Life is Strange: Double Exposure

Don't you love it when a choice based game has no meaningful choices because this is just setting up some sequel avengers game or whatever deck nine is making with this franchise. I was so happy for Max to return..only for it to be Max's appearance but everything else is..it's not her.

The story starts out pretty normal, but it destroys the previous game's history. As time goes on, the story gets stupid, forgets what their goal was and just wants to end. The graphics may decieve you into thinking it's good, but the blur is attrocious. Don't nod, if they make another game, please come back

Great engine, great graphics, and that's where the list of things that are great stops. I dunno who they wrote this game for -- if you're a fan of the original game, you're going to be flabbergasted by how Max acts and reacts to things -- like she's an entirely different person. I'm willing to get past the fact that Chloe isn't in the game (how could she be without removing the choice from the first game), but I'm soured by the fact that the new characters are bland and forgettable. The ending being a vague cliffhanger for more games really doesn't sit well either -- this game wasn't great, you think I'm gonna buy the next one when you didn't even give me a good ending in this one no matter what choice I made? No thanks, after multiple missteps, I'm going to skip the rest of Deck Nine's attempts in this series.

I'll start by saying that I'm 100% biased. I played the original LiS at a very dark time in my life, and I'm very emotionally attached to the original cast. That being said, is this game exactly what I wanted? No, it simply isn't. But that's ok, life is not a path of roses, sometimes shit just sucks, and this franchise is really good at showing that, even if it's a let down sometimes. I'm glad I didn't believe the drama around this game and gave it an honest, blind shot. That was good 14 hours. Tbh I'm just glad I got an update on Max. It genuinely felt like catching up with that one highschool friend you haven't seen in years

eski oyunun hissettirdigi nostaljiyi hissettirmedi oyunun geneli guzeldi ama herkesin gucu olmasi cok sacma, zaten en basinda oyunun ana konusu max'in gucleri ustune, bunda ama herkeste birden super guc oldu, geneli guzel ama karakterler, muzikler, ve hikaye life is strange'deki gibi bag kurulasi degildi puanim 6/10

Game is pretty good although the last 2 episodes felt like they were a little too quick

The world, characters, and music are awesome. Easy to just enjoy the vibes.

For someone who has played through all of these games, this is easily my least favorite entry. It felt like they took all of what Don't Nod built up with max and destroyed it. It is obvious that the original dev did not make this game. If you liked the original Life is Strange, do yourself a favor and go play Lost Records Bloom and Rage.

I cannot believe I just wasted my time like that. This game was so good... until the ending? How did you even manage that? Bro all you had to do was do a murder mystery instead of convolution the story line without finishing a single sentence to get the story straight. I love LiS but what the actual frogs-born is this?

When I first saw the trailer for Life is Strange: Double Exposure and realized Max was returning, I was genuinely excited. A lot of fans were too — she’s a beloved character, and seeing her again brought back great memories from the original game. That said, I had some issues with how this game handled its themes and characters. I don’t have a problem with gay people — that’s not what this is about. But in Double Exposure, it felt like the game was overly focused on identity politics, especially in how often it emphasized a character’s sexuality. It came across as forced rather than natural. Earlier Life is Strange games included gay characters in a more subtle and story-driven way that didn’t feel like it was constantly trying to make a point. Max is still a great character — beautiful, iconic, and important to the series. But the way her powers were brought back just didn’t make sense to me. The storyline felt weak and didn’t respect the original game's emotional depth. The new characters didn’t really stand out either. Most of them felt dull, awkward, or just hard to care about. And one of the biggest letdowns was that, no matter what choices you make, it feels like they don’t actually affect the story. That goes completely against what made Life is Strange so impactful in the first place. Bringing Max back was a strong decision, but the overall story, writing, and character development just didn’t deliver. And the DLC? Honestly, it felt more like a cash grab than anything meaningful or worthwhile. In the end, Life is Strange: Double Exposure had real potential, but it missed the mark.

