Fans of the Life Is Strange series have a lot to look forward to with the latest installment, Life Is Strange: Double Exposure. This new chapter builds on the rich history of the franchise, which began with the original game in 2015. Over the years, we’ve seen the release of a prequel (Life Is Strange: Before the Storm in 2017), a sequel (Life Is Strange 2 in 2018), and the standalone Life Is Strange: True Colors in 2021. What makes Double Exposure stand out is that it’s the closest thing to a direct sequel, bringing back Max Caulfield, the beloved protagonist of the original game.

When we first met Max, she was an 18-year-old photography student at Blackwell Academy in Arcadia Bay. She discovered her extraordinary ability to rewind time, a power that ultimately forced her to make an impossible choice: save her best friend or save her town.

Fast forward ten years and Double Exposure picks up with Max working at Caledon University as the “Artist in Residence,” six months into her new role. According to the game’s official website, tragedy strikes when Max finds her friend dead in the snow. This event pushes her powers to evolve, granting her access to a parallel world where her friend is still alive but isolated. Now, Max can traverse both timelines, using her unique abilities to solve one murder and prevent another in the alternate reality.

Max Is Back – However Let’s See If That Makes Life Is Strange: Double Exposure A Better Game

So I’ll start by saying I’m a fan of these games. I have experienced all of the games and have all trophies/achievements on the original game, prequel and True Colours. I played through this game on the PlayStation 5 Pro and worked to get the Platinum Trophy so am in a good place to know a lot about this story. The fact I had the desire to get the Platinum should paint the game in a positive light. But let’s look a little deeper.

Gameplay

The game has probably always shone in this area, showing off the ability to use powers and have an instant impact on the story. We also have dialogue choices that are remembered later in the game and even to the smallest details. Sometimes, even characters not involved in the event can be part of the “this action will have consequences” type scenario.

Being able to look at your phone and view your messages and social media works well. The nice touch I found was your choices early on as well as the timeline you are in affect parts of the game. An example is what messages and conversations on the games equivalent to Instagram/Facebook are accessible in each timeline. However, playing the game for newcomers may seem confusing but it eases you in, and is very easy to slowly walk/run and check the other timeline or jump to it.

Graphics

Visually the games are always strong for the hardware of the time and don’t focus on a photo-realistic environment. Where games like Silent Hill 2 remake are using Unreal Engine 5 to make the world as real as possible, here it is a different case. The world still looks fantastic with impressive lighting at work and is following on from the hand-painted approach we saw in the original. We saw this upgraded approach in True Colours and it continues in this. There is a video discussing the art style in the original games which if you’re interested can be seen here. For this game we see an impressive art design with high-quality environmental design and character models. Sadly at times on the main menu, I have encountered a strange graphical glitch that repeated at the end of the game. Not only that I could repeat it on a second playthrough.

Audio

The most obvious thing we see is the voice acting which for all the games is a very high standard. This is no different here and the characters are believable. The sound effects are nothing special but for the majority of the game they aren’t really a key feature. The soundtrack for the game works really well and I also found it enjoyable to listen to. It complemented the mood for how Max was at that moment in time.

Story

Easily the game’s selling point, the franchises have created powerful and memorable stories. These have been backed up by the voice cast and their performances. We have a series of characters who annoyed me due to the character’s personality or those I wanted to see thrive. Some characters the attitude of the character so you ended up hoping they had a good ending to this story. The pacing was really good and the events were never predictable. In terms of writing, I would say this is the strongest story in the franchise. On top of that, I looked forward to the future of the franchise and Max.

To sum it up if you’re a fan of the previous games, I believe you’ll really enjoy this. If you’re new to the franchise you should play the original before this game. Not only that, fans of games such as the Telltale narrative games, this is a worthy addition to your collection. These are never likely to be a big award-winning blockbuster game. But don’t let that put you off, you get quality from start to finish and for me, they are extremely underrated. So Life is Strange: Double Exposure if you have played and enjoyed the series is a must-play.