Twin Mirror Reviews
The game plays out like your typical DONTNOD experience with environments to rummage through and a handful of dialogue choices to make — affecting the narrative and ending in the process — with a somewhat interesting use case for the Mind Palace. Sam enters a sort of alternate reality where he can piece together crime scenes to gain a better understanding. It’s neat, but nothing you haven’t seen before in past Sherlock Holmes titles. And while one more twist provides the protagonist with a physical manifestation of his sub-conscience, it’s more annoying than helpful. The same can be said of most characters in Twin Mirror, actually.
Twin Mirror is a good adventure, albeit with its flaws. Even without infusing its new IP with the same depth of character development shown in past works, DONTNOD still managed to create a well done self-contained story and enrich it with interesting additional mechanics. But despite all this, Twin Mirror's story feels like it could have used a few more hours.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Twin Mirror is a fun, pulp detective story filled with interesting plot beats and characters, hampered only by the inclusion of strange mini-games and a really boring central character.
Twin Mirror won't win any awards for creativity or interesting narrative choices, but it's strong themes that tie the entire experience together make it well worth the price of admission.
There's some small-town charm to be found in Twin Mirror, but an undercooked mystery and lack of interesting characters make the trip to Basswood a rather boring one.
Twin Mirror is the inferior Dontnod offering of 2020, and probably one of their most disappointing games yet. It is mediocre in every sense, failing to live up to the potential of its concept and the reputation of its developer.
Twin Mirror is a game with a very strong narrative component, so much so that it eclipses any mechanics or section of the game.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Twin Mirror is something of a mixed bag. Dontnod has introduced some great concepts and strong visuals, and there's certainly potential within its characters and mechanics. However, it's let down by its lack of depth, a problem exacerbated by its compacted run time and occasionally awkward dialogue. Fans of narrative adventures will still want to give this one a shot as reception to its story will certainly vary, but it's best avoided by those who already have reservations about this style of game.
Ambitious and extremely intelligent in creating a playful and narrative system that is always consistent, Twin Mirror has proved to be a fascinating title. A psychological thriller capable of telling the dark side of the American province by talking first of all about people, and what drives them to act in certain ways.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Relying on great narrative ideas, Twin Mirror turns out to be less compelling on the gameplay side, especially during the investigation sequences. The main plot is not very captivating as the real focus of the game is put on the moral dilemmas of Sam, with the Double and the Mind Palace, manifestations of its mental wanderings.
Review in French | Read full review
As DONTNOD's first self-published game, the effort that's gone into Twin Mirror's world building should be commended. Between the added gameplay elements introduced by The Double and Sam's Mind Palace, not to mention the colourful cast of characters living in Basswood, Twin Mirror had my attention from the get-go, but its short length prevents it from delivering an emotional journey comparable with anything the studio has done before.
The building tension and well-written characters make this small town mystery captivating, but it bites off more than it can chew in its rushed depiction of a man struggling with his mental health
Twin Mirror's concise narrative and innovative detective gameplay is heartfelt and earnest, though the small-scale, personal story is left open-ended.
Between the lack of marketing leading up to its release, its poor pacing, and the thin writing and investigation mechanics, Twin Mirror smacks of a game that just wasn't given enough time. With some polish on the game's earlier moments and more thoughtful dialogue, it could have stood a real chance. Unfortunately, between the stilted narrative development, cheerless puzzles, and wooden, small-town cliches, there's less here than whatever remains of Sam's journalistic career.
Whilst not a true tragedy, Twin Mirror didn’t live up to expectations in my book. The visual and auditory style of DONTNOD is fantastic, and the way it ties into the gameplay is nice. However, it doesn’t stack up to its peers both inside and outside the developer’s library. The magical realism is a bit confusing and lacking in context and the eleventh hour save doesn’t pull it above criticism. A mystery existed but there just wasn’t enough meat on that bone. I can see this game aging well for me, as I remember only the nice parts and filter out the bad stuff. But as it stands, as I write this review, there is just too much of a gap between me and unqualified praise to be able to give it a proper stamp of approval.
Twin Mirror is a shallow, dour few hours of adventure, with only a few moments that would make it worth a curious gamer's time. Every time you find yourself trying to fall under its narrative spell, one problem or another causes the whole illusion to shatter.
Twin Mirror has an intriguing premise but ultimately fails to do anything remarkable with it. While it's DONTNOD's most impressive game technically, Twin Mirror is a by-the-book thriller that only just manages to scrape through to solve its core mystery that's unfortunately lacking thrills.
If I’m being honest, Twin Mirror is DONTNOD‘s most experimental work in a long time, though it also pales in comparison to previous outings. That’s not to say it isn’t good, it’s not just great. With such a high bar to hit, coming off truly impactful games, Twin Mirror just doesn’t quite manage to hit the same calibre (The Adventures of Captain Spirit FTW). I’m also disappointed that — based on previews and promos — I believed it had a Twin Peaks vibe didn’t follow through to the full release, but I’ll largely take responsibility for that one. Those who enjoy DONTNOD‘s work will certainly enjoy this, but those getting into the genre for the first time should consider this game’s predecessors before it.
I wish I could give this a better rating than I did; Twin Mirror is definitely one of Dontnod's weaker efforts that I can remember. It is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
A narrative game that doesn't have enough time to tell the story it's trying to tell, leaving characters and plot lines feeling unfinished. Whilst it has a lot of interesting ideas and some nice mechanics, none of them feel fully realised. Twin Mirror is bursting with potential, which is why it feels so disappointing.