Life Is Strange: Double Exposure
A 2024 sequel following Max Caulfield's timeline-shifting investigation.
Life Is Strange: Double Exposure, a 2024 adventure game from Deck Nine and Square Enix, picks up the story of Max Caulfield years after the original 2015 game. Now older, Max uncovers a fresh supernatural ability that lets her shift between two parallel timelines. She uses this power to investigate the murder of her new closest friend.
The game launched for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on October 29, 2024, with a Nintendo Switch version following on November 19. Critical reception was mixed.
**Plot**
By December 2023, Max has settled in Lakeport, Vermont, working as a photographer-in-residence at Caledon University. She has sworn off her old time-rewinding powers due to past trauma. On December 4, after a day with friends Safiya "Safi" Llewellyn-Fayyad and Moses Murphy, Max finds Safi dead from a gunshot. Grieving, Max discovers she can "pulse" into an alternate timeline where Safi is still alive. This ability grows, letting her travel freely between these two realities. In the "Living" timeline, Safi's car is vandalized, suggesting ongoing danger, so Max investigates to identify the killer in the "Dead" timeline.
Max meets various university figures: President Yasmin Fayyad (Safi's mother), waitress Amanda Thomas, administrative assistant Vinh Lang (head of the Abraxas secret society), professor Gwen Hunter, literature department head Lucas Colmenero, and students Loretta Rice, Reggie Kagan, and Diamond Washington. In the Living timeline, Gwen and Lucas are framed for separate incidents; in the Dead timeline, Reggie claims to have seen his own doppelganger. Moses admits stealing Safi's camera from the crime scene, which Max retrieves and hides from Detective Vince Alderman. She then gains the power to "entangle" objects between timelines. The camera reveals a photo of Max pointing a gun at Safi, leading Moses to suspect her.
Max tries using her rewind power on the photo, triggering a vision of a future storm at Caledon, similar to the one in Arcadia Bay, with Safi begging Max to shoot her. Max reveals her powers to Moses, regaining his trust. They encounter an apparition of Alderman; when the real Alderman arrives, both versions interact and vanish. In the Living timeline, Max learns Gwen canceled Safi's book deal because it focused on Maya Okada, a former student who committed s
- Developer
- Deck Nine
- Publisher
- Square Enix
- Release Date (PS5/Windows/Xbox Series X/
- October 29, 2024
- Release Date (Nintendo Switch)
- November 19, 2024
- Genre
- Adventure game
- Series
- Life Is Strange
- Sequel
- No sequel has been officially announced as of this writing
Quick Facts
- Title
- Life Is Strange: Double Exposure
- Developer
- Deck NineSwitch version developed by Engine Software
- Publisher
- Square Enix
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Platforms
- PlayStation 5 · Windows · Xbox Series X/S · Nintendo Switch
- Released
- PS5, Win, XSX/S · 29 October 2024 · Nintendo Switch · 19 November 2024Digital release, physical version in 2025
- Series
- Life Is Strange
- Genre
- Adventure
- Modes
- Single-player
- Director
- Jonathan Stauder
- Producer
- T. Julian Bell
- Designer
- Christopher Sica
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
In December 2023, Max Caulfield has relocated to Lakeport, Vermont, working as a photographer-in-residence at Caledon University. After her friend Safi is found dead from a gunshot wound, Max discovers a new ability to pulse into an alternate timeline where Safi is still alive. This evolves into the power to travel between parallel timelines at will. In the Living timeline, Safi's car is vandalized, indicating ongoing danger, prompting Max to investigate the killer in the Dead timeline.
During her investigation, Max meets university residents including Yasmin Fayyad, Amanda Thomas, Vinh Lang, Gwen Hunter, Lucas Colmenero, and students Loretta Rice, Reggie Kagan, and Diamond Washington. Max learns that Safi has shapeshifting powers and has been impersonating others. In the post-credits scene, Safi visits Diamond, though the exact details of their interaction are not fully confirmed in the established canon.
Reader's Guide
Life Is Strange: Double Exposure received mixed or average reviews on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, and generally favorable reviews on PC according to Metacritic. Critics praised its likeable characters, sarcastic humor, detailed locations, and nostalgic feel, but noted it did not match the original's impact and had some rough edges in story and technical performance. Destructoid saw it as a satisfying sequel that ties in events well, while IGN thought it improved on nearly every aspect from previous games. PC Gamer appreciated the mystery and new powers but questioned the rehashing of old narrative groundwork. Technical issues like slow-loading textures and overlapping dialogues were noted. The game offers players the option to choose an ending organically, avoiding making one of the first game's endings canon. Don't Nod delayed their game Lost Records: Bloom & Rage into 2025 to avoid competing against Double Exposure. A sequel, Life Is Strange: Reunion, was released in March 2026.
Did You Know?
- The game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on October 29, 2024, and for Nintendo Switch on November 19, 2024.
- Hannah Telle reprised her role as Max Caulfield.
- Players who pre-ordered the Ultimate Edition received early access to the first two chapters starting October 15, 2024.
- Don't Nod delayed their game Lost Records: Bloom & Rage into 2025 to avoid competing against Double Exposure.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Life Is Strange: Double Exposure?
It is a 2024 adventure game developed by Deck Nine and published by Square Enix that continues the story of Max Caulfield several years after the events of the original 2015 title.
What power does Max Caulfield have in Double Exposure?
Rather than rewinding moments in time, Max discovers she can slip in and out of a second, parallel timeline, and she relies on that shifting ability to gather clues throughout the investigation.
What is the central mystery in Life Is Strange: Double Exposure?
Max is trying to solve the murder of her closest new friend, using her timeline-hopping gift to uncover who killed them and why.
Where is Life Is Strange: Double Exposure set?
The story unfolds in Lakeport, Vermont, where Max has settled down by December 2023 and works as a photographer.
What platforms can I play Life Is Strange: Double Exposure on?
The game released on PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on October 29, 2024, and a Nintendo Switch version followed on November 19, 2024.
More in Mystery adventure games 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record