Okay let me explain: i initially cracked this game because the review were not as good as the last Life is Strange games but i began to like it so much that i had to buy it to support the developers! The Story and writing is top notch, the voice acting of max is beautiful and really delivers on emotion. unfortunatly the decision making in this game feels a bit non existent because you cant really make an impact but nonetheless i really enjoyed the Story and the twists, the music and the characters! Is it the best Life is strange? No but i really like The continiuation of Maxines story and i hope we get another one!

yeah....nah fam, this wasnt it I agree with what many others have already complained about regarding this game as a "follow up" of LiS 1, so no need to repeat them. BUT I haven't seen anyone make the observation that part of the problem with this installment is that it LACKS A DEFINITIVE VILLAIN. Think about it! LiS 1 had Jefferson, BtS had angry drug dealer knife guy (forgot his name), LiS 2 had institutional racism and hatred that you had to not only fight but also resist from retaliating with too much violence, even TC had Jed (saying the "I condemn you" line at the end was soooooo satisfying). What villain did DE have? Lucas? Sure he's a narcissistic [spoiler] fraud [/spoiler] ...but were talking about serial killer, hate crime, corporate cover up manslaughter tier evil. Lucas is not on that level and [spoiler] Maya's death wasn't written with nearly as much impact as Rachel's [/spoiler] So who does that leave? Safi? The [spoiler] impish shapeshifter [/spoiler] who we were tryingthe entire time just to save, even though she's not the person or friend we thought she was? How unsatisfying is that? It makes the entire story seem pointless. There's no closure, just uninteresting cliffhanger bait. Nothing was resolved. Everything kinda just...ended. so glad there was a sale when I got it...imagine spending $50+ on this

I love all the Life Is Strange games and was excited when Double Exposure was announced as it was about Max, but if Max was not the main character in this game it would not have made a difference to the game itself which feels weird to me. And the story itself lacked depth as did the characters. The love interests, especially Amanda were just there to be love interests and it felt forced, my decisions in the game did not make much of a difference, it felt pretty lazy in my opinion. One of my favourite things about the LIS games is the emotion within the stories, while playing this game I literally felt nothing because I had zero attachment to the characters. I would not say the twist was predictable but it also was not surprising. The other LIS games typically have more of a main antagonise but this just felt like the universe was messing with you and gave us zero answers. My objectives felt pointless, like I had to "find person" every scene then it would play a boring conversation cutscene that I honestly zoned out of, and after a scene there would be a bunch of texts or posts that never added much to the story. I think the next game is going to give us a bunch of lore about why these characters have powers and such, I just hope they spend more time on making the story interesting and emotional.

ending felt like it was missing something? last episode was sick though. love all the og lis references

I'm not sure why there are people hating on this game. I think this game is great and it continues Max's story from what happened after Arcadia Bay. I think it was well done.

Quick version: 8/10 I always love Don't Nod's style of Narrative Games. A couple of characters didn't gel with me, but overall really liked them. Aesthetics were immaculate. Detailed version: Don't Nod really delivers games that take the cinematic feel of watching a movie and blend just enough agency, puzzles and little interactions to elevate it through the medium of gaming. As the story ramps up the mysteries and interpersonal connections that emerge and shift are logical and engaging. There's one character that I always felt like I had the wrong interactions with, and that character ended up with an after-credits scene which felt off to me. The rest of the cast resonated cleanly with my expectations, but still kept me interested to learn more about them. As for the aesthetics, I just love the style that these games ooze with. The camera work, the effects, the ambiance, the ability to sit with your thoughts and listen to music; it all creates a space where you feel like you're immersed in the world. It also gives you this sense that there's nothing forcing you down a path or hurrying you up. You can just take the journey at your own pace. It's not a game for everyone, but for people that love interactive narrative experiences it's a great one.

