Our Verdict
Life is Strange: Double Exposure twists and distorts the well-loved series into something almost unrecognizable, playing on fans’ nostalgia to sell a half-baked story with terrible graphical performance.
Although I haven’t been a fan of the series for quite as long as some people, everyone who knows me knows that I love Life is Strange. Heck, I probably wouldn’t even have this job if it wasn’t for the various video essays I’ve worked on covering the series. Life is Strange fans have a lot to say about the series’ themes, storylines, and characters, which is why a direct sequel to the game that started it all is so divisive.
It’s safe to say that myself and many other fans were skeptical when Square Enix and Deck Nine first announced that Life is Strange: Double Exposure is a direct sequel to the original game, featuring everyone’s favorite snooping photographer and disaster gay, Max Caulfield. This isn’t the first time that we’ve returned to Arcadia Bay in the series, as Deck Nine’s Before the Storm explores Chloe and Rachel’s relationship in more detail, but the keyword is in the title – before.
Regardless of whether you choose to save Arcadia Bay or run away with Chloe in the original game, the events of Life is Strange feel final. With the exception of a few comics that give us some insight into what the two girls get up to in the immediate aftermath, Max and Chloe’s chapter has remained closed for all these years, so why are we ripping it open again now? Unfortunately, that’s a question that I found myself asking throughout the entirety of Double Exposure. This game takes place at a liberal arts university where Max has taken up an artist residency and follows the mysterious murder of her new friend Safi, a postgraduate poet and the daughter of the university’s president.
The Life is Strange: Double Exposure Switch release date arrived a while after its initial release on other platforms, so unless you’re incredibly adept at avoiding spoilers, you know about what happened to Pricefield. Even though I knew going into playing this game how Deck Nine chose to handle Max and Chloe’s relationship, I was still taken aback at how harshly the developers treated such an integral part of their main character’s past and personality. In previous Life is Strange games, you can transfer your major choices from the previous titles into your new save game to impact the story. In Double Exposure, your first major choice is to decide whether Chloe died in Arcadia Bay, or she survived and broke up with Max.
As a sapphic person, I’m so sick of lesbian couples in videogames and other media never being allowed peace. The Life is Strange comics and even Steph’s Wavelengths DLC in True Colors solidified a happy ending for Max and Chloe, albeit with an undercurrent of trauma bonding, and this one decision rips that happiness right from under us. Typically, when it comes to things like social justice and championing LGBTQ+ characters, games like Life is Strange are high points for the games industry, but the way this was handled is incredibly disappointing. Max even says to Safi, “That’s all you’re getting” when she asks about the photo of the blue-haired girl in Max’s wallet, and I felt like this line was actually Deck Nine speaking directly to the audience.
Then there’s Safi and her untimely demise. What could have been a really interesting murder mystery is once again overshadowed by Double Exposure’s insistence on reusing old characters. We spend so much time getting acquainted with this older version of Max and how her life has changed since the storm that we barely get to know Safi before she’s lying dead in the snow. Sometimes this can work, and has worked in previous Life is Strange games, but only when there’s a strong sense of connection between the deceased and the protagonist.
In True Colors, Alex barely knows her brother Gabe before he dies in the mines, but her motivation for finding his killer is clear. Sean and Daniel’s father dies incredibly early in Life is Strange 2, but again we understand why the brothers are seeking justice. Max and Safi’s relationship isn’t explored in anywhere near as much detail before her passing, so it’s hard to understand why Max is putting her detective hat back on again.
The most we learn about Safi in Chapter One is that she acts as Max’s wingman in an incredibly forced flirting scene with the Snapping Turtle’s bartender, Amanda. This happens right after we tell Safi what happened to Chloe, mind you, so as much as I love a bit of gay romance, the time and place do not feel right. This is another element of Double Exposure that I believe would work better if the protagonist was a completely new character. Life is Strange has always featured elements of the dating game genre, usually offering a male and female love interest for the protagonist. As much as I’m usually a fan of this concept, it hurts that Deck Nine felt the need to break up Pricefield purely to give Max two new love interests. If we were playing as a stranger, this wouldn’t be an issue, but Max’s painful history with Chloe makes exploring new romances feel wrong.
Then there’s the romances themselves. Amanda makes sense as a potential suitor for Max – she’s flirty, funny, and clearly cares about her. Plus, Max sees her all the time at the Snapping Turtle. I cannot say the same for Vinh. By all accounts, Max and Vihn seem like a horrible match – he’s stuck up and selfish, and he’s the president of what is essentially Caledon’s very own Vortex Club. And yet, the game kept wanting me to flirt with him. If Amanda’s flirting felt like ‘wrong place, wrong time’, any flirty interaction with Vinh feels like ‘wrong universe, wrong time’.
Let’s talk about Max’s powers. It wouldn’t be a Life is Strange game if the protagonist didn’t have some form of supernatural power, and as a returning character, we know that Max used to have time-rewind powers. Well, not in this game. You learn really early on in Double Exposure that Max hasn’t been able to rewind time in years, and she starts off the game powerless, but then quickly gains a new, different time power after Safi’s death. This change to Max’s power is yet another reason why Double Exposure’s story could have benefitted from a completely new protagonist. If she has different powers, she doesn’t need to be Max Caulfield.
Then there’s the actual execution of Max’s timeline-hopping skills. When she first starts experimenting with them, she gets a nosebleed and feels nauseous, just like in the previous game. In fact, every superpowered Life is Strange character experiences negative side effects of their gift, so much so that it’s often a core part of the narrative. But after this initial wobble, Max can hop between timelines like it’s nothing, immediately removing all sense of danger or consequences. Plus, the animation for swapping timelines makes me feel nauseous, even if it doesn’t affect Max.
This is at least partially due to the game’s abysmal performance on the Nintendo Switch. Historically, these games don’t do well on the console in docked or handheld mode, as you can see from our Life is Strange 2 Switch review and Life is Strange: True Colors Switch review, and Double Exposure is no different. I’m used to longer-than-average loading screens with Switch ports, but if you combine this with awful textures, stuttery frames, and so much clipping that you’d think this was a PS2 game, it’s a rather hellish way to experience the game.
Overall, I can’t help but feel betrayed by Life is Strange: Double Exposure. The few sections of genuinely good storytelling are left to squander in the shadow of nostalgic references, surface-level social commentary, and two worlds that ultimately feel lifeless and ingenuine. I’m usually hesitant to call something a cash grab, but when you combine all of this with the massive price tag and clumsy Final Fantasy cosmetic DLC packs, you kind of have to call a spade a spade.
Like I’ve said throughout this review – I think Double Exposure could have succeeded as the next chapter of the Life is Strange series had Deck Nine and Square Enix not insisted on dragging Max Caulfield back into the picture. Please, just let that woman rest! Some of my criticisms might not hit as hard for newer fans of the series, but I still wouldn’t recommend playing Double Exposure on the Switch. If you must experience it for yourself, try a different platform and wait for a sale. I wish I’d had a better time with this game, but sometimes you need to leave the past in the past.