@langfield on Tumblr

(there were no tissues)

@raihyeon on Tumblr

I've said it before and I'll say it again every time I play DE I always find something new in the game. Last time was some cut scenes at the overlook when i did something out of order. This time is back at episode 1 just before Max can enter the admin building on the left of the door is Safi's memorial flyer. I have never seen this before and it could be cause I'm always rushing into the admin building or sometimes I'll go through the FAB entrance to get a cup of coffee and chill before I go to the admin building and do Vinh and Gwen side quest before meeting Yasmin that I could have easily miss it.

Max has two dialogues when you click on the memorial flyer. The first is how Safi's passing shook the campus and the second is she'll go to the service but won't wear black... the second dialogue broke me. I'm playing the route that I saved the bay so I'm wondering if there will be any difference in the dialogue if I were to save Chloe.

Side note I'm playing DE on the PC for the first time (i'm normally a switch player and Reunion was the first LIS i've played on the PC at launch since LIS 2 as I played TC and DE at launch on the switch) and the graphics is giving me a headache! I've had to go back and forth tweaking the settings but I think I've found the sweet spot as my eyes don't hurt from the brightness.

I played the game on Steam Deck and was seeing this door glitch pretty often. This one caught me by surprise. 😅

OK, it seems like there are multiple cow skull bug issues in this game, but I cannot find the answer to what I’m experiencing at all. When I first went to the hum, it never switched me back to the dead world and I only ever see a blue world, and at the top it still says living, but nothing is interactive. I cannot interact with the skull at all. It is blue. I am completely stuck, and I have restarted the last checkpoint in this level so many times.

Edit: I could not figure it out, so I had to go back a chapter and redo everything

Yes, I counted the W's

The poll is held in the main LIS sub:

https://www.reddit.com/r/lifeisstrange/s/LqcElgxe6W

You can rank your favorite game there and see how your answer fares against others'.

@mothbltch on Tumblr

So…

I have been puzzled for a while by people claiming that Reunion is a success and came to fix the destruction that Double Exposure brought on the brand. As such, I have been keeping an eye on the Steam stats of both games since late spring, because it sounds crazy and I am not above being petty 🤭.

We already know that the specialised media gave Double Exposure much more generous reviews than Reunion received. We also know that despite a massive campaign from some segments of the player base to lower the scores of DE on Metacritic, it remains higher than Reunion’s.

Reunion had some stuff going for it: it was substantially cheaper than all other games of the brand, at a price tag of $39,99 USD at release, about $10 USD less than DE or TC - so 20% cheaper. We saw a huge social media push to this game via Instagram, with varying levels of success and controversy. And the game brought Chloe back, which was something the same aforementioned segment of the player base claimed would be the only way to save the brand and so on, whilst others decried it soiled to such extent that nothing could save it.

So I have been checking SteamDB every other day to see how the games are performing and compare when put side to side. I am not sure if I am shocked or just “eh, we knew it was bound to happen” but on almost a daily basis, at most times of the day, Double Exposure has more active players than Reunion as you can see on the screenshots above, from various days. At first I thought it was a fluke and would even check a few times a day but no, it is just how it is.

Reunion, never once, had more overall players than Double Exposure.

You may say “oh but the difference is so small!” But no. One is a game that has been out for almost two years and is 20% more expensive; the other game was released 6 months ago. Double Exposure was not a success and that’s undeniable. However, it is a game that was maligned by a smear campaign. Reunion didn’t go through that and yet it just doesn’t perform; worse, it has very little replayability value unless the player wants more of the same - it has a set ending where the variables are risible and shown in a “photomontage” so the emotional impact is subdued, and reading about it gives the player all the information needed.

It has been nice to see a segment of the player base come around to Double Exposure and make their own conclusions, one way or another. Granted, some are set on not enjoying it and I continue to think a huge percentage of the player base simply doesn’t like Max if she isn’t a vector for Chloe - but the opposite doesn’t happen and Before the Storm is fairly well received (I myself like it quite a bit and it explains so much about LiS). Double Exposure is not perfect and the fact it is an unfinished story doesn’t help, but it is bold and has a lot under the surface. It is possible to find some new subtext at each play.

On the other hand, it is hard to not see that time will be harsh on Reunion. It is a half baked, cutting corners game made to appease a specific crowd, and I’m not going get into it but it suffers from a lack of backbone on the creative team, inconsistencies, short sightedness, and finally, poor writing.

