‘Life Is Strange’ creator criticises “hateful” backlash to ‘Double Exposure’

The creator of the original Life Is Strange has spoken out against the “hateful” backlash to Double Exposure.

• READ MORE: ‘Life Is Strange: True Colors’ review: as beautiful as it is heart-wrenching

Michel Koch worked as game director on 2015’s Life Is Strange and the 2018 sequel before developers Deck Nine took over for 2021’s True Colors and the recently released Double Exposure.

Double Exposure sees the return of Max Caulfield, the protagonist of the first game, but there’s been no mention of their partner Chloe Price. A number of players have also paid for early access to the game and have been spoiling a number of plot points on social media, which has annoyed a lot of fans.

Writing on X, Koch said: “Since the release of Life Is Strange: Double Exposure I’ve seen a lot of tension and hateful messages against Deck Nine devs. I didn’t play the game yet, and I have no idea where they are taking the story but what I know is that nothing justifies hating on people for how they wrote their game!”

Since the release of LiS DE I’ve seen a lot of tension and hateful messages against deck nine devs.

I didn’t play the game yet, and I have no idea where they are taking the story.
But what I know is that nothing justifies hating on people for how they wrote their game!

— Michel Koch (@DONTNOD_Michel) October 19, 2024

“You can be disappointed, you can want other narratives for those characters you love, or different stories but ultimately creation is hard and very subjective,” he continued. “If Double Exposure’s story does not please you, it does not erase what you imagined.” Koch added that the reason he didn’t make a direct sequel to Life Is Strange is so he didn’t “rob” fans of their “head canon”.

He went on to say that “we would not have written things the same way,” but that has been true of every Life Is Strange game. “I’m pretty sure when I play the full game I won’t recognise my characters but that’s also inevitable with different writers.”

Life Is Strange: Double Exposure is released tomorrow (October 29). Meanwhile, Koch is currently working on Lost Records: Bloom & Rage. “Film your summer of 1995 and create memories of a lifetime with your new friends. 27 years later, confront the dark secrets that made you all promise to never speak again after that fateful summer,” reads the description, with the game set for a February 2025 release.

In other news, the team behind Borderlands are doing everything in their power to show the upcoming Borderlands 4 to a terminally ill fan.

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