Dontnod Entertainment’s latest offering into the adventure game genre, Twin Mirror, left me utterly disappointed. Life is Strange, another Dontnod title is one of the most compelling games I’ve played in almost a decade. Having recently played Tell Me Why, Dontnod’s release just before Twin Mirror, I felt like Dontnod was on a roll. Most of Dontnod’s titles share the same gameplay, a 3D version of a point-and-click adventure game with branching dialogue choices. Twin mirror is no exception, having you control the protagonist and make decisions in the world that are supposed to impact the outcome. However, with Twin Mirror, I could tell something was wrong. Twin Mirror seems rushed right from the get-go. With most Dontnod titles we’re treated to an initial hook into the narrative before a title card and a montage with some indie music over the main characters doing something. Twin Mirror jumps straight to the montage. Likewise, throughout the game I was treated with less branching dialogue choices, instead, performing small puzzles that were more interested in having me find something than do something.
Twin Mirror
Developer: Dontnod
Price: $35
Platforms: PC (reviewed), PS4, Xbox One
Pitched as a thriller, Twin Mirror could have leveraged this into something exciting, getting the story moving immediately. But, it doesn’t. The montage is over and we’re brought to Lookout Point, which is a small scenic point that looks out over the West Virginian town of Basswood, in which the story takes place. Our protagonist is dodging texts from old friends trying to get him to come to his friend’s funeral. Opting instead to visit this scenic outlook and remember the past, where much of the story takes place, we start to see who the characters are that will be playing important roles in the story to come.
Our protagonist is named Sam Higgs. There to attend his best friend Nick’s funeral, he ignores his phone and the funeral to enter his mind palace. The Mind Palace is a place in the game where Sam goes to piece together information or remember things. What’s interesting about this is that The Mind Palace, also known as Method of loci, is a common memory enhancement technique that uses visualizations of familiar spatial environments to recall information. This is kind of what Sam does when he enters The Mind Palace. However, it’s also a place he accesses to explore a darker side of his mind. It’s established early that he wrote an article for the local newspaper that shook things up and got the local coal mine closed down. For a West Virginian town, that’s pretty damning. It’s built up everyone hates Sam and that’s why he left town, leaving the expectation that this will hinder Sam’s investigation. Unfortunately, this amounts to about three small encounters that go absolutely nowhere and only inhibit Sam’s progress once. In fact, the protagonist talks about it more than anyone actually affected by the coal mine’s closure.
Showing up at the wake, Sam gets drunk and wakes up the following morning with blood all over his shirt. Even something that could be used as a great narrative hook falls flat. We’re immediately taken back to the bar and Sam throws on his Sherlock Holmes hat to find clues. This is the most tedious part of the game and while you figure it out pretty quickly, it shows how loose the term ‘thriller’ is being used by Dontnod. My favorite thrillers don’t have the protagonist enter a room and push their bodies all over the game boundaries to find a single missing clue.
Immediately we start seeing the threads being laid down that are never satisfied. While the game explores the dark side of Sam briefly, it resolves things way too soon. Furthermore, what little we get of Sam’s dark side is hardly resolved nor is it expanded upon in any meaningful way. I managed to finish Twin Mirror in six hours. The number of threads laid down that lead to nothing would make Mass Effect 3 blush. Worst, there is an enormous cast of characters in this game, twenty-two to be precise, and so many used in only one or two scenes. What’s even the point of introducing so many characters that have no story payoff or lead-up even? One thing that Twin Mirror does really well is showing us where ambition and budget converge. Throw this one back in the oven, guys, it’s not done yet.
Graphically, this is the best looking Dontnod game I’ve played. The lip sync is a little off at times but overall, it’s a very beautiful game, and I even particularly like the UI. Choosing a minimalist look that barely makes itself known unless you’re specifically looking at something you can interact with or in an actual menu. When Sam receives a text message and a text conversation happens, they frame Sam beautifully on the left with the conversation on the right and it feels very natural. The sound design is alright but outside of the intro song, the music isn’t much to write home about. In fact, that’s another thing that makes this one of the most disappointing Dontnod games, the soundtrack. In their other adventure games, they have this transitionary ‘slice of life’ moments with a montage of the characters in transit with some poppy or sad indie music going in the background. These moments were scarce in Twin Mirror. It’s hard to say if these scenes were never intended to be in the game because it’s supposed to be a thriller or if they just didn’t have the budget to add them in. Either way, they’re missing, and it’s noticeable.
The Final Word
Twin Mirror is a must miss. While the story itself is somewhat interesting at times, the overall product is so lacking in substance that it makes you wonder why they even bothered to make this game. Even though Twin Mirror is listed as a thriller, there’s nothing really thrilling about it.
– MonsterVine Rating: 2.5 out of 5 – Medicore
