| Life is Strange: Double Exposure | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gameplay & Story | Release Date | Pre-Order & DLC | Review |
Max Caulfield returns in Life is Strange’s latest title, Double Exposure, where new mysteries and new powers await our beloved photographer! Read our review to see what the game does well, what it doesn’t do well, and if it’s worth getting for yourself.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure Review Overview
What is Life is Strange: Double Exposure?
Life is Strange: Double Exposure is the latest entry in the cult-hit Life is Strange series, where everyone’s favorite dorky protagonist, Max Caulfield, once again takes the protagonist's mantle a decade after her journey in the first game. We’ll follow Max, now a photography instructor for a university, grappling with another mystery in the form of her murdered friend, Safi, as she learns to control her new powers over parallel universes.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure features:
⚫︎ Max Caulfield returning to star as the main playable character
⚫︎ A continuation of the story from the original Life is Strange game
⚫︎ New powers: The ability to see through and teleport to another parallel universe
⚫︎ A murder mystery that spans across two timelines
⚫︎ A story-driven branching narrative heavily influenced by your choices throughout the game
⚫︎ An ensemble of beloved indie artists for its soundtrack, including Tessa Rose Jackson, Chloe Moriondo, and Dodie.
⚫︎ "Cat Content"
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Life is Strange: Double Exposure's gameplay and story.
| Digital Storefronts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Steam |
 PlayStation |
 Xbox |
 Switch |
| $49.99 | Coming soon | ||
Life is Strange: Double Exposure Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Retains the Charm of the First Game Immersive and Impressive Character Animations Breathtaking Visuals Soundtrack Consists of Great Artists |
Some Inconsistent Character Writing Takes A Bit To Get Your Powers |
Life is Strange: Double Exposure Overall - 82/100
Life is Strange: Double Exposure has gigantic expectations placed upon it, being the latest entry of the series with a returning beloved main character that kickstarted the entire franchise in the first place in Max Caulfield. The newest title carries with it astounding new graphics, intricately subtle and immersive character animations, and a star studded stellar soundtrack. However, its gameplay doesn’t deter much or introduce more to the well-worn formula of choice-based narrative games, and its writing has some inconsistencies within the characters established from past games that bring about some dissonance in the players’ understanding of said characters and what’s being presented. However, this hard-to-accept friction is in-line with the themes of moving forward to a future that the game wishes to instill, and could very well be setting up for the rest of the chapters. Double Exposure is still a solid entry for the series, and could objectively be the best developed LiS game, but so far from its two available chapters, although it has the makings of a great story, has yet to provide a gripping lightning-in-a-bottle mystery that the first game achieved.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure Story - 7/10
The Life is Strange series has been a primarily narrative-driven video game franchise from its inception, and so its story and writing is its main selling point. However, Double Exposure becomes unique in that it’s the first major entry with a returning main character, and therefore people have established preconceptions, beliefs, and understandings of said character and her relationships from their previous game. The newest entry does its best to properly set their backstory aside in place for the new story they wish to tell, but in turn somewhat diminishes the established past and just uses the well-known character for their new tale. Though, this could all be a long-con setup for the future unreleased chapters that will tie the themes together, as hinted from the similarities between what Max and the player is experiencing. What Double Exposure has so far in its first two chapters is well-written and a good mystery story at base, but at times the protagonist feels like they could very well have been an entirely different character and the story wouldn’t change.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure Gameplay - 7/10
Life is Strange: Double Exposure does little to innovate on the long-running ‘3rd-person interactive’ game where you control your character, roam around setpieces of areas fussing with interactables, speaking with NPCs, and making choices. This time around, with Max’s patented Rewind gone, they introduce a parallel-universe mechanic where players can go between two parallel worlds. This is their primary leeway to place puzzles, and though the concept is interesting, there’s only so much it can do besides going back and forth between places and universes to find a key interactable to progress. This isn’t to say Double Exposure is dull, and that the Life is Strange always had bad gameplay, but rather they play it safe with the latest title with no added flair.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure Visuals - 9/10
