Chloe, Max, new power… here is the story of Life is Strange: Double Exposure

A new opus of Life is Strange, this is to be celebrated. But a new opus with Max Caufield himself becomes an event: a first trailer for this new game, Life is Strange: Double Exposure, was broadcast on Sunday June 9, 2024. This is expected for October 2024. In a live broadcast on June 13, the game team – from the Deck Nine studio – made new revelations. We now know more about the characters, the story, the gameplay and… the impact of the final choice of the first game.

What has happened to Max since Life is Strange 1 ?

The trailer already foreshadowed it: Max will have to solve a crime. Her friend Safi is going to be murdered. But then she discovers a new power, that of opening a portal to another dimension, where Safi is alive. This ability will allow him to solve the crime in its current dimension, but also, it is to be hoped, to avoid it in the other dimension.

But why doesn’t Max go back in time, like in the first game, to avoid this murder? Felice Khuan, the narrative director of Double Exposureclarifies: “ She no longer has her power to rewind “, not because she has technically lost it, but because she categorically refuses to call on it.

Hannah Telle, the actress behind Max Caufield, agrees: “ This power has brought extreme devastation to his life and the lives of everyone around him, including the space-time continuum. “, she says. “ It is a deadly weapon, which prevented him from having a normal life and normal relationships. She got rid of it with certainty. » This is also what will block her, initially, with her new power, which she will have to apprehend slowly.

Since the end of the last game, many years have passed. She was a teenager, she is now a young adult. She works at Caledon University, where she is not a student, but an artist in residence, with a burgeoning photographic career. Hannah Telle had to evolve her voice to accommodate it, because the fact is that Max now has more confidence in herself. She of course remains very secretive and introverted, but she has left aside the parts of introversion that prevented her from moving forward and forming relationships.

Before getting there, “ she has been on the roads », specifies Hannah Telle. “ She doesn’t feel good anywhere. She takes photos of abandoned and lonely places, everything that is desolate, dark, strange. » No doubt a way of exorcising the events experienced in the first game.

And Chloe in all this?

The Deck Nine live stream partially lifted the veil on a question that obsessed fans: Chloe. The first game ended with two very distinct endings, both devastating, but the trailer for Double Exposure does not refer to it. From what ending does the sequel start?

Jonathan Stauder, the game director, confirms that “ the game respects both endings “. So, Max’s thoughts, her diary, her text messages, her interactions and everything she reveals about her past… all of this will be impacted by the ending you chose in the first Life is Strange.

This choice will be integrated directly into the game, during a dialogue with Safi. “ Safi and Max will have a conversation, very early in the game, and Arcadia Bay will come naturally », says Felice Kuan. Max’s new best friend has indeed noticed the photo of Chloe, in Max’s things. And, in all her curiosity, she asks him the question directly: who is she, what happened. It will also be possible to specify the nature of the relationship – friendly or romantic as you wish – with Chloe: 1) “ We were just friends ”, or 2) “ We were high school sweethearts “.

Of course, the question of a possible return of Chloe in Double Exposure is carefully circumvented by the creative team to maintain the (possible) surprise. But Deck Nine remains clear on one thing: Double Exposure can be played and understood without having played the first game, just as it will allow early players to have a sequel.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure gameplay

During the interview, Jonathan Stauder, the game director, confirmed that Double Exposure would be a “murder mystery”: the entire story will consist of solving Safi’s murder. But, he explains, we quickly move from a “whodunit” to find the culprit to a more complex question: but how is this murder even possible? No trace, no weapon: there is a supernatural component in the case, according to Stauder.

The gameplay will integrate these two parallel worlds, each with their own specificities. Safi’s murder and lack of murder will each have consequences for places and people. But each time frame will also allow the investigation to be resolved. If managing two time frames seems disruptive, this will be deliberately the case: you will have to pay attention to the dialogues, otherwise there is a risk that Max will no longer be able to follow.

Of course, the impact of choices remains an ingredient preserved in Double Exposure. We see it during the gameplay sequence, we find the small butterfly logo and the sound effect to alert you to a choice that will have consequences. The video also shows that photography will be integrated into the gameplay: we will be able to take photos of the characters; sometimes asking them to pose for us. Finally, it was also clarified that the choices will also have a relational impact: romance is there.

Safi and Moses

Two characters in particular were mentioned during the livestream, here is what was said about them:

• Safi. She is introduced as Max’s “new best friend”. She is also very secretive, but paradoxically turns out to be very curious and always asks Max a lot of questions. Shortly before her murder, she wanted to announce “good news”.
• Moses. He is Safi’s best friend, and a friend of Max. With a particularity: he is an astrophysicist at Caledon University. This scientific background makes him a great ally for Max, to help him better understand this power linked to parallel worlds. But Max will have to agree to confide in someone.

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