As a certified Grinch and a known horror lover, Halloween is my Christmas. This time of year is my excuse to force all my friends to watch obscure, terrifying movies with me. But as I’ve admitted time and time again, as much as my friends have tried to convince me to stream horror games onDiscordfor their viewing pleasure, I simply can’t play horror games. For that reason, I’m always looking for alternatives that gesture towards the general mood and vibe of Halloween, but don’t actually scare me.
Life is Strange: Double Exposureprobably isn’t going to strike anybody as a Halloween game, at least not at first. It’s not scary, and it doesn’t even take place in October – it actually takes place in December, and the game is appropriately wintery. Double Exposure’s Vermont is blanketed in white snow, its residents are bundled up in thick coats, beanies, and gloves, and there’s always a fire lit somewhere to keep the students of Caledon University toasty and warm.
Minor spoilers for Life is Strange: Double Exposure.
Christmas Or Krampus?
But in many ways, Double Exposure toes the line between cosy and spooky with delicacy. One big part of this is that it manipulates its wintry setting very well. For one, traditionally, Caledon University doesn’t throw a Christmas party, it throws a Krampus party. Historically, Krampus is a pagan (possibly pre-Christian) figure who punishes badly behaved children. In traditional parades, guys dressed as Krampus try to scare their audience.
At Caledon, this mostly entails one poor student having to wear a very stinky Krampus mask, and nontraditional decorations being put up in the nearby bar – Amanda, the bartender, sets up a motion-activated Krampus figurine that scares the life out of passersby. It feels less holiday cheer and more Halloween party, making its October release surprisingly apt.
A Winter Murder
But another big part of what makes Double Exposure a great Halloween game is the twisty murder mystery at its centre. In a lot of ways, this new instalment to the Life is Strange series echoes the first – Max Caulfield uses her powers in an attempt to save her kinda toxic, manipulative best friend from being murdered with a gun. A bunch of suspicious teachers are involved, and the death of this best friend’s former best friend hangs over everything. It’s all very familiar.
That doesn’t make the murder mystery less emotionally effective, though. Woven throughout the story is a ton of tension and intrigue – the game, appropriately, revolves around this bizarre mystery and the inexplicable things that happen in the course of Max’s investigation.
Max encounters horror and the incomprehensible again and again, having to tease apart these clues and parse the impossible. She watches Safi die, flowers blooming in the shape of her corpse where her body fell, even sees people disappearing into thin air. She doesn’t know who to trust, and has to find her way through two different timelines while simultaneously coping through the grief of losing her friend. In one scene, she runs through the woods, pursuing a carbon copy of herself, surrounded only by snow, dead trees, and silence. The last episode is a surreal, almost nightmarish trek through her trauma. With different framing and a little nudging, Double Exposure could have been a horror game.
Thankfully, it’s not, and that means I can enjoy it without nearly breaking my controller in half out of fear. If you’re looking for a game with spookiness in the air but no real scares, Life is Strange: Double Exposure is here for you.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure
WHERE TO PLAY
Max Caulfield, photographer-in-residence at the prestigious Caledon University, discovers her closest new friend, Safi, dead in the snow.Murdered.To save her, Max tries to Rewind time – a power she’s not used in years… instead, Max opens the way to a parallel timeline where Safi is still alive, and still in danger!Max realizes the killer will soon strike again – in both versions of reality.With her new power to Shift between two timelines – can Max solve and prevent the same murder?ORDINARY GIRL, EXTRAORDINARY POWERMax is thrust into a thrilling supernatural murder mystery – more dangerous than ever before!TRAVERSE TWO TIMELINESForge allies and pursue suspects across two versions of reality, shaping both timelines through unforgettable choices.RACE AGAINST TIMEA relentless detective has Max in his sights, and Safi’s killer grows closer with every clue uncovered. Can Max survive long enough – to do the impossible?DECIDE THE FATE OF CALEDONExplore two versions of a vivid winter campus, each packed with clues, secrets, and tough decisions.
