French studio Dontnod Entertainment has achieved worldwide fame with Life is Strange, an episodic adventure game released back in 2015. The team later came up with Vampyr, and action and adventure RPG which wasn’t half-bad either.
And now as the Paris-based outfit it putting the finishing touches on the upcoming Life is Strange 2, it has also found time to share details on its upcoming project Twin Mirror.
This will also be an adventure game, and one set in the fictitious West Virginia location of Basswood. This is a former industrial town riddled with high unemployment (which has certainly seen better times), and to which protagonist Samuel Higgs is returning to in order to mourn the death of his best friend.
In a preview video, the team at Dontnod revealed more details about the game’s setting and concept, in particular how it takes inspiration from film noir according to the game’s producer Helene Henry.
“There are certain elements of the game that echo film noir. It’s about a hero who is adrift, helpless, and at the mercy of a complex situation not entirely of his own making”, says Henry in the video.
Also, like Life is Strange this will likely present you with plenty of gut-wrenching decisions to make, while character relationships will also be a key aspect of the game, something Dontnod’s lead writer Matthew Ritter elaborates on.
“To me a noir story is a story about people, it’s about characters interacting with each other in a very intimate and emotional way, and how that can get very dark sometimes”, Ritter says.
As seen in earlier previews, Twin Mirror will also emphasize investigative work in its gameplay, something that makes sense taking into account that the game’s main character is an investigative reporter.
This will also likely feature the dream sequences and surreal elements many players enjoyed in the earlier Life is Strange. Actually, main character Samuel Higgs is seen glancing at the horizon in some sort of fantasy location (floating rocks can be seen in the distance) in the announcement trailer above, meaning this will also include fantasy elements, likely making the story even more interesting to follow through.
It remains to be seen whether Dontnod can find the necessary inspiration and release another great game, something we’ll find out when Twin Mirror hits shelves in 2019.