Life is Strange: Double Exposure (Xbox Series X/S) Review

Anyone who has ever played an adventure game knows they live or die on how engaging and memorable their central cast are. From Telltale's Walking Dead to Monkey Island - the genre has produced a plethora of iconic characters over the decades.

Now among them, Max Caulfield - Life is Strange's returning protagonist - is probably approaching that top bracket of narrative adventure game stars after a series of appearances in the franchise, including a comic book spin off.

And so it is that her adventure continues in this direct sequel to the original title, with the murder of her friend Safi triggering the return of her powers - which this time allow her to travel between parallel versions of reality - one in which Safi has died and the other in which she lives - in order to solve the mystery of what is actually going on here and who is behind this.

Of course, Life is Strange being what it is, nothing is as mundane as a simple gunshot murder and instead by the end of chapter five the plot is fully into the realms of science fiction - maybe a bit too much at the expense of telling a more coherent and engaging story.

It doesn't take long for that story to kick right into gear after what is a whirlwind introduction into the life of Max. In fact, while there is often a critique to be made of introductions which outstay their welcome, Double Exposure firmly assumes anyone playing is fully up to speed with Max's backstory, an aspect that can catch newcomers a little off guard.

It's a shame there is no more dedicated recap, instead leaving a bewildering few hours of trying to decipher Max's past motivations and what has led her to be who she is when the events of that fateful snowy night begin.

When Double Exposure does finally start to get into its groove, it plays on a safe but highly enjoyable loop of discussions with this wide cast of characters throughout Caledon. Uncovering their backstories, examining their motivations and ultimately making some consequential decisions, that while never completely alter what path the story ultimately takes, do enough to make it feel like an ordeal having to anger someone or lie to them or let them down.

There are some really engaging set piece moments, including one that makes full use of the world switching power to evade detection by a suspicious detective. It's just a pity there were not a few more of those moments, rather than so many more of the more mundane periods of wandering between various characters to get to the next important conversation.

Despite the sometimes-slower pace the experience falls into at times, a very strong cast of voice actors and incredibly professional recording quality and dialogue always helps to anchor the tale and give the narrative beats real gravitas. This is paired with an excellent musical score and soundtrack, with a number of tracks by Dutch artist Tessa Rose Jackson punctuating key emotive moments and lending the experience a proper cinematic feel.

It's also a generally nice-looking title from a graphical standpoint, with the central case of Max and her friends and colleagues clearly given a lot of love and attention. The moments when Max sits back to reflect and the camera pans between a variety of artistic angles and shots while playing one of the soundtrack songs are just lovely.

Also a neat touch is the visual presentation between the two alive and dead worlds - with the dead world visibly cold with a blue hue, while the alive world pops with colour and vibrancy.

Sadly, what detracts from that cinematic feel is a variety of technical hitches, including clearly observable texture pop in, sluggish performance on Xbox Series while navigating the world and some very inconsistent quality, between some scenes that look stunning - particularly at night in the snow - and other times in which the world looks flat and lifeless. Crashing is also possible, having happened twice during extensive playing.