During the Summer Game Fest last week, Deck Nine Games announced that it is returning to the original Life is strange Protagonist Max Caulfield in a direct sequel, Life is strange: double exposureThe studio held a Lifestream reveal today, June 13, and in addition to interviews with the development team and Max voice actress Hannah Telle, the stream ended with 18 minutes of gameplay footage. The stream was insightful, both because it answered questions fans have had since the reveal trailer premiered, and because it reassured anyone who was worried that Max might be less of an absolute jerk this time around.
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One of the most important points addressed during the stream is that Double jeopardy
At some point in the game, players will talk to Max’s friend Safi about her past, and this will include defining her relationship with Chloe and whether or not they chose to save her. It is unclear how this will play out, if at all Double jeopardy‘s story, but at least everyone will see how Max’s life turned out in both scenarios. Double jeopardy finds Max in college, where her life seems quite far removed from her time in Arcadia Bay. Double jeopardy can acknowledge the player’s decision without dwelling on it too much, which is probably easier for the team.
In addition, we also got a fairly detailed look at what appears to be an early section of the first episode. Double jeopardy is a murder mystery that follows Max as she learns she can jump between two timelines. She moves back and forth between them looking for clues, but it’s possible for the player to become confused and choose dialogue options that should only apply to one timeline or the other. For example, in a clip shown during the stream, Max apologized for being “nosy” when speaking to someone in one timeline, apparently because she mentioned something she’d talked about in the other. It’s an interesting way to make sure you’re paying attention. We don’t see Max use her timeline-jumping ability in the 18 minutes of footage that concluded the stream, but there are clips of it interspersed between interviews.
In the section we see, Max is hanging out with her new friends Fari and Moses. Even as Life is strange diehard gamer, I felt a little uncomfortable watching the scene. Many players, including myself, found the dialogue in the original Life is strange often quite stiff and silly, and I was kind of hoping we’d get over that if we revisited Max a few years later. Perhaps the tone of things will change when the crime thriller properly begins. Check out the footage below:
Life is strange: double exposure will be released on October 29th for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Switch. The game was announced less than a week ago and has already caused a bit of controversy after it was revealed that people who pay extra for the Ultimate Edition of the game can play two episodes weeks in advanceso people who can’t afford it are exposed to spoilers.