I don't think this is a bad game. If it wasn't a sequel, it'd be alright, but pretty forgettable. However, this is a sequel to the original 2015 Life is Strange, and Double Exposure fails to live up to the original in all the wrong ways. It fails to capture adult themes presented in the original, fails to present nuance in characters, and fails to make an engaging story. For most of the game you spend it in like maybe five locations with minor differences. The first couple chapters I liked but the last 3, especially chapter 5, were not as good to me. The choices felt more insignificant, and despite being the same length as the original, I felt like I wasn't really connected to any of the characters. Another big gripe I have is it feels like it handles the events of the last game poorly. Spoilers for the first game, [spoiler]It feels like it doesn't respect either ending of the game. If you choose the bay ending, Max jumping to use her powers feels so wrong. If you choose the Chloe ending, you don't get to see her with you in the game, and they just break up? It feels like they should've just canonized an ending, or worked both endings into Max's powers somehow. Another gripe is how it rarely brings up Max's trauma from the first game, except for one scene in Chapter 5. It feels like those events are so downplayed throughout this story when the original focused so much on how events like the Dark Room would change you[/spoiler] Regardless, its ok, I would only get it on a deep discount. Also absurd that you can only get 100% achievements if you spend $20 for the cat dlc which barely adds content. I enjoyed the cat content, but it is far too overpriced and didn't need to have achievements.

I played this game a few months ago and the game in a way good but deck nine doesnt respect the game dont nod said that they dont want a sequel but not only there is a sequal its not that good they dont respect the two original life is strange ending and even if spoiler Chloe & Max broke up do it in a way that respect the player base and the game also they want to make the life is strange into a games like Marvel universe whice sorry but I think thats not really a good thing for this game series

a beautiful game with great music. awesome story though not the best the series has to offer, still i 110% recommend this game as well as all the others of the franchise

As a person who played Lis1 and Lis2, Lis Double Exposure just didnt meet my expectations as much as the others did. The only episodes that were actually interesting were 2, and 3. All the other episodes seemed rushed and are just overall boring. To be honest it seems like they cared more about the sexuallity you choose more then the actual plot of the game. Huge let down especially for $50.

Grafikleri iyilestirme adi altinda life is strange stilinden iyice uzaklasilmis, ayrica hikaye de cok fazla ilgi cekici degil gibi sanki. Önceki oyunda karakterler daha baglayici oldugu icin hikaye daha sürükleyiciydi diye düsünüyorum. Fakat yine de genel olarak güzel olmus. Seriyi seven birisi olarak oynamaya deger.

It kills me to write a negative review for a Life us Strange game, but here I am. Full disclosure, I haven't finished the game (only the first chapter) so I will mainly be discussing technical issues I experienced. Maybe it's my computer, but I blame those technical problems for ruining the story a bit. It's a decent story so far, but I'm not nearly as invested as I was with the previous games. First off, there are really long wait times between scenes, without any fun loading screen, so the first few times it happened, I began to think the game was crashing (which it did, *twice*, in one chapter, but I don't know whether they're related). This, alone, isn't a deal-breaker, but it does ruin the momentum of the story a bit when I have enough time to contemplate getting a snack from the kitchen. Ten to fifteen seconds every scene break should not be the norm. Then there were the aforementioned game crashes. I won't go into too much detail, but considering the startup routine for the game is also very long, this isn't an insignificant problem, either. A minute or two with the music can be cool when starting up the game to get into the mood (though even then, it felt long for my first time booting it up), but in the middle of a chapter, when I am forced to boot up the game again, it's not so much fun. Then, there were the visuals. You would think I would have nothing to complain about here. I've spent months deciding how deep of a sale I should wait for after reading a ton of reviews. The only thing that was consistent was that the visuals were stunning (not a selling point for me - as long as it's not noticably ugly, I will still get immersed into the story), but I started up the game and was shocked. Choosing as outfit, Max was blurry, so I could barely see what she, or the outfit looked like. Then, when I started the game, everything was so bright. There was very little dark to contrast the brightness. I finally figured out that it was probably because Shadows had been turned off. I turned them on and was immediately hit with a huge lag. I didn't even make it back out of the menu before I turned it back off. I'd rather play with ugly visuals than a lag. But it begs the question, what's the point of putting so much time and money into the visuals if people can't appreciate it? I don't care much for visuals, but when it was supposed to be the best part of the game, I feel slighted. Especially when what I have is ugly and very distracting. My computer isn't a high performance gaming computer, but it's not low performance, either. It's definitely faster than my laptop, and up until this point, I haven't had any issues with lag, even with MMOs, so I find it hard to believe that the problem lies solely with my computer. And quite frankly, a story-based game probably shouldn't require an expensive gaming computer in the first place. Admittedly, I'm not a tech-strong person, so there might be an easy solution to any and all of this, but considering I have spent months deliberating over this game, this was not a strong start. I intend to continue, but I'm not expecting much. I genuinely hope other people are having a better experience with this game, but considering the reviews, I won't hold my breath.