Art and visuals has always been the franchise’s strong suit, and it doesn’t seem to stop for Double Exposure. Though they have done away with the stylized painterly art style the originals had in turn of the realistic stylized graphics that started in True Colors, it seemed like a natural evolution for the series as a whole. The environments and props are well-modeled, with great lighting and angling of the camera for certain shots, making sure the artistic flair still lives on. The characters still appear stylized but with a touch of realism, with added highly-quality facial animations as well to enhance immersion. However, not every character is as polished as the main characters, where some clearly lack more time to perfect the subtleties to reach the flawlessness of the major characters. Though not particularly game breaking, their closeups sometimes impact immersion when they pop up.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure Audio - 10/10
Another staple for Life is Strange has been its moody, atmospheric indie soundtrack that has captured the hearts of many, and Double Exposure is the culmination of that indie heart that has grown over the decade. From having Syd Matters and Foals in the first game, Daughter on Before the Storm, mxmtoon on True Colors, the latest title brings forth a collection of indie superstars from Dodie, Chloe Moriondo, and Tessa Rose Jackson, where the lattermost contributes the most with writing and performing several tracks. Fret not, as the game isn’t all songs, because the voice acting still proves astounding (even without the talent of Ashley Bursch). The various sound effects are all also appropriate, with the newest "This Action Will Have Consequences" a natural evolution for the iconic chime.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure Value for Money - 8/10
Life is Strange: Double Exposure’s base game costs only $49.99 as a whole, a different denomination from the usual modern price of $69.99 for triple-A games, and a step down from the base $59.99 of its predecessor in True Colors. TC was infamous for its straightforward and shorter playtime than usual, and with the latest entry being priced lower, it’s unsure if it’s the franchise learning from their overpricing of the last game, or indicative of the new game having less content than what came before. However, as it stands for its first two chapters, there’s a hefty amount of content to go through, albeit still straightforward. Hardcore fans of the original that are curious about the whereabouts of a certain blue-haired punk girl might not see their money’s worth, but those interested in Max’s future will have plenty of adventures to go through, even with the remaining chapters yet to be released.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure Review: Framing the Perfect Shot
Life is Strange: Double Exposure has a Herculean task ahead of it–to satiate the legions of fans who have been waiting nearly a decade for the continuation of Max Caulfield’s journey in video game form(the comics have a very limited and niche audience unfortunately). Though it manages to maturely ‘explain-away’ Max’s past with justifiable reasons to focus on her present and future, some inconsistencies with her writing cause some dissonance with the characters everyone fell in love with in the first game. The title still has an abundance of heart, soul, and charm that has made it infamous in the internet, yet one can’t help but notice that even though they try to respect the characters’ history by addressing it, it immediately gets brushed into the wayside to focus on the present and the future.
However, this could be thematic and in-line with the lesson our protagonist copes with, immersing players with the frustrations and learnings of Max Caulfield into the lack of further acknowledgement of our history, and the absence of our power to rewind. As much as we wish we have the power to turn back time and keep living in the past, the game pushes us and Max in uncharted waters of meeting new people, love interests, and situations, to look forward to an unpredictable future where you can’t make certain of things with the Rewind. This is a harsh truth that needs to be taught not just to Max, but to the players.
After all that however, there still seems to be somewhat of a sense that Max Caulfield as an entity feels separate to the mystery being placed and unraveled. It sounds crazy, but at certain points, you could reason that the murder mystery can be separated entirely from Max’s development, and that in the writing process, Max was one giant puzzle piece being inserted to an already-existing bulleted list of plot points that the writers revamped to work the familiar character in. Do bear in mind that this conjecture is merely from the first two chapters, as we have yet to receive the entire story until its full release on October 29. Perhaps more will be revealed that properly intertwines Max into the secrets of Caledon, justifying her presence in the story as the only person who was needed to be here in the first place.
