izigame.me

Life is strange indeed. And disappointing at times.
I’ll avoid heavy spoilers in this section although it's hard to do so, here goes nothing:
First, I opted for the “Bay” ending. I believe it serves as a more cohesive story conclusion for the themes this game is meant to explore. However, the fact that Deck9 chose to canonize both endings was a bold move and A CHOICE. I’ve only seen how things progress through the first two chapters with this ending, but even at that stage, I'd buy that Deck9 may not have been able to do it justice. It’s not that I couldn’t believe Max and Chloe might part ways; in fact, considering they primarily bonded over shared childhood arnd trauma, a parting of ways could become inevitable,and not necessarily antagonistic. Still, exploring the intricacies of such a tangled relationship would demand serious narrative skill, and I’m not convinced Deck9 could deliver that. But I’ll remove myself out of that discussion, as it’s the least of the issues with the game's overall narrative.
The first two chapters are brilliantly done (which is interesting to see that Enix let people play those two early, sneaky ain't it). You can freely explore the campus and shift between two timelines: the living and the dead. The living timeline exudes warmth with vibrant tones, lively upbeat music, and an overall sense of vitality. In contrast, the dead timeline is cold, distant, and carries a subtle yet oppressive weight. Although some of the artistic nuance of the original LIS gets lost here, Deck9 succeeds in crafting a strong contrast between these two realities. The puzzles are a notable improvement (tho not groundbreaking) as you snoop around and reveal information by using both timelines' versions of the characters and figure out how the levels do change, and I appreciated the slow-burn murder mystery. Sifting through characters’ lives, motivations, and secrets at that stage of the game felt genuinely engaging, and the cast seemed likable enough.
Caledon didn’t feel much larger than Blackwell (or other parts of Arcadia Bay), but the seamless exploration made it feel as a step up. I expected to experience a blend of True Colors and the original LIS—and for a while, it worked beautifully until it didn't and fell apart badly. The plot, being a LIS story, inevitably became convoluted, but it did so in the worst possible way, with little redeeming about it. The pacing, strong initially, becomes increasingly erratic, speeding up while simultaneously bogged down by questionable subplots without a resolution. Even the achievements become sparse as you progress—most of the side activities, explorable areas, and missable achievements are crammed into the first two chapters, with the third trailing off, and by Chapter 5, you’re on more a linear path. Even the ingame social media, text messages and your own journal becomes obsolete and underused. Did they rush things? Perhaps, but whatever the reason, it leaves a deeply unsatisfying experience. Compared to heavy hitting finale of LIS and Before the Storm, Double Exposure (DE) is just bland. Though Max gets to have a moment of resolve.
DE hints at something larger, which is fine, but it handles it in a shallow, Marvel-esque way, with a “Max Caulfield will return” message. In reality, though, DE is hardly a spin-off. Cool. I just wish they had realized how lacking the major antagonist is. They fall nowhere near Jefferson’s dark, 'twisted artistry' in the first LIS Instead, DE’s big reveal seems to be that some people are just deeply unpleasant cunts, a fact that requires real writing skill to make meaningful. To create an antagonist with moral high ground despite their questionable actions is no small feat, and Deck9 falls short there. I remember people criticized the first game’s ending, but it was meant to either come full circle or shatter it completely. Here, there’s no closure, and the final choice is rendered moot since it only sets up the next game—possibly along with your romance interests.
In short, DE begins as a slow-burn mystery, more mature more grounded and then descends into absolute madness, with no fullfilling payoff. The game does a disservice to both its cast and even to Max herself, arguably one of the most down-to-earth, genuinely selfless protagonists—a character the antagonist should, in theory, have provided a meaningful contrast to. Instead deepening the story, bringing out themes of the real power is the personality we get a simply poorly executed, exaggerated and arbitrarily integrated superhero wannabe mess. So they can drag it out more.

The parallels to the original LIS are present, with Rachel and Chloe mirrored by Maya and Safi. Max’s abandonment of Chloe at her lowest parallels Chloe’s eventual reconciliation with her, and I can see a similar dynamic with Safi, who bonds with Max while still haunted by her past. Safi’s self-centered, god-complex nature only surfaces when she finally asks Max to join her twisted cause at the very end and 'til that point she seems like a laidback sarcastic type of gal. She vanishes off-screen for a significant part of the playtime, and though she seems somewhat privileged, her motivations seem underexplored. Compared to Chloe, whose pain feels grounded and relatable, Safi’s motivations and actions don’t add up. Her struggles are vague and unconvincing, with little to justify her extreme behavior beyond being labeled as “pure evil.” Even the psychological damage wrought by her distant, overprotective mother—and the estrangement of her father to her by her own mother—is handled superficially. Chloe was fatherless yet anchored by her supportive mother, fair. But who did she had as a friend? Frank? On the other end, Safi, had Moses, a calm and selfless friend who was close to her even before Max. So why does Safi take this path? Instead of a profound exploration, we’re left wondering if a gunshot to Safi’s head wouldn’t have made a more fitting, sobering end to the game—a reminder that not everyone is meant to be saved. Sigh...
The case of Alderman. He seems intriguing and daring at first but then vanishes (literally). How does this work? Why do Max and Moses remember him? Will we ever get answers? Who knows? What’s clear is that without him, the game loses nothing—and that is baffling because the game gets rid of him when it doesn't need him. Then why have him, to detract people off from what?
Then there’s Amanda, one of the few sane, likable characters. She asks to take a break because of what transpired, a convenient excuse to wrap up the game. How silly.
Maya, meant to parallel Rachel, is another miss. Unlike the original, DE isn’t centered around Maya the way LIS revolved around Rachel; she’s just another side plot leading to Lucas’ exposure, trying to justify Safi’s anger.
The lack of depth in Safi’s backstory, combined with the absence of a serious tragedy, is stark. She attempts a point-blank shot at her mother, and the game barely pauses there, everyone moves on and seemingly be ok with it? A solo Safi game could have been interesting—her shape-shifting would create some sort of tension, allowing us to explore her fractured relationship with her mother while Safi would discover her manipulative nature. Then she meets Max, we get this in which there could be an option for Safi to either redeem herself or descend into the storm, showing how a seemingly modest (compared to time manipulation I mean) power can carry massive destructive potential. But instead, we get this—a story where Safi faces no real pushback from anyone and slaps back to your face in any attempt to help her.
Max was vocal at how her own powers nearly (or actually did) destroyed a town and messed up her life. Safi ain't a Magneto and she's just a dumbfuck dork who refuses to listen and thinks ''We have power, they don't so I'll work this out just fine'' and tries to scout and recruit people? To those 60% who backed up Safi. WTF?
★★½☆☆☆