Just started the game, only in for 7 hours but it is looking very good, don't understand the negativity I read in the reviews, of course it is different but it caught me in for 7 hours straight when I just 'wanted to take a look and play it later', so 'nuff said imho :)

Fun continuation of Max's story. The new characters, new location, new concepts, and new mechanics breath fresh air into the game, rather than simply repeating the earlier game. Would have liked the game-play to have been a bit more challenging.

Honestly, there's absolutely nothing bad I can say about Life is Strange: Double Exposure! We get Max back, which was amazing, and she comes with fantastic new powers that really shake things up. Each and every part of the story kept me completely engrossed; I found myself playing sometimes well into the night because I just couldn't put it down. The narrative truly stood out, drawing me deeper into its mystery. My only real issue, if I had to pick one, is that it felt a bit short—I finished the main story in about 10 hours, and I just wanted more! The core mechanic of shifting between two timelines to solve the murder, piece together the story, and get to the bottom of everything was just phenomenal. What more can I say? It was an absolutely fantastic and brilliant new way to play. Life is Strange: Double Exposure is a triumphant return for Max and a truly captivating experience from start to finish.

If you like Life is Strange it is worth buying. Perhaps not as good as previous installments, and less side content as well, but a good story and mechanics nonetheless

O jogo é bom, mas tranquilamente, o pior de toda a franquia, não recomendo pra eles aprenderem a voltar a fazer jogo direito, única coisa que realmente carregou o jogo nas costas foi as músicas, só As animações são meio esquisitas, tem uns personagem que parece que foi feito por IA, a dublagem as vezes parece bem desconexa, e muito da história parece meio só jogado lá, as vezes parece que eles estão esperando que você saiba as coisas, bem mediano. Parece que esqueceram completamente da Safi durante 80% do jogo, sendo que ela pra ser o maior foco. Além de que esse script claramente está gritando pra ficar com a Amanda, incrível como ele te entrega opções mas esquece completamente de sequer tentar desenvolver qualquer coisa sem ser a Amanda E também os personagem secundário só tem 2 opções de humor pras suas respostas "uiui amorzinho te adoro diva" e "morre sua vagabunda, saia da minha frente" e dependendo de como tu responde eles ficam variando isso de 5 em 5s, parece o próprio estereótipo de bipolaridade SPOILER E aqui provaram que tem pessoas perigosas com poderes, simplesmente ela é extremamente desestabilizada pra ter poderes, muito temperamental, dramática e instável, fazendo drama de adolescente sendo que elas tem uns 25 pelo menos Sinceramente, não é mais um jogo de escolhas mas um jogo que te pune por escolher o que ele não quer, além de que a escolha final é completamente broxa, manca, capenga em comparação com qualquer outro jogo deles. Eu ficava ansioso pra saber o que acontece e qual seria o próximo jogo, agora acho que não compro o próximo...

I feel as though this game gets a little too much hate. I have played from beginning to end and enjoyed a majority of the game during my playthrough. However, nothing will ever beat the first game, the idea of Max's power developing as well as her character is a nice way to revisit an old friend.

It’s a really fun game! Although I wish it respected the two endings from the first Life is Strange.

This game is a direct sequel to Life is Strange 1 (the original), continuing that protagonist's story. It takes place many years later (like 10 at least? maybe more). It is only 5 chapters long (short and sweet). Be sure to increase the Secondary Scale in the graphics settings (to get rid of any blurriness). Enjoy!

