What Does It Mean For Life Is Strange That “Max Caulfield Will Return”?
Please click away if you haven’t finished Life is Strange: Double Exposure.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure ends on an unambiguous promise of a sequel. Safi leaves Caledon University, telling Max she’s going to find other people with powers and then come back. There’s also a screen that says “Max Caulfield will return”, the same way Marvel movies say “Spider-Man will return” or “The Avengers will return” after a movie ends.
The ‘X will return’ thing started before Marvel, but it’s probably the franchise that has used it the most often.
Like many other things in Double Exposure, it’s a little indelicate and cringey, but does what it intends to: it tells the player that Max, the favourite character of many Life is Strange fans, will continue to feature in upcoming games.
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Max Caulfield Will Be In Future Life Is Strange Games
Deck Nine bringing Max Caulfield back as protagonist at all was already pretty controversial. A lot of fans were outraged at the decision, as Life is Strange has traditionally been an anthological series with a new protagonist each time, and Deck Nine wasn’t even the original creator of the character.
The original developer was Don’t Nod, which left the series behind after Life is Strange 2 out of a desire to own and publish its own work, instead of giving up creative control to publisher Square Enix. This did mean leaving the IP in Square’s hands, though, and it felt a little like nostalgia-bait when Deck Nine announced Max would be returning as the game’s protagonist.
There’s been a lot of hate directed at the Double Exposure devs – so much that the series’ original director spoke out and defended Deck Nine, despite admitting that he wouldn’t have “written things the same way”.
Now, considering everything, it does seem like Max is being set up as the protagonist of future Life is Strange games, and Safi will either be an ally or an antagonist, depending on your final choice. We’ve already been told outright that Safi will return to Caledon, but we don’t know when.
There are a lot of ways this premise could be twisted – maybe Safi will be the protagonist, and Max will be relegated to a side character. Maybe Max will live her life for another decade, and Safi will show up unexpectedly to wreck things. Maybe we’ll just never see Safi again. Who knows?
It’s hard not to see Safi as a Magneto sort of character – or maybe Mystique is a more apt comparison. She thinks people with powers are superior to regular humans and shouldn’t have to live in fear, so she’s looking for others to join her cause. She’s also largely fuelled by a desire for vengeance, so there’s that.
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Other Characters Could Return Too
In an interview with Inverse, game director Jonathan Stauder says there’s a chance we’ll see other characters return. Since the canon is so flexible, “There’s a lot of flexibility and freedom there to explore different stories, bringing back past characters and integrating them with new ones.”
I’m sure that’s going to upset a lot of fans. It makes me a bit uncomfortable, too. While I’m pretty satisfied with the way Max’s character was handled in Double Exposure, and I think the exploration of how morality works when you have superpowers was very interesting, the idea of this (again, traditionally anthological series) turning into an interconnected universe with returning characters and people with superpowers being pitted against each other feels like it’s straying from the deeply personal, intimate soul of the series.
What’s more, it feels explicitly like it’s choosing to move away from new, original stories in favour of familiar, beloved characters out of a need for safety. Pissing Life is Strange fans off by leaving Chloe out of Double Exposure wasn’t exactly safe, but showing Max Caulfield as the protagonist again definitely drummed up a lot more interest than a new game in the series otherwise would have, especially considering that True Colors was considered by many to be a relatively lacklustre instalment to the series.
It feels a little like the series is getting MCU-ified, and not just because of the “X will return” trope. As the stakes increase, the games will have to expand in ambition, and I’m not sure that’s in keeping with the spirit of the series. And if the games hone in on Max as a protagonist, they necessarily neglect creating new characters and telling new types of stories. I don’t want to watch Max live through the same story a third time.
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 POWER
Max is thrust into a thrilling supernatural murder mystery – more dangerous than ever before!
TRAVERSE TWO TIMELINES
Forge allies and pursue suspects across two versions of reality, shaping both timelines through unforgettable choices.
RACE AGAINST TIME
A 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 CALEDON
Explore two versions of a vivid winter campus, each packed with clues, secrets, and tough decisions.