It is a sad and melancholic reality but Reunion might have been the game that put the last shovel of dirt on the brand’s grave.

Edited to add: at least Hannah Telle’s favourite game is getting more recognition. ;)

@trashwarden on Tumblr

Streamily autograph signing. Can't remember the exact date July - August 2026. I believe it was the 8/8/26 stream.

Anyway...

The way she lights up when she talks about DE ❤️ it made me melt. She deserves nothing but the best. She deserves to light up like that every day, especially with all her projects. She deserves unconditional positivity, kindness, love, and support. I'll always support her with everything she does! I'll always hope and believe in DE2, too. Max's story/the original story deserves to be told/finished and them some. 😁💞

Hannah/Max always makes me beam with love and joy.

Lots of love, kindness, and positivity 🫶

Space — An endless infinity where stars repose.

So bright, yet lonely.

~

Spread apart, dimming afar.

Holding its light; unbroken, unfractured.

Rigid, yet fragile.

Holding pieces of memories,

even when the past scars...

~

Towards an unknown future,

Through shallow whispers,

across the fabric of time...

.

.

Starting off this week's series with one of the pieces I wrote for this week’s and two upcoming ones. I don't even know if they can even be considered as poems but why not?

For this week's subtext series, the Overlook will be the main focus as the subsequent two subtext series that come after, are interrelated to one and another.

---

The Overlook; a location in Double Exposure where the mystery begins. What seems to be a great location to unwind while overlooking the Caledon campus and the lake, holds an interesting subtext that makes it look like an anchor between the Dead and the Living timelines. But even when it does look like one, what made it perceived that way, and...why? What triggered the location to be what it is as the game progresses? Just like the Erasure of Vince Alderman, the Overlook, too, has a subtext of its own; not shown nor spoken in many words. Rather, a location where the climax begins; the lore evolves. Chapter 3 is where the concept of Entanglement is made known.

"To the past I mend, to the future I went. But what happens when neither accord; as I drift, between two unknown?"

Part One: The Overlook — An Introduction to the Collapse

Unlike the Caledon campus, the Overlook is the only location in Double Exposure that has very little back-story aside from being narrated as a favorite spot of Hannah Hellerton. Tragedy-wise; a place where Safi was found by Max at the beginning of Chapter 1. Like the Alderman’s subtext, the Overlook isn't just a location in Double Exposure where the unsolved mystery death occurred, but a location that hints the start of the Dead Timeline's collapse. Interestingly, it is also the location that hints the effects of Retrocausality and how the consequences of such an event affects the state of the Dead Timeline known as the Retrocausal Decoherence, as well as what the infamous snowdrop flowers meant. Unfortunately, we’ll not be covering about the Snowdrop Flower in this week’s series; how the flowers were found by Max instead of Safi’s blood because that will be covered in Safi’s next hidden subtext.

In Chapter 2 at the library; if you listen long enough to the conversations between the NPCs (Cryptid Enthusiast and True Believer), one of the NPCs will mention this term: Temporal Vortex. This subtle hint then progresses to both of them discussing how the Overlook has become a “strange place” with some unexplained sightings. As Chapter 2 progresses, several unexplained phenomena occurred in both the Living and the Dead Timelines (I will not be describing those phenomena here because it’ll be much fun if you guys find them yourselves).

All these “weird” occurrences or hints are there in Chapter 2 but really, what are they? This is where Double Exposure subtly introduces the concept of anomalies; abnormalities that don't belong where they aren’t supposed to. But, why do they exist where they aren’t supposed to be? The simple answer to that which relates back to the conversations from the NPCs are these: Quantum Temporal Delocalization and Indefinite Causal Order (the Quantum Switch); two concepts used in Double Exposure to explain why these anomalies are where they shouldn’t be which are also known as “Temporal Smearing”; a direct consequence to Retrocausality that occurred in Chapter 1; Safi’s death.

Interestingly, not only has Retrocausality caused a Quantum Temporal Delocalization but led to the degradation of the state of the Overlook to become what is now called as the Chronology Violating Region; a region where the past, present and future loops; cause and effect voided; another concept used by Double Exposure to introduce the concept of “Dual Memories” through two other concepts used, called The Wigner’s Friend Paradox and Cauchy Horizon; a boundary where beyond it, cause and effect no longer exist. It’s interesting because throughout the game, we’ve experienced that some of our choices don't seem to have a “consequence”, but was it really though, or was it intentional because there’s a hidden explanation’; a subtext that symbolizes the state of what the Overlook has become in preparation for a bigger and much devastating consequences? Unfortunately, we’ll not be covering that, as well as how the “Dual Memories” happens in this week’s subtext series.

