I am an avid fan of the Life is Strange series. I have all of the platinum trophies in all of the PlayStation games spanning 3 console generations and the latest entry had me thoroughly enthused to finally play as someone with real powers (Sorry Alex) and a familiar face.
My 2 playthroughs (with more to come) left me bitter-sweet with my return to the snow shoes of Max Caulfield, almost a decade after the events of the game that started it, I thoroughly enjoyed my ride with Max, but a finale that could have been better done makes me wish for something better.
Story
The game puts us in the shoes of Max Caulfield. The protagonist of the original 2015 game is now back and its been almost a decade, possibly more after the events of the first game. She is now in Canada in the town of Caledon and working as a freelance artist for Caledon University. She has friends in the students and other faculty of the insitute.
Life is going good for her until one fateful night her best friend, Safi, is murdered. Unable to come to terms with her death, Max a new power, the ability to travel between parallel worlds - one where Safi is alive and one where she isn’t. Max no longer has the ability to rewind time but she does have some surprises along the way.
The ability to move between realities makes for the subtitle of this entry - Double Exposure, as the ability to move between worlds is essential to solving puzzles and progressing the story at key points.
Max is joined on her journey by a cast of memorable and interesting characters. These are names and faces I remembered when I was busy and was not able to play the game for 2 days or so, and was still able to remember their names, faces, and role in the story.
Gameplay
The game is your typical third-person adventure story. The game will have Max going from Point A to Point B unlocking further elements of the story to progress. As Max you will have to phase through both realities almost constantly to make progress.
The main gameplay loop is more than just walking too, you will also engage in some minor side-quests that can unlock you trophies/achievements, taking photos at every photo opportunity you see, and even more activities as you visit each of the repeat locations with the occassional new location to spice things up.
The game has little to no complexity, and I was briefly stuck on a puzzle because my game glitched and I had to reboot my game a couple times for it to work, but despite that, my time with the new variety of gameplay was welcome. The additional stuff to do for the purposes of a trophy were a welcome addition for me and helped increase my reason to play.
Where the previous Life is Strange games can be done and dusted in one playthrough, this game will require you to do a minimum of 3-4 playthroughs if you want to get every trophy.
Presentation
The game looks stellar on the PS5. I played the game on performance mode and still had a good time appreciating the visuals and audio of the game. The soundtrack is as memorable and offers some slow tunes similar to the first game, and the game lost the plastic look from the games prior to True Colors.
Even when you’re coming back to the same location through the episodes you can apprecaite the fine details in the environment such as the lighting, reflections, and other neat little touches the developers have made to make the same familiar place feel like its slightly different than your last visit.
Feedback
My biggest complaint would be a massive spoiler. The game does a fantastic job between Chapters 1-4 and its Chapter 5 that really drops the ball for me. Where the closing chapter has always been the best one for me (except for True Colors), this one left me feel like something better could have been done.
Albeit the ending is something that will definitely make the community discuss and speculate on the future of the series, my journey was enoyable until the end, and I am looking forward to hearing and seeing what others think of the ending.
Verdict
Life is Strange: Double Exposure is a game that uses the expression: “its not about the destination, but the journey”. With a lot more interesting cast of characters, side-activities, trophies, and incentives for multiple playthroughs, Double Exposure is a game that will make you want to stop and smell the roses. Where paths were narrow and less free in previous games, this game encourages you to explore each area to its fullest before committing to continuing the game.
There is more to be said, but this is a game that warrants multiple playthroughs with all of the content packed in it, and getting the platinum in it is absolutely the best way to get the full picture.
