I remember a friend of mine had recommended Life is Strange to me. She isn’t normally a gamer, so I was surprised to hear that she played this game. I took her recommendation to heart and played it. This game was a punch to the gut emotionally, and I loved every second of it. I played Life is Strange: Before the Storm, which came out after the original game. It served as a prequel, and I really enjoyed it. Since then, there have been several Life is Strange games, but I haven’t had a chance to play them yet. When I heard about a direct sequel to the original Life is Strange, I bought it instantly. Life is Strange: Double Exposure was good, but it falls flat if compared to the first game.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure picks up several years after the first game. Max Caulfield has relocated to Vermont and works as a photographer resident at a prestigious liberal arts college. Max is good friends with Safi and Moses as they help Max regain a sense of normalcy. After hanging out together, Max looks for Safi and finds that she’s been murdered. Max reacts as anyone would, but instead of rewinding time like she did years earlier, she can split timelines: one timeline in which Safi is dead and the other in which Safi is alive. Max jumps to each timeline with the hope of saving Safi and uncovering what happened to her.

I like the new setting! The university is stunning and feels like it came straight out of a dark academia novel. I like how snowy it is. It’s beautiful, but it adds a bit of darkness to the story. I liked learning about Max’s life, how she spends time at The Snapping Turtle, a bar where students hang out. This game captured Max’s personality perfectly, which is tough to do considering the first game came out several years ago. I have never been to Vermont, but this game makes me want to visit.

Max’s new power is interesting. I’m curious if Max can’t rewind time anymore, or if her power depends on what she’s reacting to. In the first game, Max needed to rewind time to save Chloe, but in this game, Max didn’t have enough information to do that, hence why she created two timelines. If there are future Life is Strange games planned, I’d be curious to see if they explore more of Max trying to figure out how her powers work, or if there will be answers as to why Max has the powers that she does.

When I think about the story as a whole, I was underwhelmed. Regarding Safi, I was intrigued by what Max would find out. Was Safi involved in something? Was there corruption at the university? It turns out that Safi took a photo of her killer. The photo shows Max pointing the gun at Safi. Max shoots Safi because of the dual lifetimes, causing a similar storm that appeared in the first game. I was hoping for more of a murder mystery, and that’s not what this game was. There’s a subplot of Safi being friends with another student named Maya. Maya committed suicide before Max got the job at the university. None of this matters because it has nothing to do with what happens to Safi, so why bother putting it in the game? I’m fine with red herrings, but when the red herring takes up so much of the game, and then it doesn’t even matter in the end. It’s disappointing, to say the least.

I have no regrets about playing Life is Strange: Double Exposure. It kept my interest, and I wanted to know how the sequel would play out. While I liked it, I wasn’t a fan of the story. If more games are coming out that center Max’s story, I hope they explain more of Max’s powers and why they work the way they do.