Paranormal powers and photography abound with the return of Max Caulfield. See if it’s worth your time in our Life is Strange: Double Exposure review!

One series that has kept my attention for almost a decade is Square Enix’s Life is Strange. Growing up on the Telltale greats like The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us, I was thrilled to see the adventure genre get a grounded take in reality. DONTNOD did a stellar job with the IP’s first title in 2015, to the point where I was playing each of the five episodes the day they released in binge worthy fashion as Max Caulfield chose Arcadia Bay or her bae.

Max is back, much to the delight of those entrenched in the vast lore of the LiS universe.

After the original Life is Strange, there was a stellar sequel, but only a fleeting moment included the previous game’s protagonist. With Life is Strange: Double Exposure, Max comes back to the forefront, and from the get-go, you can insert your final choice from the first game to finally see the ill-effects of your big decision. How does Max’s future pan out, and is it worth stepping into her shoes again? Find out in our Life is Strange: Double Exposure Review!

Life is Strange: Double Exposure Review – Story

The big hook for the Life is Strange series are the tall tales they tell of young adults coming into their own with bewildering powers. Whether it’s Max’s control of time, Alex’s hold on emotions, or Daniel’s telekinesis, it’s a novelty to weave the paranormal into coming-of-age capers. Always with a pulse on modern issues and making every character fleshed-out, this title retains the high quality of its predecessors and even exceeds it at points.

More than just a pile of pixels, this character’s charm influenced several of my decisions.

As Max serves as Artist-in-Residence at Caledon University in Vermont, her photography aspirations have been fully-realized in Life is Strange: Double Exposure. Still humble, Max has truly come out of her shell from her timid nature in Arcadia Bay, and is fast friends with several members of faculty and grad students alike. For Max to land here and do what is essentially a dream job after her nightmare in Life is Strange, is a heart-warming sight to see as she takes charge with confidence.

Max landing in picturesque Vermont is a natural habitat for the prized photographer.

There’s simply too much that goes on within Life is Strange: Double Exposure to talk about without spoiling its huge story beats. What I can say is that before the supposed climax in its final chapter, there’s a handful of larger-than-life moments that had me saying “what the ….” and “holy ….” out loud. I can’t remember the last time a plot twist or cliffhanger in video gaming made me do that.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure Review – Gameplay

Anyone familiar with modern adventure gaming will easily comprehend how to handle Life is Strange: Double Exposure. At any given point, you’re thrust into a large room/area and can investigate/examine all the fine details before you progress into a task or conversation with an NPC. There’s no shortage of things to tinker with or interact with and these intricacies reward the player with more worldbuilding, background on characters, etc.

You’ll be drawn to check every nook and cranny in a Life is Strange game.

Max hasn’t used her rewind power since high school, but after a chance event, she now has the ability to teleport into a parallel timeline. These shifts are done in specific areas and don’t create a load screen; they’re instantaneous. This mechanic is a real memory test as the same characters you interact with in each timeline have gone through different events, may be in different moods, or will think differently of Max.

Max’s new power is the ability to shift between parallel timelines, at will, in seconds.

With this new power comes some necessary puzzle-solving in Life is Strange: Double Exposure. You’ll be flipping from one timeline to the other to influence objects, learn information otherwise impossible, and even peeking into the other timeline to hear conversations. The puzzles are typically straightforward and the game tends to spell out the answers for you a la God of War: Ragnarok, but so long as the strong story isn’t halted, I’m not complaining.

Oh no, Life is Strange. I’m not falling for that one again.

As for every Life is Strange game, choices do matter, and that is no different here. While there was a few times I knew exactly what I wanted to do, there were certainly some headscratchers thrown at me that left me mulling over the repercussions. There is also some situations where either way, you’re going to hurt someone, but sometimes a tough short-term decision can be a massive difference-maker as far-bearing as the final chapter.

Utilizing a social media site means you can dig into every character’s thoughts frequently throughout the game.

In just about every new area, you’ll get an update that a character in the game has posted on social media site Crosstalk, as well as some text messages for even more background. These get shown to you in an almost bombarding rate, but are worth taking a quick break from the action to check out as they provide more of the psyche of everyone and can help you predict their mannerisms better.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure Review – Performance/Graphics

One thing Life is Strange has been from the very start is downright gorgeous. From capturing the Pacific Northwest, to Colorado, we now observe Vermont in its secluded, idyllic glory. Listing a requirement for an RTX 2080 Super for 1080p/60fps gameplay, you can expect graphics to positively dazzle the screen should your rig be up to the task.

A feast for the eyes, Life is Strange nails it again with landscaping and serene environments.

Playing just fine at 1440p with modest specs, though, Life is Strange: Double Exposure should be a cinch to run on any machine from the past few years. It’s amazing that switching timelines means no load screens, and the few load screens that are present are only a few seconds in length. Aside from some funny visual bugs, the game handles great and is a real looker, and should prove the same experience on consoles.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure Review – Audio

Tapping into a “I knew that band before you did” soundtrack of licensed indie music, each time Max takes a second to herself is met with divine, soothing immersion. Seeing Hannah Telle return to voice Max in an impassioned performance, alongside a voice cast that’s believable from start to finish, makes each tug of the heartstrings that much stronger.

One quirk I noticed is that NPC conversations while walking are of mono audio, meaning the characters speaking can be on the left side of the screen, but you’ll hear them in both ears at the same audio level. Other than that and some passerby voices sounding especially fake, there’s nothing else to nit-pick.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure Review – What Else?

Unfortunately, the dialogue of Life is Strange: Double Exposure is as rough as it was 10 years ago when Max was a high school cringelord. Max just has to make some joke in her mind with every inanimate object she comes across, most of the time more painful than anything a dad joke could muster. If you’re able to look past this flaw and see that there’s an outstanding story in its backbone, you’ll end up enjoying the game.

Don’t give Max the mic – this jokester should keep her day job by all means necessary.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure Review – Conclusion

I didn’t expect Life is Strange: Double Exposure to be a home run; following up a split-decision story was bound to upset the fanbase someway or another. I don’t know how, but Deck Nine Games managed to adopt the groundwork DONTNOD laid out and emulated the first game’s presentation, characterization, and storytelling to a T in a true case of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

This isn’t a Chloe and Max story but it doesn’t need to be when Caledon U and its inhabitants are this well done.

Those that are hung up on the original Life is Strange deserve to be initially frustrated with minimal focus on its characters. However, as the world builds its setting so concisely and introduces more complex/captivating characters than its source material, it proves to be a Max Caulfield follow-up that she’s deserved for nearly a decade. Life is Strange: Double Exposure continues the series’ trend of tough decisions, tearful sacrifices, and unforgettable experiences.

So, why should you play Life is Strange: Double Exposure?

• A thrill-ride tale that will through you for a loop more times than you can count.
• Characters so well-developed that you actually care about them and agonize your decisions over.
• A return-to-form for Max Caulfield in a sequel that captures her perfectly.

But why shouldn’t you play Life is Strange: Double Exposure?

• Even with a similar plot, it doesn’t integrate as much of the original game as some fans would hope.
• If you can’t stomach iffy dialogue, you’re gonna have a bad time.
• With a story this involved, a few elements are rushed/left to the wayside.

A review code was kindly provided by Square Enix for the purpose of our Life is Strange: Double Exposure Review.  You can check out our other reviews here and if you haven’t already, be sure to join the Qualbert Discord to find out about the latest game and review updates!