For some, Arcadia Bay is anything but a forgotten memory. Washed away by a brutal storm, the city that Max Caulfield, Chloe Price and so many others called home has simply ceased to exist. Now, years after those traumatic memories finally fade away, Max is ready to pick up the thread and start a new life in Life is Strange: Double Exposure.
Square-Enix invited us to take a look at the first two chapters of Life is Strange: Double Exposure in their entirety. This will be the same Early Access that Ultimate Edition owners will get access to starting October 15, two full weeks before the full five-chapter release of the game.
Max Caulfield is certainly making a name for herself as a promising student at Caledon University, having won a number of awards and a residency through the prestigious school’s arts programs. Take one step inside the Fine Arts Building, which serves as a central hub where students and faculty meet over a quick cup of coffee, and you’ll see Max’s photos everywhere as part of an art exhibit. This version of Max Caulfield has channeled her past trauma into a form of self-expression through the photographs she routinely takes. This is a Max whose time travel and bending days are behind her, and she’s just trying to enjoy a normal life again.
That’s rarely normal for Max Caulfield. She hasn’t quite grown out of her snarky self-talk phase yet, so if you were one to turn off the TV while rummaging through the various trinkets of Max’s bedroom, you won’t find any quarter here. Cute double entendres have instead been replaced by banter that’s practically oozing with sexual tension, whether it’s the cute bartender Max has a crush on, the administrative assistant who generally feels like a greaseball no matter how hard they try. him and his faults humanly, and the various other college students nearby.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure mainly revolves around her relationships with a few close friends: an emerging poet named Safi Llewelyn-Fayyad whose mother is the president of Caledon University and Moses, a young astronomer whose dreams are in the stars. . Amid a meteor shower and a quiet meeting on the school roof, Safi breaks away from the group for a moment. During this time, she is tragically shot and left in the snow for Max and Moses to discover. It is this pivotal moment that serves as the crux for the story of Life is Strange: Double Exposure.
The rewind powers that served Max so well in her first story have since withered away and can no longer be relied upon. Instead, perhaps through a gift from the meteor shower or her own determination to try to change the past, Max discovers that instead of moving to a previous time, her powers have grown to allow her to open a rift to tear and travel to an alternative. timeline: one in which Safi is still alive.
A big part of Life is Strange: Double Exposure’s gameplay hinges on this dual-world mechanic. It’s also not exactly a perfect world to be in a timeline where Safi is still alive, as relationships between the various residents of Caledon University are strained in various ways. A character who is the nurturing type in one timeline may have a broken home life in another. In the world where Safi has died, many residents have instead turned to dealing with mechanisms like alcohol and the doom that slowly builds up.
At first, there isn’t much that can be done with this new power in Life is Strange: Double Exposure. It initially starts with the ability to see into the other world, to see ghostly afterimages of people walking by or to catch fragments of conversations in the wind. However, Max soon discovers that she can influence both timelines at once by carrying objects from one world to the other. This mechanic is largely used in the second chapters for minor items like keys and email printouts, but grows quickly as the demo comes to a close. While not being able to rewind loses much of its immediate potential, this world-changing power could be the key to unraveling Safi’s death in one world and preventing it in the other.
All in all, during my time at Caledon University, I was quite impressed with the way they showed Max Caulfield’s personal growth while giving players another chance to go on a wild adventure with her. Even though Dontnod left the series early, I have faith that Deck Nine and Square-Enix can do the right thing by finally bringing Max Caulfield’s story to a conclusion.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure will be available on October 29 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X and PC. Ultimate Edition owners can get a two-week head start with early access to Chapters 1+2 starting October 15, with saves and unlocked trophies/achievements carrying over to the full release.
[Editor’s Note: A PlayStation 5 copy was provided by the publisher.]
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