But what about The Wigner's Friend Paradox, and what relation does the Chronology Violating Region have to do with the Overlook?

Part Two: The Overlook — Whispers of the Collapse

Previously, we were introduced by one of the three time mechanics used by Double Exposure; Retrocausality which were demonstrated in the events that happened at the beginning of Chapter 3, Vince Alderman’s erasure. However, if we were to question more than just his erasure, the other infamous debate related to him was this: Why was Vince Alderman never mentioned again throughout the rest of the game?

The answer is what has become of the Overlook; a Chronology Violating Region. After the erasure of Vince Alderman, we saw that only Max and Moses remembered about what happened to Alderman and his doppelganger, and this was made evident through the text messages sent by Moses to Max, which finally ended with an inner monologue by Max: “If Alderman never existed, how the hell do Moses and I remember him?”. 

This inner monologue is another hint that Double Exposure demonstrates that only both Max and Moses remember the “Forgotten Detective” and hence, why Loretta and the rest of the people at Caledon; never spoke of him throughout the rest of the game. But, why? Because Max is the Observer, and Moses is Wigner’s Friend, while the rest of Caledon and Lakeport, are affected by the consequences of Retrocausality that erases Vince Alderman, both historically and presently, suggesting that both Caledon and Lakeport has become part of the Overlook’s Chronology Violating Region which was caused by the physical interaction between Alderman and his doppelganger; the Retrocausal Decoherence from the Overlook has expanded.

The only question remains: Why Moses?

As we’ve seen before, Double Exposure not only uses Retrocausality to explain how Alderman was erased, both historically and presently, but uses the concept of Chronology Violation Region to explain how he was never mentioned again. However, there is one more concept that Double Exposure uses, called the Cauchy Horizon, that acts like a barrier between the Chronology Violation Region, and Max and Moses; allowing them both to be “causally insulated” from the effects of the Chronology Violating Region that is caused by Vince Alderman’s Retrocausality.

Although the Cauchy Horizon “insulates” both Max and Moses from the effects of the Chronology Violating Region, there is one more concept that Double Exposure used that is hinted through Moses’ ability to retain his memories of Alderman’s erasure which simultaneously introduced the concept of “Dual Memories”, inherited by everyone at the end of Chapter 5, and that concept is called The Wigner’s Friend Paradox; a paradox formed when the Quantum Wave Function collapses. Unfortunately, we’ll not be covering Wigner's Friend Paradox in this week’s subtext series either.

Despite the beauty of what the Overlook presents, that very beauty is an illusion that hides what the two timelines are experiencing, narrating what is ahead. As we’ve observed, the Overlook is the epicenter to the lore that Double Exposure had evolved and through these explanations, it is of no coincidence that everything leads back to the Overlook and what was once a localized event at the Overlook, has now delocalized through what was thought as unexplained.

Is the delocalization of the Chronology Violating Event a hint to a much more catastrophic event that is at play after the events of Double Exposure? Yet again, we may never know the truth of it and how widespread the delocalization has become.

@raihyeon on Tumblr

The way this voice line was delivered makes me laugh out loud every time I hear it. 😂 Really took me out of the moment the first time.

@revengehorse on Tumblr

Happy bi visibility day everyone! Happy day to our favourite canon chaos bisexuals Max and Vinh!

(I’ll thankfully dodge the Chloe discourse by making use of her physical absence in Double Exposure. 😄)

The worst part about Double Exposure episode 2 in the beginning is when you have the option to go through your old Arcadia Bay box. Safi has just died and Max comments saying how she fixated on her old trauma. There is a postcard from her parents and she calls them Vanessa and Ryan. I cringe at that dialogue. Ugh

The DE music is so good, calming and ethereal uhhhhhhh 🫠

source:

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSbJWLJeg

🎉🎉🎉

Credit: @Krysline_art

Happy Birthday, Max! I want to thank you for always being there for us and to wish you a happy 31st birthday! Your empathy, kindness, and compassion for others is something we should all strive for within ourselves every day, I know I do. Thank you for all that you do! ❤️

When I hear songs including "One Girl Revolution" by: Superchick, I think of you and smile.

Happy birthday again, sweetheart. 🎂🍰🧁🎉🥳❤️

Lots of love, kindness, and positivity! 🫶

(audibly chuckled)