Why ‘Life Is Strange’ Team Took on the ‘Challenges’ of Bringing Max Back for ‘Double Exposure’ 10 Years After That Split Ending

variety.com:

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Square Enix is set to release all the chapters for its latest “Life Is Strange” video game, “Double Exposure,” Tuesday, bringing fans back to the beloved indie franchise and rewarding them with the return of a fan favorite character, Max Caulfield.

But while it’s always nice to see a familiar face, the way that the “Life Is Strange” series left Max (voiced by Hannah Telle) at the end of the first game, which was released in 2015, didn’t exactly make for an easy return. (No spoilers, but the ending is a choose-your-own adventure style gameplay that gives players two different potential outcomes.) “Obviously, folks have had 10 years to sit with the end of that last game and live with that version of Max that they ended the game with,” “Life Is Strange: Double Exposure” game director Jon Stauder told Variety. “So there was always going to be a challenge in bringing Max back with that level of expectation, in addition to creating a game that could account for either outcome at the end of the first game that would be able to sustain and produce and create a whole new game around.

Those were huge challenges that just constantly presented issues that we just had to be on top of the entire time we were in production.” Narrative director Felice Kuan added: “There was also the fact that, because it’s been 10 years, we knew that we would have a mixed audience of people who have come to the franchise for the very first time, versus people who grew up with Max and have many thoughts about her and identify with her.

So we made sure that people who are new not only understand the facts of Max’s life, but also their emotional weight and impact.