Life is Strange: Double Exposure Reviews
When Life Is Strange: Double Exposure focuses on telling a personal story about trauma and regret it soars. When it focuses on being a teaser for future entries with its supernatural spectacle, it unravels. This balancing act unfortunately causes the latter to cannibalize some strengths from the former. Still, Max's characterization and emotional journey remain the prominent highlight, offering a heartfelt and bittersweet thematic throughline at how the wounds of past guilt and grief scab over time. For the game to win me over despite my initial skepticism, that's a pretty strong achievement, flaws and all.
Coming off the back of Life is Strange: True Colors, Deck Nine continues to hone its storytelling craft, and with Life is Strange: Double Exposure, the studio has proved itself a perfect custodian for original developer Don't Nod's supernatural series.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure is an excellent sophomore outing for beloved protagonist Max Caulfield. Given how sacred so many still hold the original, it was no surprise that there was some skepticism out there there over whether Deck Nine would be able to deliver a sequel that doesn’t just feel like a cheap, nostalgia-baiting cashgrab, but that is very much not the case. Double Exposure earns and justifies its existence from second one, and tells a gripping tale that will keep you hooked until the credits have rolled.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure is a huge fumble for an otherwise fantastic series. What began with a promising opener only really leads to a great big pile of disappointment and heartbreak. It's filled with visual and audio bugs and a mystery that turns baffling and misdirecting in abominable ways while also being downright disrespectful to its lore, canon and cast. It is a painful thing to watch my favourite franchise destroyed in front of my very own eyes. Worst of all, the game teases that follow-up ventures are only going to follow suit even more. Not even the adorable Max Caulfield and her sapphic ventures could save me from having a good time in the snowy, miserable Midwest. Like many media you can point to today; just because you can bring something back, doesn't mean you should. Like our superpowered best friend in her endless searches across timelines, I'm left wondering where the hell it all went wrong.
Deck Nine's delivered their best Life is Strange game to date with Double Exposure. Barring some bugs and narrative nitpicks, Life is Strange: Double Exposure is a great continuation of Max Caulfield's story, taking the series in an interesting direction while ensuring the bones of what makes the series so memorable remains intact.
Life Is Strange: Double Exposure is a must play for any long-time fans, but it’s unlikely to interest those who haven’t enjoyed the previous entries in the series.
Despite some issues (technical and gameplay-wise) Double Exposure is a very good story-driven adventure game that does justice to Max’s story. Unfortunately it looks kind of weak when compared to its great predecessor.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Life Is Strange: Double Exposure passes the torch back to Max Caulfield in a worthy new mystery that fans and newcomers alike should investigate.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure starts as a compelling mystery and grows into a poignant story about social bonds and trauma, but its awful ending weakens the series' identity, casting doubt on Deck Nine's choices.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Despite excellent facial animations and wonderful music, Double Exposure has pacing issues, unlikable characters, dire gameplay, tonal problems, and is an incomplete imitation of the perfect storm.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure might not have the same emotional impact as the original title, but it's still a worthwhile journey you shouldn't pass up on.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure is the return of an excellent protagonist to a franchise still capable of stirring up great emotions. Although the story addresses important themes through a development that may seem confusing and controversial at times, the end result points to something bigger for the future of the series.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Life is Strange: Double Exposure fails to achieve the emotional impact that the series delivered, especially in the first title. With a narrative that paves the way for future games more than it closes narrative arcs, the title feels incomplete.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Another solid entry in the series, Life is Strange: Double Exposure brings back a fan-favorite for a time-bending adventure that mostly delivers on the human side of things, too. It’s a welcome addition and a great excuse to play as Max again.
After more than 8 hours and the 5 chapters behind me, with a relatively satisfying and interesting ending, it is clear that the story is well put together. It becomes a bit more 'mystical' and 'woolly' from chapter 4 and then you also fly to the end, but in the end I could look back on my experience with reasonable satisfaction. It is a pity that the locations are so much of the same and that the conversations sometimes have to be digested very slowly. The main character, Max, also comes across as a bit boring and too sweet and could have had a bit more experience. Her soft voice is therefore not convincing enough. The extra clothing that you can apply to your character also feels very unnecessary, just like the social media and messages that you can follow on your mobile. Life is Strange: Double Exposure is however a fine game if you like an entertaining story and do not have too high expectations in terms of gameplay.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Life is Strange: Double Exposure certainly pleased me, though. Returning to the series’ original star and following up on a choice that fans have spent a decade debating was always going to be a challenge. Still, by focusing on the genuine emotions such a choice would leave behind, the team at Deck Nine has created a story that hit me like a ton of bricks. This may be the best Life is Strange yet and sits comfortably among the best games of 2024.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure starts off with a strange story, which quickly turns into a perplexing one and ends up being slightly bizarre and worrying. If you wanted to continue Max's story from the original Life is Strange, this should satisfy that desire. The original game is referenced quite heavily throughout, so if you haven't played the original Life is Strange, I recommend you do so before playing Double Exposure to get a full grasp of everything mentioned. If you don't fancy playing the first game, then Double Exposure does explain some of the events that take place so you can get by. You just might not fully appreciate everything mentioned. The gameplay is pretty middling. There's nothing particularly interesting going on here, and Max's powers of going between timelines, while novel, are on the basic side, and you use them for the same thing over and over again. The story more than makes up for this, though, and as the game progresses, it takes over more and more from the gameplay. As for Steam Deck performance, it isn't quite as performant as I'd like. You will have to accept some frame rate drops from 30 FPS to make the game look "OK," but I played the entire game through on my Steam Deck, so while I would recommend you use a more powerful device to play this if you have one available, don't hold off on buying Life is Strange: Double Exposure if all you have to it play on is a Steam Deck.
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Review in German | Read full review
Life is Strange: Double Exposure isn’t as nearly as charming as Max Caulfield’s first adventure, nor is it as well-written as Deck Nine’s prior game, True Colors. Instead, it’s in an awkward middle ground of being a charming yet ultimately disappointing experience.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure offers not only a wonderful opportunity to follow Max's story as an adult but also hints at a broader expansion of the universe. However, it’s uncertain if this will align with what fans have been hoping for. Like a double-exposed photograph, excitement and apprehension intertwine.
Review in Korean | Read full review