Life Is Strange: Double Exposure Preview

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Life is Strange has never been about Max and Chloe for me. I like the first game, but my single favorite episode from the series is "Roads," the first chapter of the Diaz brothers' traumatic road trip across 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Life is Strange 2's America. For me, t🌸he series has always been more about Don't Nod and then Deck Nine's modernized approach to adventure game storytelling, complete with third-person exploration and cinematics, all mixed with earnest characters, progressive politics, and a dollop of supernatural powers. Max and Chloe introduced players to a great anthology series, but Life is Strange was better for growing beyond them.

The Welcome Return Of Max Caulfield

I didn't need to see Max Caulfield again, which has made her return in Double Exposure an unexpected delight. Hanna Telle, who pla⛎yed Max in the original game, is back as an older, more mature version of the character. But, the combination of indie kid nerdiness and raw vulnerability that made Max an endearing character is still there in her wonderful performance. When we meet back up with Max, she's in her late twenties, serving as the artist-in-residence at the perpetually snow-covered Caledon University. This gig saved her from "freelance hell," and the sizable house she returns to at quiet moments throughout the game seems to be a major perk of the job.

Life Is Strange Double Exposure Max with overlapping photos

Max Caulfield’ဣs Retur♌n To Life Is Strange Is Just What We Need

I'm excited to reunite with the Arcadia Bay alum.

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As Double Exposure begins, Max's time control powers have been AWOL since high school. You get to determine what, exactly, high school looked like for her. Did she lose Chloe or sacrifice everyone else in Arcadia Bay? Were Max and Chloe best friends, or something more? Why did Chloe and Max's relationship come to an end? You have a lot of freedom to choose w🎀ho Max is to you, including filling in the 💟details of what her life looked like between games.

If you've played a Life is Strange game before (or one of Don't Nod's Life is Strange-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off titles like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tell Me Why or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Twin Mirror) the basic gameplay here will be familiar. As Max, you walk around various environments, studying your surroundings with the option to inspect or interact with the pe💝ople and things you come across — complete with Max's internal monologue on everything she sees. I've always enjoyed this; the main thing that set LiS apart from early Telltale games was how much better LiS was at environmental storytelling. Double Exposure is no exception and there are plenty of tidbits about Max's relationship with Chloe that you can discover by snooping around her house or scrolling through her🐬 phone.

Life Is Strange: Double Exposure Expands Branching Choices Across Two Timelines

Early on, we meet Max's two friends at Caledon, Safi and Moses. Safi accompanies Max, who — as the game's title suggests — is still practicing photography, on an urban excursion into an abandoned bowling alley. As we explore the lanes littered with rubble, Max snaps photos and the two friends make quips to each other. These are supposed to suggest an easygoing friendship, but Safi is, unfortunately, the game's corniest character. The role is well performed by Olivia AbiAssi, but Safi is written as the funny friend (albeit, one with dark secrets) and most of her dialogue comes off a little tryhard. Moses is easier to like. A grad student scientist,♒ he invites Safi and Max to come observe the sky with him as he waits for meteors in the game's opening episode. He's a soft spoken Black nerd, and doesn't feel like he's trying to impress anyone. Actor Blu Allen gives the most understated performance of the game's main trio, and it's a good register for the series to play in.

Soon after we meet the trio, Safi's traumatic death causes the return of Max's time control powers. Except, this time, she doesn't have the ability to rewind time. Instead, she can jump between timelines, hopping from one where the tragedy occurred and one where it didn't. But, as the two chapters progress, we see that other Caledon residents are caught up in the diverging timelines, too. At the end of the second episode, this is the plot thread I'm most eager to see Deck Nine explore further. As it stands, there have been some tantalizing glimpses (including a major twist that ends the preview section), but it's still unclear what exactly is going on.

Screenshots From Around Caledon University In Life Is Strange: Double Exposure

The marquee mechanic this time is Max's ability to shift between these timelines at will. She can't do it everywhere — you need to listen for a buzzing noise and watch for glowing particles in the air — but there are no limitations beyond that. You can hop back and forth as often as you want. The game uses this for some cool puzzles. As part of the power's tutorial, in order to inspect the place where a hanging object has mysteriously gone missing from a wall, you need to go to the other timeline and retrieve a stepladder, then bring it back. You can "pulse" ♐to get a quick glimpse of what's happening in the other world, too. These puzzles feel like Titanfall 2's 'Effect and Cause' level, but with lower stakes and without the need for twitch reflexes. In the first two chapters, the game never gets especially difficult, but I'll always be down for playing around with timelines.

Life Is Strange: Double Exposure Builds On What The Series Does Well

This is the best-looking game in the series by a pret🉐ty wide margin too. Though I had occasional pop-in and textural weirdness, when the game is running right, it looks like the apotheosis of the art style Don't Nod pioneered with the first two games. The characters are still slightly stylized, but with gestures and facial expressions that feel incredibly believable and well-observed. I don't love Safi as a character so far, but Deck Nine's mocap work brings every nuance of AbiAssi's performance to life.

At this point, Deck Nine has made more full-lengthꩵ Life is Strange games than original dev༺elopr, Don't Nod.

I mentioned the series' penchant for progressive politics, and that continues here. Moses comes into contact with the police in the second episode, and those interactions are suffused with Deck Nine's understanding of how a Black man 𓆏in America would likely be treated by cops. Moses is as soft-spoken and rule-abiding as they come, but that doesn't mean he hasn't unfairly been suspected of wrongdoing all his life. Caledon is populated with marginalized characters, and its handling of its queer and trans characters is especially deft. Deck Nine treats sexuality and gender as everyday parts of life.

Previewing Life is Strange: Double Exposure necessarily means talking around some things. The twists that Deck Nine rings from the two timeline conceit shouldn't be spoiled. Though there are weaknesses here, most n✤otably some dialogue ringing false, the second chapter ends on such a strong note that I can't wait to get my hands on the full game at the end of the month. If only I could swap to the timeline where it's a💮lready out.