izigame.me

I absolutely loved LiS 1. BtS and Captain Spirit were nice prequels that I appreciate. LiS 2 completely blew me away in every way and subsequently managed to beat LiS as my favourite game in the franchise. It was very obvious to me almost immediately that True Colours wasn't developed by Don't Nod, but overall that game is more good than bad.
Double Exposure is a downright insult to LiS 1 and the legacy Don't Nod created. (And no, I'm not a Pricefield meat rider--they're cute together but I personally believed they were better as friends, just so that's out of the way.)
I actually can't believe this game exists, it takes everything that makes a LiS game special and throws it out the window. After this joke, I never want to see another LiS game from Deck Nine ever again. I'd rather the franchise die than deal with this continued mockery.
SPOILERS AHEAD (as if this game is even worth the money or time lmfao)
The mere existence of this game alone already put a strain of Max's story. Just knowing she was coming back already damaged her character for me, no matter which LiS ending I view this from.
After what happened in LiS 1, Max should never have wanted to use her powers again, it doesn't matter if you sacrificed the bay or Chloe. Obviously she should want to avoid a repeat of that at all costs, but no, when she finds Safi's body, she's like "if I could rewind and save you, I would" like ???????? Hello???? Max???? Did you just forget EVERYTHING that happened???? It is LITERALLY the SAME situation as Chloe, so Max KNOWS what the consequences of saving Safi would be, does she want another storm????
Also Chloe "Max? I'll never leave you" Price left Max. Yeah, because that makes sense. It's not like Max sacrificed a whole town for her or anything. But they wanted to bring Max back, so we have to retcon that ending as well I guess.
Even if you ignore that fact, Double Exposure still doesn't make sense if you sacrificed the bay. Unless of course you're implying that Max would just continue to rewind time to save all her friends any time something happened to them and just let every town she did so in get destroyed by another storm before she just moved onto the next???? That's so stupid, but apparently Max just doesn't give a shit about what she KNOWS will happen if she messes with time.
This idea is pushed even further when Max just refuses to shoot Safi and they go into the storm. But apparently the storm in Caledon was a pussy because it barely did any damage in the end at all? And everyone survived? I literally don't understand this, it makes no sense and completely undermines the point of the storm in LiS 1.
Also, that whole nightmare sequence doesn't make sense. Apparently it wasn't even a nightmare, but ACTUALLY happening, even though that's not what it was in the first game. In this game, Max implied that the storm is what caused that, but that isn't accurate. The nightmare sequence in the first game was caused by her messing with time, and it wasn't actually happening. It was just that: A NIGHTMARE. In DE, it all just felt like a cheap attempt to try and imitate that scene from the first game, but this one just felt lazy and pointless. Especially since Max just suddenly gets off scot-free at the end, since the storm does fuck all and then just disappears.
After that, I didn't think it could get worse, but then we got that joke of an ending. In my opinion, one of the things True Colours lacked was ending diversity, it's all pretty much the same. This game takes it even further, player choice literally doesn't matter at all. Nothing matters, since the story always leads to one point, and it's not even an ending, it's a fucking setup for a sequel, which I was pretty much jumpscared by when the game told me "Max Caulfield will return." That's fucking terrifying, because I could see what they were trying to do by that point--what I could subtly feel the game turning into when they first revealed that Safi has powers: Some sort of fucking Avengers initiative.
D9 have completely missed the point of what a LiS game is meant to be. It isn't about the powers, it's about the PEOPLE. Ordinary people who get thrust into strange situations, with a little hint of supernatural on the side. The focus shouldn't be on the powers, it should be on the situations brought forth from said powers and how the characters navigate through that (as LiS 1 and 2 did). But no, now suddenly Max isn't the only powered-person in this game, and they plan on bringing them all together.
Only the protagonist in a LiS game should have powers. When you introduce others, it takes away the story and turns it into something else.
For the first three chapters I couldn't find a single reason beyond blatant cash grab as to why they brought Max back as the protagonist, and the last two chapters just completely destroyed LiS 1's story and the LiS universe as a whole.
On top of this, all the characters are incredibly boring and forgettable and Safi has nowhere near enough screen time given how important she is to the story. She basically does nothing for the first 3 chapters and then when she actually becomes involved, I'm suddenly supposed to care for her the same way I cared for Chloe? They also tried to make Maya Okada the new Rachel Amber, but without any of the interesting parts. They pretty much just slap her, Safi, and all the characters in your face and expect you to suddenly form some connection with them.
I joined the LiS franchise very late (played the first game last year) but apparently people have always wanted a direct sequel to LiS 1??? And everyone thought LiS 2 was terrible????? Ya'll deserve to step on lego for those opinions, because they have definitely played a part in D9 pushing out this pile of dogshit. A direct sequel to the first game could NEVER work, because there's no point. The story ended there. Don't Nod literally said they thought Max's story was complete, so bringing her back could only do harm. LiS 2 was a perfect break off from the story of the first game while still entirely capturing the magic I felt playing it. But no, apparently everyone just wanted more Max and Chloe and so LiS 2 didn't perform well enough to make Square Enix happy and then they demanded the franchise "return to its roots" or some shit. Delusional request actually. LiS 2 WAS the perfect sequel to the first game. You got insight into some of the characters 3 years after what happened (even Max and Chloe if you chose the sacrifice bay ending) without undermining their story at all or feeling forced or taking away from the new story being told. People should have been happy with that, but now it's too late and LiS 1 has been ruined. The only explanation I can think of as to why people did this, would be due to the fact that LiS 1 boils down to a choice between being selfish and doing the right thing, but apparently too many people chose to be selfish and spent years trying to justify that decision by demanding a sequel just so they can see more Pricefield no matter how much it fucked with the story.
I can only hope that DE's numbers were so abysmal that they just scrap the nightmare inducing idea of the sequel that they threatened us with. Because if not, I fear they'll just throw everything away (even more than they already have) for this stupid Avengers idea. And I'm 90% sure that would include trying to bring back Daniel and Alex, which would just fuck up the story of those games as well.
TLDR: This game is a blatant cash grab that destroys Don't Nod's legacy while simultaneously pretty much ruining any chance at another decent LiS game in the future. LiS 2 is criminally underrated and I'll never forgive everyone who shit on it and asked for a direct LiS 1 sequel because they definitely contributed to this.
But at the end of the day, it's only my opinion.