The latest work in the adventure game series “Life is Strange” published by Square Enix – “Life is Strange: Double Exposure” was released today at the same time Taiwanese media interviewed the game director Jonathan Stauder and staff writer Aysha Farah.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure is an adventure game that uses superpowers to solve mysteries. The main character Xiaomai is a photography teacher who works at the famous Caledon University in northern Vermont. After witnessing the death of her friend Sophie, she uses a sudden magical power to travel to a parallel world to discover the truth of the murder step by step.
In another world where Mai can go, her friend Sophie, who was originally killed, is still alive. Although the things that happen in the two worlds are different, by using the ability of wheat to connect the two worlds, you can achieve things that were initially impossible to achieve in each world, and gradually get closer to the truth of what happened.
As the story progresses, players who become Mai will make several choices. Once you make a choice, you can’t go back and do it again, so you have to make your decision carefully. However, what seems like a good choice now may not give good results in the future…
Q: In the “Life is Strange” series, it is very common for players’ choices to affect the future results of the game. Are there multiple different endings in Life is Strange: Double Exposure? If so, how many limits are there?
A: Revealing the number of endings would involve spoilers, but we can reveal that how players handle their relationships with each of the main characters in the game is the key to the ending of “Life is Strange: Double Exposure”.
Q: When Max switches between the two worlds, will she have a chance to meet herself in the parallel world?
A: Since this question contains spoilers, it cannot be answered directly, however, players will get the answer as they advance the plot of “Life is Strange: Double Exposure”.
Q: Besides dialogue options, are there other factors that affect how the story unfolds?
A: Designing choices players make is the primary way the story develops. But we believe that the so-called choice does not just mean that Max has to choose between two main options at a critical moment. All dialog interactions, the player’s level of exploration, and the order in which objectives are completed are optional, and these also affect the player’s story experience.
Q: How does “Life is Strange: Double Exposure” present the butterfly effect of dual timelines?
A: As Xiaomai finds out in the game, Sophie’s death is the biggest difference between the two timelines.
Q: How does the game deal with Mai’s trauma and her relationship with superpowers?
A: The impact of what happened at Arcadia Bay on Wheat’s relationships will be a major theme in “Life is Strange: Double Exposure.” For years, Xiaomai tried to escape from her past, and finally came to Caledon University, hoping to live a “normal” life with the trauma. But Sophie’s death forced her to face her past and her power again.
Q: How is “Life is Strange: Double Exposure” meeting the expectations of new and old players?
A: Since this game was released almost 10 years after the launch of “Life is Strange”, some players may be contacting this series for the first time, or maybe they never played the first “Life is Strange”. So we have to make sure that players can understand Xiaomai’s backstory just by playing “Life is Strange: Double Exposure”, not only to explain the details of the past, but also to describe to bring the depth of her feelings. Fortunately, this is also good for series veterans, giving them a chance to see how Wheat has changed over the years.
Q: Why did you decide to make Xiaomai the main character in this new game again?
A: Development on Life is Strange: Double Exposure began during the final stages of production on Life is Strange: True Colors. When we do this series, we start by exploring different supernatural abilities or the character development curve of the main character. In fact, the most important thing is not to prioritize ability or character, but to combine the two to find a starting point for development.
This time we thought about the idea of giving players the ability to travel back and forth between two different global lines. In this way, players can carefully compare the results of two difficult choices. In addition, we also realized that this setting was perfect for exploring Max’s life years after the end of the first game, and it became a good idea to introduce the fun of the game.
Q: It’s been a few years since Max last played a major role. This is Deck Nine’s first self-made game with Max as the main character. After many years, how did Number Nine reprise this classic role? And what are the similarities and differences between her and the previous characters?
After many years in the previous game, Max has become more confident. Despite this, she still laughs and talks to things. She believes that she has successfully digested the emotional impact of the end of her first film, Life is Strange. However, she doesn’t like to talk about her past and has trouble opening up to new people.
Q: Can you explain how Max’s abilities are different from what they were before? How does this affect gameplay?
A: Xiaomai’s new main ability is to travel between two timelines In one timeline, her friend Sophie was murdered, and in the other timeline, Sophie is still alive but still in danger. Wheat can use this power to see the status of each scene in different timelines and talk to the same character in both timelines.
More importantly, this ability allows her to talk to Sophie, who has not yet been murdered. Wheat can also use “Peeping” to extend her sensory powers, allowing her to see or hear what is going on in another timeline without actually moving to that timeline. So she can get close to suspicious characters and watch them or eavesdrop on their conversations without being detected. Players will also find other uses for her new abilities as they play.
Q: Although the game has different side plots, will it affect the main story or will it stay close to the same?
A: The main line of the game is a one-line plot, but Mai’s choice will determine how she understands the whole event and will affect her relationship with other characters Indeed, it will affect on the end in many ways.
Q: Does every time you travel to the past and complete all researches and tasks yield positive results?
A: In “Life is Strange: Double Exposure”, Mai’s main ability is to move between two timelines (rather than being able to move to the past or future), and it could be positive or negative effect of her actions.
Q: Can you talk about how long it usually takes to complete the game?
A: The playing time varies from person to person, but the playing time of this game should be longer than that of “Life is Strange: True Colors”.
Q: What made the team challenge the concept of a timeline this time? As a feature of the game, does the Butterfly Effect mean that this game will have multiple timelines?
A: We’ve always liked the concept of a parallel world, because a parallel world can see what actions the same person does or how they feel differently in different situations . The series “Life is Strange” has always aimed to highlight the complexity of people.
In “Life is Strange: Double Exposure”, Xiaomai discovers that Sophie’s death is the biggest difference between the two timelines.
Some of the differences between the timelines were exactly what she expected (for example, Moses and Yasmine mourned Shafi in the timeline when Shafi was dead and were very happy with the timeline when Shafi was still alive), and some were completely beyond her. As expected, this difference probably has something to do with the mystery of the game.
“Life is Strange: Double Exposure” is available today on PS5, Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X | S, and Windows.
