Overview: 3.0/5.0
Twin Mirror is the result of mixing the deductive work of Sherlock Holmes, the former mining town from Night in the Woods, and the nightmare sequence from the original Life is Strange.
Developer: DONTNOD
Genre: Adventure
Release Date: December 1st, 2020
Platform: PC, PS4, XBOXONE
Price: $29.99
Narrative
A journalist (Sam) returns to his small hometown and former mining community to attend a friend’s funeral. A family member begs him to investigate the death as a possible murder. Something strange is happening in this small town… did Nick get too close to the truth?
Okay, so the initial premise isn’t exactly original, but what if I told you that Sam continues to consult a hallucination for guidance on his next course of action? Or that Sam is the one that single-handedly destroyed the mining industry in Basswood and then skipped town? Or that Sam has the ability to enter a “mind palace” and “test” the results of different choices? See, now we’re getting somewhere.
Until we aren’t. This game isn’t really about the mystery. There’s no solving to be done. We follow a few leads to a single suspect and that’s kind of it. There’s nothing the player can do to piece it together. You can’t get it wrong. It just is what it is. There’s so much potential for Sam’s character as an investigative journalist with mind palace powers and the guidance of his imaginary friend, but this mystery was already solved by Nick and we’re just following in his footsteps.
Characters
The characters in this game definitely kept me playing until the end. In particular, Joan and Anna had fantastic character development, and it was refreshing to see a game where male and female characters were equally developed. Like everything else in this game, though, I wish it was taken further. In terms of understanding the people of Basswood, this game definitely lets the player do the work, rather than explaining every detail several times over. The game is fast-paced enough, though, that there’s not much time to absorb what you’ve learned and apply it to future decisions.
Mechanics
There are two primary mechanics in Twin Mirror: dialogue choices and the “mind palace.” Sam converses with “real” people in Basswood, as well as “him.” At first glance, the choices in this game don’t seem to affect the ending significantly. And they really don’t. This is yet another game with a series of choices that don’t seem to matter in the grand scheme of things. It’s only the final few choices that affect the ending. However, the game does break the mold in that the choices in the ending itself imply lasting changes for the people of Basswood.
I do appreciate that the central conflict of the game is reflected in the final choices and their consequences. A central theme throughout the game is the choice between (blissful?) ignorance as a part of society versus a solitary existence in possession of objective truth. True to this theme, the final choices really do ask the player to weigh the benefits of individual happiness against the prosecution of the “bad guys.” It’s unfortunate that so much narrative redemption occurs so late in the game. I would have loved to see that same attention to consequence applied throughout the game.
As for the mind palace, there are only a select few opportunities to utilize it during the game. During these sequences, the player can essentially use trial and error to either determine a past sequence of events or choose a course of action that will result in the desired outcome. This type of puzzle-solving isn’t new, but it’s fun and I wish this game had more of it. Moreover, I wish the game provided more flexibility in entering/exiting this play area. Twin Mirror dictates when you can enter the mind palace and only allows you to leave after finding the “right” solution, so there’s really no room for the player to make mistakes, which removes a lot of the game elements that are already sparse in this type of game.
Technical
Technical difficulties are never the most heavily-weighed category for our reviews. A game doesn’t have to be the latest and greatest tech-wise to be a good story or a good mystery or a good game in general. However, the glitches in this game went beyond lip sync and disappearing assets. There were a combination of bugs and intentional design choices that severely impacted the quality of the experience.
The hot spots on clues and other objects were much too small and only activated if only one was visible on the screen, making it extremely frustrating to position the character exactly right, particularly if multiple objects were in close proximity. In addition, the white UI text was frequently completely hidden in light-colored environments or when Sam was looking at a computer screen. Even walking seemed challenging. I wandered too far from the play area, it triggered a small but disorienting cutscene where Sam turned around and started walking back toward the relevant area. Walking along smaller paths was also difficult, which made any dexterity-based checks feel impossible.
Environment
Twin Mirror has some lovely environments. Throughout the game we get to explore a variety of locations in and around Basswood, including a crime scene, small-town main street, and a house that really feels lived in. The small details in these environments are great and contribute to the subtle storytelling beneath what’s communicated in dialogue and plot. Interacting with the environments is difficult at times, though, and the soundtrack was distracting and at times even grating, to the point where I disabled the music in the settings.
Conclusion
Twin Mirror takes a lot of tried-and-true concepts and rolls them up with some new twists and improvements over past iterations. Although, it feels like a near-final version of what could ultimately be a great game. DONTNOD has a history of making some great narrative games, but this one just fell a bit short of its potential. I would definitely be interested in returning to Basswood, though, for the promise of a real investigation with Sam, even as a prequel to the events of Twin Mirror. However, if you’re interested in a returning-home story with a mysterious death and supernatural memory powers, I’d recommend Tell Me Why instead.
