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In the summer of 2024, Deck Nine dropped a trailer for Life Is Strange: Double Exposure. The game was a murder mystery like True Colors. Fans were excited to see Max Caulfield again. Don’t Nod planned to release their title, Lost Records Bloom and Rage, around the same time as Double Exposure, but they delayed their game so fans could enjoy DE.
Note that everything I state is my opinion on why the game flopped. I’m going off of what I saw on Twitter when the first 2 episodes dropped.
The devs revealed they respect both endings, which gave fans the impression that Chloe would be in the game. If she doesn’t appear physically, Max calls/texts her, emails, and video chats with her throughout the game, etc.
Recently, I saw a post saying Square Enix said Double Exposure was a considerable loss.
Decknine paywalled cat content/outfits for Max and 2 weeks of early access, which angered fans. And they have a reason to be angry. Don’t Nod includes cat content/outfits for Swann for free in their game. Decknine charged 80 bucks for cat content/outfits. I can understand unlocking the game a day early, but I can’t stream/post Let’s Play until it’s public. But 2 WEEKS early access.
Also, the game was a buggy mess. Users reported their games crashing, performance being poor despite having a good computer to play the game, long load screens, and NPC glitches. Glitches are normal when a game comes out, however, they shouldn’t be so bad that the game is unplayable until the bugs are fixed. They could have had the early access people report bugs so they’d be fixed before the game was public.
DeckNine did this with the remastered collection for Life Is Strange and Before the Storm. The game was going to drop the same day they dropped Steph’s prequel DLC for True Colors, but then they delayed the game to fix bugs, only for the game to be a hot mess when it came out. My game kept crashing when you caught Victoria putting her sleeping meds in Rachel’s tea. When Damon hurt Rachel, my game crashed on the load screen, and my entire save file was deleted. Other users have bugs where their skin texters glitch.
The game starts with Max’s friend, Safi, asking you about Chloe. You can choose “We broke up” or “She died.” Breaking up Max and Chloe makes no sense. Remember the photo you saw of Max and Chloe in David’s camper in Life Is Strange 2? In DE, you see that photo remastered, and Max will say, “We fought after this photo was taken.” Chloe is unable to handle Max’s PTSD from the bay when her mom died in the storm. I haven’t played since the game came out. If I remember correctly, in the text messages/notes, Chloe thought Max should get over Arcadia. Why would Chloe say that when her mom died in the storm?
This caused fans to be angry. I can understand why. You told me you’d respect both endings. Of course, I will assume Max and Chloe would keep in touch after a post-bay ending or post-Life Is Strange 2 update. In Life Is Strange 2, Chloe calls David to tell him Max was nominated for a reward for her photography, and they are currently in New York. I expected Max to have flashbacks of her adventures with Chloe during Life Is Strange 2. Chloe texted me throughout the game as her parents did in the first game. In the game, we got a few audible flashbacks. One is after you finish investigating an abandoned bowling alley with Safi, and when Max is putting photos up in her apartment after Safi dies. Remember, I haven’t played the game since it came out, so there may be more.
The first 2 episodes were great. The story took a nosedive in episode 3. I mean, the episode was all right. Episode 4 is when the disconnect happened. The story made no sense. Max learns that Safi can shapeshift into other NPCs in episode 4. At the end of episode 2, Moses and Max discover a photo of Max moments before Safi was killed. How was this possible when we have control of Max? I had so many questions, even after this revelation. Plots have to add up, there has to be a connection. I couldn’t follow through with this plot.
A telltale hint that the game flopped is that it’s always on sale. It’s been on sale off and on since it was released. Games don’t go on sale until a couple of months after release, maybe half a year. It depends on the devs. Or the game may go on sale a couple of times after release, and you’d see more sales around holidays or special events.
Why did it flop? Well, I don’t want to play a game with bugs left and right. Also, fans expressed what they wanted. If you want people to buy your game, charging 80 bucks for cat content and outfits isn’t it. I can understand 60 bucks if people wanted cat content. 80? I’d expect extra cutscenes with the cat content. Folks who bought the pack said they were disappointed with the cat content. There wasn’t a lot of content with the cats. The cat content barely had 10 minutes, according to some people. I can see maybe 30 minutes of extra content or a DLC episode. This is from criticisms I’ve read from people who bought the 80-dollar pack
Also, it made fans believe Chloe would be in the game only to break up. Buggy games. At the very least, Deck Nine could have let the people who bought early access submit feedback for each gaming platform, and the game could have been somewhat stable when it went public for everyone else. Maybe they needed to be clearer in their messaging. At this point, Don’t Nod shouldn’t have delayed Lost Records. The folks who didn’t like DE would have anticipated lost Records.
Decknine should have said Chloe would be mentioned regardless of what choice you made.,
I like Life Is Strange and Max. Double Exposure didn’t connect with me the same way LIS 1 and LIS 2 did. I liked Before The Storm better than Double Exposure.
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