Sq. Enix held a particular livestream right now for Life is Unusual: Double Publicity, which was revealed throughout final week’s Xbox Video games Showcase. The 48-minute presentation sits down with the sport’s builders and performers to shed new gentle on Max Caulfield’s return to the franchise and her new powers whereas exhibiting off prolonged gameplay.
The story seemingly unfolds a couple of years after the occasions of Life is Unusual. Max has moved distant from Arcadia Bay for a contemporary begin and now works as an artist-in-residence at Caledon College in upstate Vermont. She has sworn to by no means use her time-rewind capability once more, and hasn’t for the reason that first sport’s conclusion. Regardless of this, Max’s energy has advanced. She will now journey between two timelines, a capability referred to as Shift. Sadly, she solely discovers this energy after stumbling upon the sudden homicide of her new buddy, Safi.
Deck 9, who developed Life is Unusual: Earlier than the Storm and True Colours, describes the sport as a supernatural homicide thriller. Max will journey throughout two realities: her current one and an alternate timeline the place Safi remains to be alive however very a lot in peril. Within the actuality the place Safi is killed, Max should discover the wrongdoer. Within the timeline the place Safi lives, she should stop her homicide. Fixing and stopping the identical crime includes looking for clues throughout each timelines and interacting with two variations of each character, whose habits and relationship to Max adjustments based mostly on the timelines, circumstances, and your decisions. Like True Colours, Double Publicity is a single launch divided into episodes.
After all, the million-dollar query for followers is how Double Publicity addresses Life Is Unusual’s two endings. Deck 9 states the sport features a dialog between Max and Safi about Arcadia Bay, which is able to permit gamers to choose the ending they selected. This primarily determines Double Publicity’s canon, and your alternative of ending might be mirrored in Max’s ideas, journals, textual content messages, and conversations with characters going ahead. An instance we see is a dialog the place Safi asks Max who “the blue-haired woman” is to her, presenting a alternative to ascertain Chloe’s relationship to Max.
When it comes to gameplay, Max has misplaced her unique time-rewind energy. As an alternative, she will instantaneously swap timelines in sure spots to discover two variations of the identical area. She’ll use this energy to resolve puzzles and circumnavigate inaccessible areas (for instance, a locked door in a single timeline could also be unlocked—or Max learns the right way to unlock it—within the different one). She will additionally use a “pulse” capability to increase her supernatural senses to find out weak factors between the timelines, permitting her to see and listen to ghostly glimpses of individuals and objects within the alternate actuality with out Shifting to it. Utilizing this, she will listen in on characters within the different timeline for intel and stealthily observe suspects.
After all, past the homicide thriller, Max should take care of the social drama of engaged on a university campus. As its artist-in-residence, she serves as a mentor determine to youthful college students, which she could or could not use to her benefit. An prolonged gameplay video exhibits Max hanging out with Safi and her greatest buddy Moses to look at a meteor bathe. Along with exhibiting off a few of the decisions that may steer this scene in numerous instructions, we additionally see Max’s digital camera come into play, the place she will seize photographs of her associates. We additionally see the occasions main as much as Safi’s homicide.
Life is Unusual: Double Publicity appears to be like promising, and as a fan of the unique, I am wanting ahead to hanging with Max once more and fixing a brand new thriller. It launches on October 29 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Collection X/S, and PC.