The Cringey Dialogue is Still Prevalent and Endearing
To speak lovingly of the game, Life is Strange has been infamous on the internet throughout its existence as "that Tumblr game with the cringey dialogue." One would think they’d try to stray away from that reputation in the series’ first direct sequel in order to shed the reputation off, but no– they lean more into the corniness, the cheesiness, and the millennial–zoomer awkward dialogue that will have most teens to adults wincing from the embarrassment. That has been my personal guilty pleasure I look forward to in the series, where not necessarily it’s not necessarily the notion of "it’s so bad it’s good" is being applied, but rather the levels of irony and superficial cheesiness’ that makes all endearing. If you were a fan, enjoyed, or at least tolerated all of that in past games, then this game goes 110%. If you disliked or hated them, then you might not have a good time here.
Max’s Characterization Feels a Bit Different
It has been a few years since we’ve all seen Max Caufield, so of course she’s bound to have grown up and changed a bit, but that’s not the issue. Her voice actress, Hannah Telle, still knocks it out of the park with her performance but some of her actual dialogue and characterization from texts and journal entries seem to be… not at all consistent with the personality we’ve known her to be from the past game. Some of her texts in social media or in her journal seem to be out of character, and sometimes even contradict her past quirks. For example, in the first game, she mentioned in some flavor text that she likes anime and a lot of geeky Japanese stuff, even touting Final Fantasy Spirits Within as one of her favorite movies (and also as a nod for Square Enix being the game’s publisher). However, in this game, there’s a throwaway line where she mentions never having ever understood anime at all. This is a minor situation, but the more of these little nuggets of information that hardcore fans clock (of which will be the majority of the player base due to Max’s inclusion), these inconsistencies all add up little by little until they start feeling unfamiliar with the person they used to know in Max.
One wish is that they manage to fully flesh out these tiny but immersive details to be consistent throughout for future chapters. Maybe have her say that her new favorite movie is Final Fantasy XV Kingsglaive for the fun of it.
Impressive Facial Expressions and Animations
One major upgrade the series has finally cultivated are more complex facial expressions and animations that serve to further immerse and deliver a wide range of emotions and tones. In the first game, there were plenty of times where Max would have her face as she voices desperation and grief, or a serious situation would be taking place and various characters will have their default emotionless faces staring blankly. Deck Nine, iterating over their technology from Before the Storm, True Colors, and now Double Exposure, they were able to reach a facial fidelity that can showcase more emotions, and it’s very palpable from how animated and whacky Safi is from the small time we spend with her in the first chapter. She seems to use every single muscle in her face to make dozens of faces, bringing the character to life alongside her voice excellent performance.
However, this level of polish seems to only be for major characters, as some side characters often appear not as well-rounded or sometimes looking more uncanny than immersive. It becomes jarring at times where you’ll see the extensively-rigged and animated main cast, to then have a close-up with a side character that obviously has yet to receive the same polish and care the others have had.
Your Powers Develop a Bit Later
One small gripe that a lot of people might notice is that you don’t really gain or get a glimpse of your powers as quickly as the other titles, which could lead to some restlessness from some fans. In LiS1, Max immediately rewinds time as she sees Chloe get shot in the bathroom; Daniel immediately wreaks havoc with his telekinesis as Sean watches on; and Alex immediately senses Steph’s anger as she comes out of the DJ booth. With Double Exposure, it seems like the bulk of the opening act is reacquainting players and setting the story up, delaying the reveal of her powers further on back. Though this could appear as it becoming as second thought to some, it goes in-line with the plot of Max not being able to use her powers anymore at all, and to provide players a brief period of time with her as a normal person. This means, however, that the puzzles concerning said powers occur later on.
The Vis-Art is Masterful as Always
One aspect almost everyone identifies with the Life is Strange series is its unique art, and it continues to shine in Double exposure even though they’ve made the jump to realism in Unreal Engine. It’s natural evolution of the series to have a bit of realism mixed in with its stylized painterly colors for its models, where majority of props are still clearly shell-shaded, and then being shone with the Unreal Engine’s more realistic lightings. Though fans will doubtless feel nostalgia for the old art style, Double Exposure is the path forward for the series' aesthetics as it still carries with it the artistic heart and soul it’s famous for.