I wanted to give it a shot, I really did, but I really couldn't get with it. It feels like a hard turn from the previous two games. My biggest gripes is Lack of Respect for Player Time: Unlike last games, for some reason, I have to interact with every little thing in every stage before I can progress. While it might not seem bad, it makes you realize how little I care for the setting. If I want to advance without all the tools, I should be allowed to or the amount of pointless things should be significantly reduced. Inorganic Interactions: I'm not sure what's going on with the direction of the writing in this game, but it wasn't like previous games. None of the characters interactions feel like real people talking to one another. Maybe it gets better, but the first chapter was abysmal.

Life is Strange never dissapoints. Getting more backstory on Max’s powers was so satisfying. They added a whole new layer to her character and the original timeline. The story had that classic LiS emotional depth, with beautiful writing and visuals that pulled me right back into that bittersweet universe. But that cliffhanger! Seriously?! I hate how much I loved it. They really left me hanging in the worst (and best) way. Now I’m just sitting here emotionally invested and screaming internally until the next part drops.

I don't understand the negative response to this game. In my humble opinion, this is the best of the three Life is Strange games that Deck Nine has made. The graphics are fantastic, the story is still very good, and the gameplay is pretty well thought out. It still doesn't come close to the original that Don't Nod made, but that is to be expected when you're following something like that up. On it's own though, it is a well made game deserving of a recommendation. As a Life is Strange game, it's certainly not the worst of them. That's not to say it doesn't have flaws. The biggest of which I'd say is the fact that the big moment of the cold open is literally spoiled in the description on the store page. [spoiler] I do appreciate that there isn't a 100% happy ending, that Max doesn't get the girl in the end, not yet anyway, but I do feel like being able to save everyone was kind of a cop-out. We didn't really have to make a hard choice in the end like we did in the first LiS. And I feel like the Aldermann plotline was wrapped up too quickly, and that there should have been more consequences from Moses having to intervene than just having a white streak in his hair. [/spoiler] I would still rate this game a 7, maybe an 8/10. Very good, I don't regret buying it, but maybe wait for it to be on sale. I love how this game gives Max more to do, and lets us actually see how she moved on from the events of LiS, but I feel like it could have been a bit longer too. The ending was a bit too rushed, but by no means was it jarring.

So I have Intel newest version yet game won't open and forces me to install "newest version of Intel" It's supossted to be game for casuals and this happens? I hope to get money back

American (i restrict myself to use vulgar language) self-indulgince. the correct way of describing ameri-gestapo wanking themselves off about their own self-importance. Jerking themselves off about books less old than the - i wont call them tomes. tomes are stuff from he 9th century - books in my own livingroom. FMight as well make an "art academy" about the tiktoks on my phone from 2024-2025. Its dogshit. oh my. a tree. or a picture. and a statue of a guy. and a skull. WOW such amazing art. its almost as if im in the dark ages of europe in fucking 13th century belgium. or 2025 USA. whichever it is. From an ameri-na*i shithole, the age of my literal asparagus garden. ameridogcrap. DO NOT BUY.

LIFE IS WOKE! Bad Story! What happend with Cloe?! The SMS massages are a joke!! Loved the old ones. They had a nice Story! They spit in the face of the origin LIS story! In nearly every Scene is DEI, TRANS, GAY, BI, RAINBOW FLAGS! It feels like a propaganda video of Polical correctness. Old games had the same thing, but the story was the main point of the game! I LOVED THEM, LIS1, LIS2, LISTC, but this is just bad story telling. Dont play this, even for free. It destroys the Lore and you waste your life time!! TOP 10 BAD GAME FOR ME IN THE PAST 20 YEARS! I play even, Gollum, Mindseye, or The day before, instead just one minute of this one .. JUST MY OPINION! I PAID 50€ for this....

