There is a level in Life is Unusual: Double Publicity the place detective Vince Alderman asks Max: “Are you the one who’s unfortunate or is it simply everybody who ever meets you?” It is perhaps somewhat harsh, certain, however he isn’t improper to say it. Double Publicity does plenty of retreading previous narrative floor of its predecessor: useless besties, sus lecturers, secret societies, a 3rd lady whose thriller permeates the overarching story… you get it.
Have to Know
What’s it? The sequel to Do not Nod’s 2015 time-bending journey romp.
Launch date October 29, 2024
Count on to pay $50/£50
Developer Deck 9 Video games
Writer Sq. Enix
Reviewed on Nvidia GeForce RTX3070, AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, 32GB RAM
Steam Deck TBA
Hyperlink Official web site
Contemplating Max’s time-rewind energy of 2015’s Life is Unusual (the one by Do not Nod, reasonably than Deck 9) is nowhere to be seen this time, I used to be getting somewhat extra deja vu than I anticipated. A decade after leaving Arcadia Bay—which is both hurricane-torn with an alive Chloe Value or nonetheless choosing up the items from her homicide—Max is in her late 20s, now milling round a college as a lecturer-slash-resident artist reasonably than a scholar.
She’s largely left Arcadia Bay and its folks behind—she commonly ignores texts from her dad and mom, with just one Blackwell Academy alum (or two, if Chloe is alive) making an look on her social media timeline. As a substitute, Safiya and Moses make up Max’s new good friend group, the previous being the college president’s daughter, the latter an astrophysicist graduate.
Her time warping has been put to relaxation because of the harm and subsequent trauma Max endured all through the primary sport. That’s, till Safi is discovered shot useless. Cue energy reawakenings—this time within the type of timeline hopping reasonably than rewinding—and desperately attempting to keep away from the identical destiny that befell Chloe or Arcadia Bay.
Level-and-shoot
For probably the most half, I actually loved taking part in round with Max’s new powers. She will be able to swap between a world the place Safi is alive and properly, the world in heat tones and twinkly Christmas lights, and one other, colder actuality the place Caledon College is mourning her loss. A couple of puzzles sprinkled all through Double Publicity have Max utilizing her powers to interrupt into locations which might be inaccessible in a single timeline, or squeezing data out of a personality in a single dimension earlier than zipping over to the opposite one to make use of it as leverage.
My fundamental gripe with the entire thing is that, in direction of the tip of the sport, it largely turns into “head to this timeline to speak to this particular person.” Which is okay, however there is a explicit phase in Chapter 2 the place Max has to seize gadgets and produce them between timelines and make use of positioning to keep away from detection. It is simply probably the greatest showcases of the mechanic, however the sport by no means actually will get near utilizing it to that extent once more. There’s one other neat phase in one of many later chapters utilizing Max’s capacity to see into one timeline from the opposite, however it’s transient and somewhat clunky to navigate.
I even have a problem with the sound Double Publicity makes use of to audibly mark the set areas the place you’ll be able to tear via dimensions. It is an terrible high-pitched tinnitus-adjacent ringing sound that will get extra intense the nearer you might be—it suits properly narratively with all of Max’s pounding complications, however I am undecided I wished such an intense degree of immersion that it was additionally giving me pounding complications a number of hours into listening to it. Contemplating there’s additionally visible clues for the shift spots, I want Deck 9 had toned it down a contact.
It isn’t the one audio problem within the sport, both. I do not suppose my quantity buttons have ever seen a lot use from a single videogame. The sound mixing is wildly inconsistent—cutscene conversations ramped up in quantity till my audio system have been vibrating, whereas attempting to snoop on one other timeline’s dialog or perhaps a dialogue between characters in my present timeline was quiet as a mouse.
It was all of the extra annoying as a result of these random NPC conversations went a good distance in doing a little much-needed worldbuilding. A gaggle of workers rallying for a four-day workweek affords perception right into a extra unpopular aspect of college president Yasmin, whereas whispers amongst college students forming alliances for a campus-wide sport of Murderer is a pleasant unrelated glimpse at school life.
