Twin Mirror (2020)

First Tell Me Why and now this, I am confident that Life is Strange was a total fluke where everything came together perfectly as a one-off fluke. DONTNOD's game sits in the "one hit wonder" territory for me.

I hated everything this game did; the voice acting, the characters, the story, the mini-games in your mind, the way the motion capture feels out synch and speeds along and variable frame rates (snap with the lip-synch). Narrative focused games are my thing and this was just a dull experience.

People say Vampyr is decent so I'll give them a benefit of the doubt but I'd like something just competent from them as a next game.

I always enjoy DONTNOD's games, from Remember Me to Life Is Strange to Vampyr (I haven't played Tell Me Why, as I don't have an Xbox) - they always do something interesting even if the result is a little flawed.

Unfortunately this feels like a bit of a step back for them - it's a polished and enjoyable experience, but ultimately doesn't break the mould too much (unlike Vampyr in particular, which was a buggy mess but full of innovation). The story is serviceable, but is really just a framing device around the analytical/social mechanics (the latter of which isn't really used much - felt like a social "puzzle" could have been implemented to mirror the analytical ones but it's really just simple dialogue choices).

I enjoyed searching for clues and testing hypotheses to find the solution, though the length of the game doesn't really allow for this mechanic to be fully explored. I also felt like the length of the game held back the characters a little, as there's barely a chance to learn about them outside of the first couple of chapters (you can learn more by reading about them from the menu, but that's not a very interesting way to experience characters and I didn't pay it much attention).

Minor spoiler - the game makes a point of telling you that the killer is somebody who you already know, but doesn't really spend any time giving you a reason to suspect anyone until their identity is unceremoniously revealed - would have liked at least a couple of red herrings to spice things up a bit

At the end of the day, I enjoyed it but I'm glad I waited for a sale.

This is not a good game.

The 'mind palace' mechanic is actually very interesting and the obvious evolution of the investigation scenes on Batman: Arkham Origins and Arkham Knight, but is barely used and the gams is too small and short to give it a good use.

Nothing else works here. The plot and characters are boring, the main mechanic is pixel hunting and the animations are robotic and unnatural. There's no reason for this to be a videogame. This plot should belong to a low budget direct to video film or to a cheap airport novel.

Read my full review in spanish here.

I've been looking forward to playing this game since it was announced. I am a big fan of the first Life is Strange and this game seemed like a return of DONTNOD to the kind of mystery centered with a side dish of personal relationships games that LiS was. It unfortunately launched to pretty bad reviews, but at that point I was in too deep in the hype and I played it anyways... and I'm glad I did!

It is however a very clear step back from Life is Strange. For starters, it's considerably shorter. I do like short games and I actually prefer to end the game wanting more than to go through a game that overstayed its welcome. It does feel like the characters, relationships and especially the mystery could've benefitted from more time to develop, but I still felt like each character was unique, real and well portrayed. It is also a much smaller scope that LiS. There's one main plot that the game never deviates from, and all the side stories and characters are not much more than a short conversation here and there. There's also only one major decision that actually kind of dramatically changes the ending (I only learned this by watching some videos, I almost thought my ending was the only ending that existed) and a series of small decisions that also impact the ending. There are some other decisions through the game but I felt like none of them really changed anything besides maybe a dialogue line here and there.

I also found the main character to be relatable, something I also did in LiS and it was a major contribution to my enjoyment of that game (and I think my lack of enjoyment of other DONTNOD's games). He is a 30-something man returning to his small hometown after escaping from it, which may not sound that relatable, but, as someone who has always lived in the same big city, the themes of regret, reconnection and 'coming back home' feel universal.

Overall, if you like murder mysteries and enjoy the king of games DONTNOD's makes, I suggest this game. It is not as great as LiS, but it's a perfectly good game and a nice short 'snack' between other games.