Life Is Strange: Double Exposure preview - A heart-warming homecoming full of intrigue

Life Is Strange, as a series, has introduced us to a number of memorable characters over the years, each with their own unique experiences that have tugged on our heartstrings. Fair to say though, perhaps none stand out more so than Max Caulfield.

It is with Max’s tale that Life Is Strange began. It’s Max who drew us into the world of Arcadia Bay and all of its triumphs and pitfalls. We sympathised with Max, feared for her, laughed with her, and perhaps depending on the choices you made, even mourned with her. For me personally, it’s important that narrative games include a well-rounded character. Without somebody I can invest in, I can’t emotionally attach myself to the story.

With Life Is Strange, that was never an issue. I felt a kinship with Max. Her story may be a little heightened in places compared to our own lives - I’m thinking of Mr Jefferson - but so too does it touch on so many universal themes and experiences. It’s with Max that this acclaimed franchise began, and that is why I am so glad that almost a decade later, we’re reuniting with the one who started it all.

Take a look at Life Is Strange: Double Exposure in action below.

Life Is Strange: Double Exposure is shaping up to be the experience that many of us have been waiting for for a very long time. It’s a heart-warming homecoming that feels oh so very familiar and yet wholly new. Here, we’re introduced to an older Max Caulfield, now a photographer-in-residence at Caledon University.

Unfortunately, life is still a tad, well, strange for Max. In the beginning of the story, Max’s friend Safi is found dead in the snow on campus. In her grief, Max tears open a pathway to a parallel timeline in which Safi is alive and yet, still in danger. Players will shift between the two timelines, attempting to both solve Safi’s murder and prevent it from happening at the same time.

I had the opportunity to go hands-on with the game for around 30 minutes, experiencing a segment of Double Exposure’s second chapter in which Moses, a friend of Max’s and the partner of Safi, finds himself to be the focus of the police’s investigation. In the segment, I, as Max, had to jump between the two timeline’s to sneak into Moses’ office to find and remove a camera before the police detective was able to find it himself.

Let me tell you, those 30 minutes flew by. Sitting down to play Double Exposure, it was like no time had passed at all. Controlling Max felt familiar and right. Her powers may be different in this new instalment, yet the same kind of line of thinking is required. You have to have your puzzle-solving head on. As I mentioned, Life Is Strange: Double Exposure will see Max jump between two timelines, but you can’t simply do this whenever and wherever. You have to find a rift, indicated by either orange or blue sparkles shimmering in a specific spot, the colour indicating which timeline you’d be rifting to.

Square Enix

At the beginning of the chapter, I sat outside Moses’ office alongside Moses himself as the police detective demanded entry. It quickly became apparent that I’d have to sneak off to find a way in first. I’m hesitant to reveal too much, as I don’t want to spoil the experience for future players so I’ll keep things vague.

What I will say is that there are a number of ways in which the timeline-hopping mechanic can be useful. In one timeline, a path may be blocked prompting you to move to the other timeline to reach a certain location. In this specific chapter, I could only talk to Moses in the alternative timeline where Safi was alive and well, seeing as in the normal timeline, he was preoccupied being questioned by the detective. Of course, given that the ‘free’ Moses had lived a different set of experiences, I had to alter my questioning to reflect why I might be after his camera.

In another instance, I was able to grab an object from one timeline to use as a distraction in the other. I can only presume that the rest of the game will prompt a whole other array of reasons as to why the reality-hopping mechanic will be utilised. As an added tidbit, the segment also included a stealthy-sneaking section which also harkened back to Max and Chloe’s sneaking in the first game.

Square Enix

The puzzle-solving had, in my opinion, the perfect level of difficulty. I’d have to search and survey my surroundings before it became clear as to what I had to do but once I had done so, I instantly knew the path forward. That’s what you want. Some time for pondering before you reach a solution. In one instance where I perhaps did take longer to reach the location or object needed, Max was able to offer a helpful thought so you needn’t worry about getting ‘stuck’ at any time.

As for how I feel about the story, well, I’m very intrigued. From what I’ve played, I know very little about Safi’s death, only that it was paramount that I retrieve Moses’ camera before the police could. By the end of the demo, I was faced with my first big story choice. You know the kind. The “This action will have consequences” type. It was thrilling because while I felt I made the moral and clever choice, I have absolutely no idea whether this will be my pitfall further down the line. Just like life itself, the unpredictability of Life Is Strange is one of its greatest assets. You make the best choices you can, just as you do in real life but that doesn’t always guarantee a happy ever after.

Life Is Strange: Double Exposure is, so far, everything I hoped it would be. Deck Nine have crafted an intriguing mystery supported by a new gameplay mechanic in the form of Max’s powers that I cannot wait to experience more of. The familiarity of playing as Max is a joy and yet, this isn’t the melodramatic teenager we met in 2015. This is an oldened, wisened individual. With that brings a sense of both change and kinship. She’s grown up just like us.

Caledon University, from what I’ve seen, is visually arresting and I look forward to exploring more. Life Is Strange: Double Exposure centres around the idea of time which is funny because I lost all sense of it whilst I was playing. This could be the most exciting instalment in the franchise to date.

Life Is Strange: Double Exposure is set to launch on 29 October on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Windows Store and Steam.