If not for the subtitles, I might have commonly missed these conversations occurring. Even then, I discovered myself impatiently tapping my foot throughout irritating gaps of silence between every NPC’s line of dialogue, making me suppose the dialog had abruptly concluded earlier than they jumped again in, appearing like they hadn’t simply spent the final 5 seconds staring into the void.
Sizzling shot
I say that it is much-needed worldbuilding, as a result of Double Publicity is full of fascinating ideas and a narrative that, at instances, had me on the sting of my seat. The ending of the second chapter had me significantly excited, and did in the end conclude in a manner that I felt glad with. But it surely additionally typically fails to behave on its extra fascinating setups. A personality I had anticipated to stay round for the period is abruptly wiped from existence, by no means to be talked about once more.
A very damning implication of messing round with timelines had me hoping it could turn out to be a significant plot level, just for it to by no means resurface. Extra fascinating questions round powers and utilizing them responsibly start to emerge in direction of the tip of the sport, however it’s clearly completed to arrange a sequel reasonably than to instantly present any solutions. Selections additionally in the end do little or no to impression any of the bigger narrative moments, with main selections principally being relegated to altering tiny, non-intrusive sub-sub-subplots.
Double Publicity additionally has the occasions of the primary sport lingering within the background. Personally, I feel it was dealt with properly. For the file, I am coming at this as somebody who exists in a “sacrifice Chloe” headcanon, and I did not have sufficient time to run via the entire thing once more with Chloe nonetheless kicking about on the planet. However watching Max navigate her trauma, typically in very unhealthy methods, was refreshingly practical.
Small throwbacks just like the storm and voice snippets of Chloe’s unlucky lavatory encounter with Nathan Prescott are dropped in often, in a manner I by no means really feel overstays its welcome. Later segments the place Max explores her trauma extra deeply have been impactful moments, simply the correct quantity of punch the place I felt like Deck 9 wasn’t leaning too closely on Do not Nod’s work.
In the end, as somebody who’s been round Max’s age for each of those video games, I could not assist however really feel a sure kinship via Double Publicity. I noticed elements of myself mirrored in her, now all grown up—her heightened confidence and self-assuredness, whereas nonetheless carrying the vulnerabilities of her previous and the following emotional wall she holds round her.
It is good to see a sport with some fairly agency bisexual illustration, too. Whereas it was type of there within the authentic, it’s miles simpler to play Max as overtly bi in Double Publicity. She has the chance to romance each a female and male character—whereas I nonetheless perceived the sport as leaning extra in direction of the feminine romance, it nonetheless felt significantly extra balanced than the primary sport—and a complete scene is devoted to which college she’d fortunately get down and soiled with.
The remainder of the solid finally ends up principally likeable too: Amanda performs the cool barkeep exceptionally, half-charmer half-douche Vihn nonetheless makes his mark even when I discovered him underutilised, and Moses actually grew on me as Max’s companion. Safi is well probably the most fascinating character on supply, although. Even when her character growth is basically again loaded and somewhat rushed, she’s nonetheless by far my favorite of the bunch, with Olivia AbiAssi shining within the function and doing rather a lot to carry her persona to life.
In the end, although, I really feel like plenty of these characters did not have time to completely develop. I ponder if having two timelines—and subsequently two branching character developments—hampered the story greater than serving to it. Coupled with Double Publicity’s parallel narrative arc being somewhat too related and on the nostril for my liking at instances, and I’ve to surprise if we wanted a sequel in any respect.
The reply might be no, however I could not assist however discover myself invested nonetheless. A part of that will have been nostalgia-driven, however I nonetheless discovered myself exploring each nook and cranny and eavesdropping on each aspect dialog for just a bit extra of that worldbuilding.
Actually, I feel Double Publicity would have been higher served by nixing a number of of its help solid. Above all, it completely ought to have taken its main ideas that it begins to develop in later chapters and made them the forefront of the story from the get-go. As a substitute, I suppose we’ll be ready for Life is Unusual: Triple-base ISO.