Wont be buying any more DontNod games, was not a complete game, I wont even be buying the second, screw it, this ending will be it for me. Bye Max, you died a long long time ago, Chloe's better anyway. Life is strange before the storm for the win, ugh imagine them making it these days, pffft probably split it in to 2 parts. As for the remasters, what a waste, I reckon they look simply beautiful as is, and dont need changing so, ya know, w/e. Heh. Mmmm these graphics were better? oh okay, btw 4080 super 16gb fyi. I have all the others on playstation, and one on xbox, dontnod games I mean, and tell me why is the worst, followed by this, then the rest are actually good. That leaves, 1, 1.5, 2, Tru colours. My ranked order would go, 1.5 Before the storm. 1 The Storm then True or 2? hmmm Ah who cares about which is 3rd anyway.

compared to the other Life is Strange games it's an ant while the others are King Kong

As much as i wish they had Chloe in it, I still quite enjoyed this games story, much different from the earlier ones with Max, the new power is really cool.

While Double Exposure is the weakest entry in series (yet) its still a good game. A solid 7/10 game thats worth looking into when the game is on a decent sale.

Me pareció bastante bueno el juego, creo que Max sigue siendo Max :). Las canciones y toda la banda sonora estuvo al punto, el juego si es cierto que cuesta moverlo con las gráficas, pero, es jugable. Si está buscando más drama estudiantil, seguir el hilo de la historia de Arcadia Bay, conocer el nuevo poder de Max, seguir con dudas existenciales de como se conectan ciertas situaciones, definitivamente es recomendable este juego. También, parece que se viene más de la saga, aquí quedo esperando las nuevas entregas

It was nice to see Max again, to bad Chole was not with her. I really didn't think the choices one way or another made that much of a difference. I did really enjoy this game, nice change of pace from the shooters I normally play. I will say for the guys the last chapter and the end I wanted to pull my hair out. The motel thing went on to long and she still has to work on getting Amanda (come on!).

i got some issues but overall its not the worst life is strange game Last 2 episodes felt very rushed, wished I had some more time in there with my mans vinh. But I did get a Jefferson mention so I got that going for me atleast

Loved it. It was a pretty good continuation and seeing Max again after all these years really was cool.

It's a pretty decent game. I am a big fan of the first game and that made it more enjoyable. It's end didn't have a big impact on me like the first game, but wasn't so bad. The new best friend irritated me a little tho and the new power was a pain sometimes, but all in all I really enjoyed it.

[u] Choices and Story[/u] So, this is not a detroit become human like game, where your choices have consequences, its a LiS, where your choices make some dialog options in a linear story get changed a bit. But it does not have to be, it has all the LiS things, like LGBTQ stuff (a lot actually, I feel like every main charachter is gay in this game ;P), romances to ignore, and some special power to work around. I really liked the story and the idea, that [spoiler]your decision, that you have not made yet, will split the world into[/spoiler] 2 parallel universes, is really clever. I was also designed nicely and got me hooked through all of it, I never really felt like "yeah, that was obvious", but learned stuff when max did, and was as shocked as she was. I do not think I will replay it though, since, as I said, its pretty linear, and I don't think its worth going through all it again only for about 5% to be different. Don't get me wrong, I am curious of what will change, when I choose the starting point where chloe is dead instead, but I don't think it will have a lot of significance. I mean, not even the final decision had a lot of significance, you just [spoiler]accept safi or not[/spoiler] and I think i would have been such a powerful turnaround if you actually got the choice at the end [spoiler]to shoot Safi to decide which timeline you want to be the final one. (In which case I would choose to shoot her, so there won't be another storm that kills a whole town just because I wanted to save a single person[/spoiler]. I would have prefered this a lot. [u] Graphics and Bugs[/u] The game does look good (when hair or light isn't flickering, or clipping through charachter models or people are t-posing, or textures are low poly because they aren't loaded in time), but I do wonder, why I only have 45 Frames on a GPU that came out after the game did (RTX 5080 on a 4k TV display). [u] Controls[/u] Controls feel intuitive and the camera moves just like I want it. [u] Tl;dr[/u] I really liked the story, it got me hookedthrougout the playthrough, but I feel like there is not much replayability, which was the case in all the other LiS too, so its really not a problem. This game is less about consequences, but more about telling a story about strange superpowers and some LGBTQ and romance on the side.

Great game. Story is good so far and it sticks to what original LIS was in terms of mechanics and graphics. Graphics wise it looks amazing, runs great. Definitely worth the sale price.

