izigame.me

SPOILER ALERT FOR DOUBLE EXPOSURE (AND SOME MINOR ONES FOR LIS 1 AND 2)

I really wanted to like this game but here is my honest review as a fan of Life is Strange since 2015.
- trying to do LiS 1 plot with the storm and stuff but failed
- flashbacks to LiS 1 just for the impact (because there is no emotional impact in Double Exposure), as if trying to profit on your emotional entanglement for the first game and it's not even their game
- almost everyone is either boring or unimportant (e.g. Loretta had like 2 scenes and for what, Alderman disappeared as quickly as he appeared and even that wasn't explained) or both, also Deck Nine reduced their characters to like 2 traits and they can be described in one sentence, in short Deck Nine is labelling their characters, for example Moses is the "physicist" and that's basically his whole character and the story revolves around this, so let's say we need to damage a projector but only in a way a certain someone can repair it, then you have the aha moment of realizing Moses is a sort of mechanic so you go to him, another example is Amanda, she is reduced to just a dating option, or rather the popular lesbian everyone wants, no depth no anything
- Avengers assemble type shi (more and more characters suddenly had powers and Safi started to collect the people like pokemons??), in Life is Strange the power was never a main focus, or rather not the driving point , in LiS 1 the story is about finding Rachel Amber and eventually trying to stop a tornado (yes that's linked to the power but more of an after effect) while Max and Chloe is reuniting, catching up and also the thing with Kate and so much more, in LiS 2 it's about two brothers trying to escape to Mexico after a tragic incident, meeting Brody, Chris, the grandparents, the mom... and deciding on your morality and shaping your brotherhood with Daniel and ultimately deciding on the border, so Daniel's telekinesis power is not the main focus either, it's more like something to hide or we will get in trouble etc.
- obviously a cash grab, the price is diabolical for just the standard edition so no I am not paying twice as much for two scenes of a random cat and an ugly costume, like no I in fact don't want to look like a zombie or cosplay as my ex gf (tbh even the normal outfits were really weird, especially the color combinations were horrible)
- terrible romances, Life is Strange is not a dating simulator and I have to flirt with 2 obvious candidates, just because you could kiss Chloe and Warren in LiS 1 and kiss Cassidy and Finn in LiS 2 doesn't mean it's a major thing, but here it felt forced even though I don't care at all, not to mention both of them are not very likeable), it also had nothing to do with the plot, just some randoms I rizz and vice versa with cringe dialogue options
- Chloe was very mischaracterized, even Deck Nine fleshed out her character in Before the Storm just to make them break up off screen and change the LiS 2 Max and Chloe picture (they make it look terrible and just for it to fit into their narrative ), imo the reason for the break up is so that Max could have romance with characters in this game, which Deck Nine made a big deal in DE
- the whole story was basically about superpowers , DON'T NOD said they want to create everyday relatable characters going through struggles but a little bit of a supernatural twist, however here it was all about powers, powers and powers
- Max is neurodivergent , while speaking in LiS 1 she constantly puts her hand on her neck, sometimes she's blunt and she doesn't realize that etc. but in DE she is a boomer cracking dad jokes and then awkwardly laughing about it, all these scenes are incredibly cringe and I wanted to die every time I was forced to listen to that
- not to mention that the whole Pricefield break up makes no sense , in the original game Chloe immediately accepts Max back after 5 years of Max ghosting Chloe and even if you play anti-Chloe (choosing everything against her - blaming Chloe, siding with David etc.) she never leaves Max, throughout the game Chloe is always repeating how they will last together forever , so all in all it's just terrible writing, Chloe would NOT in fact leave Max a half baked letter and start flirting with Victoria out of all people
- the diary was terrible, the emo moment of Max writing "She left me" and scribbling all around it and on another page there is Max in anime style with both Amanda and Vinh each kissing her on cheeks while Max has hearts in her eyes is atrocious , also not only is Max a photograph but also an artist? don't get me wrong I actually liked some parts of it but it didn't give me the same feeling like in LiS 1 and 2, even BTS
- collectibles were super random and then the snapshot thing where Max can just take a photo of people or things and randomly posting it on some kind of Instagram for everyone to see? even places where she shouldn't have been I think (plot holes..), here it felt like a drag, whereas in LiS 1 and 2 I loved it and even went back as to collect them for achievements
- the game did not respect both endings of LiS 1 and ruined multiple characters
- choices did not matter AT ALL and almost every choice was like if I sat on a bench or not, literally irrelevant and some were about LiS 1 (if you sacrificed Chloe or Arcadia Bay, like it shouldn't have been a major choice was the chapter, they could just ask me before I started the game like in LiS 2), all in all it leads to the same "ending" and it wasn't satisfying, I was really confused and the whole Marvel thing was super cringe, the cherry on top was a text at the end "MAX CAULFIELD WILL RETURN", please no Deck Nine, stop ruining games and characters that don't belong to you just because you are hungry for money and want to milk fans of the series
edit: I forgot to mention, Double Exposure basically takes the meaning of the first game and throws it out of a window. Max either had let a whole city got wiped but a storm created from usage of her powers or goes into the past to the moment she first used them in order not to let the storm form at all and letting her best friend Chloe get shot. But she happily used her new powers without a second thought? Again, this is Deck Nine's inability to write complex stories.
I had bought Double Exposure as a lifelong fan of the series and I expected an okay game but it was even worse than I thought. There are many more things that I could point out, but I'm running out of space so I'll just conclude with what I didn't like the most - mischaracterization (of the LiS 1 cast), story was SUPER weak, plot holes, random and unexplained events, choices didn't matter at all, boring characters, felt like a dating simulator, switching between rizzing someone and suddenly dramatic scenes that made me laugh at how stupid they were, no emotional impact (that I had with the first and second game - I'm still not over them), marketed as a murder mystery but it's really not, had to do quests in a semi open world and felt like a chore, cash grab, rushed, looks like the plot was made by a little kid and so much more to talk about. Honestly you shouldn't consider Double Exposure as canon, because it's basically a fan-fiction, the original creators are DON'T NOD, not Deck Nine. This game is not enjoyable and not worth the money, atrocious story writing and an even worse ending. Better saving or using your money on something else.