Star-Studded Original Soundtrack and Stellar Voice Performances
Last but not at all the least, Double Exposure’s soundtrack is chock-full to the brim of indie stars that have been in one way or the other just feel like they belong in the series. English singer and songwriter Dodie Clark enters the fray with her somber song ‘Someone Was Listening’ which is the game’s main menu and pause theme, humming a constant mysterious beat in the background. Chloe Moriondo sings her heart out on ‘September’ for an energetic scene in the game, and then the heavy lifter of Tessa Rose Jackson contributed several writing, producing, and performing credits all throughout the game.
Not only did we have heavenly voices in the soundtrack, but the voice actors knocked it out of the park, with the returning cast of Hannah Telle as Max, and the quirky performance of Olivia AbiAssi as Safi being the main standouts of the cast. Intriguingly, Chloe Price, having a few lines in the game, were voiced byRhianna DeVries, the replacement voice actress back when the original voice, Ashley Bursch, wasn’t available due to a voice acting strike during its development. Bursch’s absence as Chloe’s voice is palpable from the little lines the character had, but DeVries’ performance is no slouch as she fits to become a worthy replacement.
Is Life is Strange: Double Exposure Worth It?
It’s Great, Don’t Shoot Through Rose-Colored Lenses
Although Life is Strange: Double Exposure will not heavily feature everyone’s favorite blue-haired punk, there is still an abundance of substance in the game, from its mystery-narrative, fun new characters, gorgeous sceneries and graphics, well-animated characters, great voice acting performances, and stellar soundtrack. One could reason that a big part of fans purchasing the game will be the continuation of Max Caulfield, and her story will hopefully further play a bigger, more fleshed out role in the mystery that could add layers to her complexity as a character. However, even without Max, the mystery is setting itself quite cleverly and endearingly, fitting for a main Life is Strange game that any fan of the franchise can enjoy.
Double Exposure, with or without Max, and with or without Chloe, has the makings of becoming a top Life is Strange game.
| Digital Storefronts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam |
PlayStation |
Xbox |
Switch |
| $49.99 | Coming soon | ||
Life is Strange: Double Exposure FAQ
What Timeline Does Life is Strange: Double Exposure Following? Bay or Bae?
There is a choice early on in the game’s first chapter where you yourself chooses the timeline you’re in, and the effects of that one choice heavily recontextualize your history, be with in terms of texts, journal entries, or belongings.
Is Chloe Price in Life is Strange: Double Exposure?
So far, in chapters 1 to 2 in both timelines, Chloe is not physically present in the game. She does, however, get heavily mentioned if the player chooses the timeline where Chloe lives in the original game, but has broken up with Max over how they look at their future.
Does Max Caulfield Get A New Love Interest in Life is Strange: Double Exposure?
Max gets to meet Amanda, a bartender that Safi recommended for Max to get to know and go on a date with.
What are Life is Strange: Double Exposure‘s System Requirements
| System Specs | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows 10 / 11 64-bit | Windows 10 / 11 64-bit |
| Processor | Intel Core i5-2400 / AMD FX-6300 | Intel Core i7-7700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600 |
| Memory | 12 G RAM | 12 G RAM |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960, 6GB / AMD Radeon RX 470, 4GB | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 2080 Super, 8GB / AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, 12GB |
| Direct X Version | Version 12 | Version 12 |
| Storage | 25 GB Available Space | 25 GB Available Space |
Game8 Reviews
You may also like...
Life is Strange: Double Exposure Product Information
 |
|
| Title | LIFE IS STRANGE: DOUBLE EXPOSURE |
|---|---|
| Release Date | October 15, 2024(Chapters 1&2 Early Access) October 29, 2024 (Full Game) |
| Developer | Deck Nine Games |
| Publisher | Square Enix |
| Supported Platforms | PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Steam), Switch |
| Genre | Adventure |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | Mature 17+ |
| Official Website | Life is Strange: Double Exposure Website |