I am enjoying it. The story is engaging, and the characters are complex and interesting. Nothing will ever compare to playing the original for the first time, but this is a good sequel, and does Max justice. Edit: So I finished chapter 4 and 5, and I understand what people are saying. The "game" part disappeared, and it turned into more of an interactive movie. Its unfortunate, and as if funding was pulled from the project while they were still working on it. Overall though, the story was great, and I still really enjoyed it.

At its core, Double Exposure is a classic Life is Strange story that has hard hitting emotional scenes, memorable characters, and in my opinion a powerful continuation of Max's story from the first game. What I really enjoyed about the story was the Max's constant struggle with lingering trauma from what she experienced before, and how it shaped her interactions and helped her tackle things head on after running away for too long. It was surreal at first getting into this game and finally seeing how Max has changed and the new life she found at Caledon. The key mechanic of switching between worlds is pretty neat, though I wish it used in more puzzles at the end like during the first few chapters. It seems there wasn't enough in the concept to create anything more challenging than "find a place to switch and switch back" so they opted to not really use it in a meaningful way by the ending, which is a shame, but that's kind of just the limitation of this mechanic and I appreciate that the story works well with it. The character animation, particularly in the faces, is incredible. It truly does rival a AAA game in that regard, the characters are so expressive and dynamic and well designed that every dialogue scene is majorly boosted by the quality of the cinematics. The music is also spot on and a reflection of the original soundtrack in a way, which made many of the "reflection" moments hit pretty hard. Spoilers ahead: [spoiler]Absolutely bizarre to go to the reviews and see that everyone was expecting Chloe to come back in some major way. None of the marketing suggested the old characters would be returning and the fans of the first game don't "own" Max's future. The story they wanted to tell has Max go through a rough patch and find a new home in Caledon, and that's much more meaningful for her character (and more interesting as a new story) than simply retreading old ground again. At the very least, I appreciate the developers doing something new.[/spoiler] [spoiler]Could they have worked in Chloe to this current story? Possibly. But if you've chosen to save Arcadia Bay, then they'd have to make major concessions for that path and it would probably be harder to write. I understand wanting some justification for past choices, but this point alone doesn't detract from the game or the core story they wanted to tell, at least for me.[/spoiler] [spoiler]The inclusion of other people with powers is pretty neat to see, and it made for an intriguing solution to the mystery that you're investigating through most of the game. I will say that I agree with complaints that the last two chapters felt quite simple plot-wise, and I wish there was more to dig in to. The slow unraveling of what Safi did was great, and I wish there could've been another big mystery near the end after resolving that thread in Chapter 4. The storm sequence was neat, but it would've been cool for the different scenes to mean more to Max personally rather than just finding characters confused and "fixing" them.[/spoiler] [spoiler]Also, some of the plot threads like the detective vanishing appear to have been dropped, which again takes points away from the ending. It's possible that these points will be revisited in a future entry or DLC, so I'm not too upset, but it would've been really neat to see these come together more clearly and that would've provided the intrigue that I wanted from final chapters.[/spoiler] Overall, the game truly shines when it allows you to immerse yourself in the world and just be in the moment having emotional conversations with characters that you care about. For example, slow moments with Vinh and Amanda in the bar just really hit hard when you think about what they're going through. Overall, it's a quaint story that really did feel powerful as we see Max navigate college teacher life (especially managing different versions of people across the two worlds, that was really neat to see! They even got me with some of the "wrong Vinh" moments lol), but I think it could've been elevated even more with more locations to explore (it did feel a bit limiting by the end), more characters to interact with, and more depth with the existing cast. It felt like there was a lot more we could've explored (Reggie for example, or Diamond) but I'm still satisfied with what we got, and I'm definitely looking forward to whatever comes next and hoping some of these lingering threads are addressed. If so, it would smooth out the experience and perhaps make it feel a bit more complete. But either way, this was a great experience and one I highly recommend for anyone that loves the Life is Strange series.

Once again, Square Enix have blown it out of the park, absolutely incredible game with immaculate writing and character development, the music choices never fail to add to the emotive structure of the narrative, 10/10 would play again.