with the mystery of the story, Double Exposure seems to put aside the more social commentary of the games in the franchise and put more emphasis on superpowers and their possibilities. A new proposal that has yet to prove itself.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure offers up some delightfully engrossing story beats and it's easy to get wrapped up in the mystery of the tale. There's a lot to like here with Max's character development feeling fulfilling and the potential for this arc to spawn an even wider tale if the twist at the end is anything to go by. Generally speaking, the performances of the cast are all of a high quality. Where Double Exposure somewhat loses its focus is during the final chapter or two, when the plot seems to fully lean into the supernatural beyond the interesting character development. Some general technical issues with dialogue and graphics also unfortunately result in a frustrating sense of being stripped out of the immersion. Overall, for fans of the series and those who just like a good adventure tale, Double Exposure is worth enjoying.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure does a lot of things well. When it comes to Max and her emotional and personal journey from trauma to self-discovery, it works. The main character entertains you, tugs at your heartstrings, and you're happy to be on this journey with her. But when it comes to the twists and turns of the story and the internal logic of the plot of the new game, that's where it starts to creak.

The original Life is Strange was enough to cement Max Caulfield as one of my favorite modern video game protagonists, and Double Exposure offers a beautiful continuation of her journey. She’s still the deeply goofy and empathetic artist that we fell in love with nearly a decade ago, and this new adventure further explores her personality and beliefs. Jumping back into her story all these years later felt like catching up with an old friend. On the other hand, it’s impossible to make your way through Life is Strange: Double Exposure without performance issues interfering with the experience. It’s ironically right in line with the game’s theme of duality, with the Living and Dead worlds serving as metaphors for what it’s like playing through the newest Life is Strange game.

A strong opening set of chapters set up an intriguing mystery with the return of Max Caulfield, new powers and friends, and a fantastic setting with some excellent audio/visual work. Unfortunately, it all falls apart by the end, with a confusing mess of threads that sweep the interesting stuff aside in favour of a side story that feels rushed, and a final choice that is set up poorly, leaving us underwhelmed and not entirely sure what fate we assigned ourselves too.

The potential of this game is overshadowed by a number of technical issues.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure is a risky sequel and not all its decisions feel good. Half of the audiencia can feel betrayed by this story and no one could blame them for it. Max keeps up the pace, but the support cast, the romances and the story development are not up to her.

Whatever promise Life is Strange: Double Exposure has, be it in its beautiful setting, fun and likable characters, or its intriguing setup, ends up being undermined by a scattershot narrative that never comes together. And unfortunately, with a lack of any substantial gameplay or meaningful choices, that leaves this as just a so-so adventure game at best, and what is arguably the lowest-ranking game in the series. Hopefully Life is Strange can rebound back, but for now, it's not a pretty picture.

Like its own hero's dabbling with time travel, Life is Strange: Double Exposure highlights the troubles of trying to revisit old memories, while raising unanswered questions about the future.