Life is Strange Fans Are Unhappy with Absurd Early Access. Players Claim Developers Broke Their Promise
Life is Strange: Double Exposure captivated gamers with its storyline, but fans are annoyed with early access, and on top of that, some people are complaining that one of the endings of the first installment of the series was treated too lightly.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure has entered Early Access. The new installment of the adventure series, in which the heroine of the first part returns, will debut on October 29, but the game is already available to buyers of the "definitive" edition of the new Life is Strange.
Very early access
The so-called new early access (as opposed to the classic early access) has been controversial from the start, but publishers are increasingly using this solution. The same is true for the new Life is Strange.
Fans of the series mainly point out the absurdly long EA period, because regular players have to wait as much as 2 weeks longer to independently get to know the new chapter of the series' history. Usually, new early access only gives a few days of advantage, less often about a week. In the meantime, LiS fans will have the "fun" of avoiding spoilers from the Double Exposure's plot.
What further irritates the fans is that the publisher justifies Early Access with the intention of "enabling fans to theorize" on how the story of Life is Strange will develop further. Early Access does not enable us to check the entire game at this point. Buyers of the Ultimate Edition can only play 2 out of 5 chapters of Double Exposure.
Even if there is some sense in these explanations, fans do not take the developers' story at face value. Especially since – in line with the new early access practice – the “final” release of Life is Strange: Double Exposure will cost us almost extra $20 on all platforms.
"Beta tests"...
The complaints about Life is Strange: Double Exposure do not end with early access. It's not that the title doesn't receive praise, because 71% positive reviews on Steam can hardly be considered a disaster. However, buyers of the Ultimate Edition have some reservations.
A less surprising issue is the criticism of the optimization and visuals. Some players are reporting various bugs – from "posing" characters to problems with saving the game to too frequent crashes. So, as has happened before with new early access in other games, buyers of the more expensive edition feel like beta testers who have paid extra to the devs.
... and the non-canonical canon
What irritates the fans more is the approach to the ending of the first Life is Strange In Double Exposure. Without going into details, in June the developers assured that instead of imposing one canonical ending, they will "respect" the players' choice. In other words, both endings of the "first" story will be equally true.
The problem is that apparently the promise was not kept. Fans who have read the first chapters note with regret that Double Exposure did not "respect" one of the endings of the original Life is Strange. It's not absent - it's one of two choices that can be replayed at the start of the game - but, according to complaining internet users, it's been neglected compared to the alternative option.
This is precisely the topic that most often appears in negative reviews on Steam, alongside technical issues. Not all players judge the creators' decision as critically, and there is no shortage of people praising the plot on social media. Nonetheless, some fans feel cheated by the creators.
