I came into Life Is Strange: Double Exposure as a more recent convert to the series, but even though I haven’t carried emotions for this world around for almost a decade like some, the first major choice still felt like a gut-punch.
It’s a simple one—”What’s up with the blue-haired girl whose photo you carry in your wallet?”—but it sets a major tone for this sequel. All of the original Life Is Strange (and its prequel, in a way) is boiled down into this simple, binary question. If you’ve played through this history, it feels almost like making that impossible final choice all over again, reopening an old wound.
This is an easy emotional target to hit, sure. But perhaps one of the best endorsements I can give Deck Nine’s take on Max Caulfield’s legacy is that several choices throughout the game carried similar emotional weight, resonating deeply thanks to its new, original cast.
Life Is Strange: Double Exposure is the fifth main game in the series and a direct sequel to the 2015 original, passing the protagonist torch back to Max Caulfield. Much like in the real world, it’s been a decade since Max’s unexplained ability to rewind time emerged, and the fates of both Arcadia Bay and her best friend, Chloe Price, were decided. Max has spent most of that time travelling, only recently settling down as a photographer-in-residence at a prestigious university in Vermont.
Returning to that first major decision point, Double Exposure does a deft job of honouring the player’s choice. In my playthrough, I chose the greater good, and the game acknowledged this decision in fitting ways throughout. It was hard not to dive right back into a new playthrough after the credits rolled just to see how the alternate choice would have affected the story.
“Life Is Strange: Double Exposure‘s new trick is more than just a novel twist on the original game’s reliance on the Butterfly Effect motif, but a clever investigative tool as well.”
At the same time, the game isn’t solely dependent on Max’s past. Much like real-world trauma, those events can’t be entirely avoided, and the memories still bubble to the surface. Yet both Max and the game are refreshingly self-contained. Fans will appreciate the homages, while newcomers can walk into this new tale without feeling lost.
Life Is Strange: Double Exposure will certainly play like familiar ground for series veterans, and newcomers will settle into its simple rhythm easily. The bulk of the experience is spent speaking to other characters or interacting with the world to gather clues, solving minor parts to gain perspective on the bigger scenario. Choices matter, from smaller conversation options to the major checkpoints that literally stop time to let you reflect on the situation.
In this regard, the sequel isn’t breaking a ton of new ground—but it doesn’t need to go digging, either. The new characters, setting, and mystery carry the bulk of the narrative burden easily, as the series has always done.
Instead, Max’s new power brings all the fresh mechanical spice needed. Life Is Strange: Double Exposure introduces a new ability that goes beyond the original game’s reliance on the Butterfly Effect motif—it’s also a clever investigative tool.
Safi, Max’s close friend at Caledon University and a rising literary star, is found murdered. Though Max’s ability to time travel has atrophied from disuse, preventing her from simply rewinding the deed away, she discovers a new power: the ability to “shift” into an alternate timeline. In this other branch of reality, Safi is still alive, and Max can investigate what might have led to the tragedy.
In-game, there are specific points where Max can literally part reality and slip into the alternate timeline at the same location. This lets her access areas and items that might be barred in one reality, much like how she once used her time-travel power to snag RV keys back in Arcadia Bay. Additionally, she can “pulse” to see and hear echoes from the other timeline, acting like a form of multiversal echolocation.
These elements are introduced intuitively and are immediately put to meaningful use. Pulsing, in particular, is a neat trick that expands Max’s senses in ways her time travel never could. There are a few other surprises Deck Nine has up its sleeve, but I wouldn’t want to spoil those reveals. Suffice it to say, Double Exposure has its share of “holy crap” moments.
Remarkably, it wasn’t too difficult to keep track of the differences between the timelines. There’s an on-screen marker that appears briefly when interacting with Max’s power (which can be adjusted or turned off based on player preference), and the settings change enough to keep players grounded. The “Living” world is clearly more cheerful, while the “Dead” world is marked by sombre touches like holiday decorations left down out of respect for the deceased.
“Especially compared to the thin veneer of the Arcadia Bay Collection remaster, Life Is Strange: Double Exposure wraps up all of this character and intrigue in a beautifully expressive presentation.”
But just in case, Life Is Strange: Double Exposure will test you every so often. It’s not impossible for dialogue options to set a trap, and if you ask someone about an event from the other timeline, you might have to endure the penalty of awkwardness.
This level of consideration speaks to the game’s exceptional writing. There’s a high bar for the franchise, especially for Max’s corner of it, and Double Exposure clears it comfortably.
The supporting cast is as fleshed out and memorable as the people of Arcadia Bay. Safi is exactly the kind of talented firecracker that Max would gravitate toward, as is Amanda, the bartender. Moses, Safi’s old friend, provides a much-needed counterpoint to her mercurial nature. The faculty and students of Caledon feel more three-dimensional than Blackwell Academy’s—in particular, I’d love to see what literature professor Gwen would make of Principal Wells’ methodology.
For a game like Life Is Strange: Double Exposure, nothing works if we don’t care about the cast, for better or worse. Fortunately, Deck Nine has surrounded Max with more charming outcasts and deplorable elites, making it a joy to immerse in this new setting—right down to the in-game text messages, social media interactions, and colorful journal entries.
Like its predecessors, the story is split into five episodes, which took about 13 hours to complete (compared to around 10 hours for each of the Arcadia Bay games). As veterans might expect, things only get stranger as the story unfolds. True to the series’ conventions, you can only mess with reality so much before reality starts pushing back.
That said, this is where the wheels wobble a bit. Looking back, there were a few contrivances that weighed the story down, or plot points that were glazed over too quickly—the kind of gaps that might be filled in with a second playthrough’s perspective. There were also a couple of minor graphical glitches, but nothing a patch couldn’t fix.
Ultimately, none of these issues detracted from the plot’s culmination. The final choices didn’t have the same weight as those in the original Life Is Strange, but I honestly welcomed that for multiple reasons.
Especially compared to the thin veneer of the Arcadia Bay Collection remaster, Life Is Strange: Double Exposure wraps all of its character and intrigue in a beautifully expressive presentation. By and large, the character models are stunningly realistic, complemented by nuanced expressions. Max truly feels like she has matured and evolved—not only through the writing but also thanks to Hannah Telle’s powerful performance capture.
(The shift to a more realistic look might be a contentious issue, given the change in the series’ stewardship and the deliberate visual style of the original game. However, it feels fitting; the nostalgic, painterly feel suited the Arcadia Bay games, while realism suits an adult Max well.)
Of course, there’s a healthy amount of indie music and side content to enrich the experience. The Polaroids Max finds scattered around add a wrinkle to the mystery, and attentive players can follow whole subplots through certain NPCs.
All told, Life Is Strange: Double Exposure stands strong as a sequel, a self-contained mystery, and the kind of smaller-scale AA experience that the gaming industry needs. It packs the heart and thoughtful design that mad.
