Arcadia Bay is all but a forgotten memory for some. Washed away in a brutal storm, the town that Max Caulfield, Chloe Price, and so many others called home has simply ceased to be. Now, years after those traumatic memories have finally subsided, Max is ready to pick things back up and start a new life in Life is Strange: Double Exposure.
Square-Enix invited us to take an early look at the first two chapters of Life is Strange: Double Exposure in their entirety. This will be the same Early Access that owners of the Ultimate Edition will gain access to starting on October 15th, a full two weeks ahead of the five-chapter game's full release.
Max Caulfield is certainly making a name for herself as a promising student at Caledon University, having won a number of awards and a residency through the prestigious school's art programs. Take one step into the Fine Arts Building that serves as a central hub for students and faculty to bump into each other over a quick cup of coffee and you'll see Max's photos all over the place as part of an art exhibit. This version of Max Caulfield has taken her past trauma and turned it into a form of self-expression through the photos she routinely takes. This is a Max whose time-traveling and bending days are behind her, and she's simply trying to enjoy a normal life once more.
Normal for Max Caulfield is rarely that. She hasn't quite grown out of her snarky self-talking phase, so if you were one to mute the TV while rummaging through the various knickknacks of Max's bedroom, you'll find no quarter here. Cute double entendre have instead been replaced with banter that's practically oozing with sexual tension, whether it's with the cute bartender who Max has a crush on, the administrative assistant who, by and large, feels like a grease ball no matter how much they try to humanize him and his faults, and the various other university fellows around.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure centers around her relationships with a couple of close friends primarily: an up-and-coming poet named Safi Llewelyn-Fayyad whose mother is the President of Caledon University and Moses, a young astronomer whose dreams are in the stars. Amidst a meteor shower and a quiet gathering on the school's roof, Safi breaks from the group for a short while. In this time, she is tragically gunned down and left in the snow for Max and Moses to discover. It's this pivotal moment that serves as the crux for Life is Strange: Double Exposure's narrative.
Those rewind powers that served Max so well in her first story have since atrophied and can no longer be relied upon. Instead, through perhaps a gift of the meteor shower or her own sheer determination to try and change the past, Max discovers that rather than moving to a previous time, her powers have grown to allow her to tear open a rift and travel to an alternate timeline: one where Safi is still alive.
Much of Life is Strange: Double Exposure's gameplay hinges on this dual-world mechanic. Venturing into a timeline where Safi is still alive is not quite a perfect world either, as the relationships between the various residents of Caledon University are strained in various ways. A character who might be the nurturing type in one timeline might have a fractured home life in another. In the world where Safi has passed, many of the residents have instead turned to coping mechanics such as alcohol and the downfall that slowly builds.
Early on, not much can be done with this newfound power in Life is Strange: Double Exposure. It starts initially with an ability to peer into the other world, seeing ghostly afterimages of people walking by or catching snippets of conversations on the wind. However, Max soon discovers that she can affect both timelines at once by carrying objects from one world into the other. This mechanic is largely used in the second chapters for menial items, such as keys and email printouts, but quickly grows as the demo comes to a close. While being unable to rewind loses much of its immediate potential, this world-shifting power might be the key to unraveling Safi's death in one world and preventing it in the other.
All in all, I left my time at Caledon University quite impressed with how they showed Max Caulfield's personal growth while giving players one more chance to go on a wild adventure with her. Even though Dontnod have already stepped away from the series early on, I have faith that Deck Nine and Square-Enix can do right by bringing Max Caulfield's story to an eventual close.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X, and PC beginning October 29th. Owners of the Ultimate Edition can get a two-week head start with early access to Chapters 1+2 starting October 15th, with saves and unlocked trophies/achievements carrying forward into the full release.
[Editor's Note: A PlayStation 5 copy was provided by the publisher.]
