You don’t even see a lot of them in the second half of the game.īut with a disappointing lack of characterisation in Twin Mirror’s secondary characters comes an interesting revelation in its protagonist, Sam. You meet them all in the beginning first act, as subplots are seemingly introduced to be developed later, and then the game doesn’t follow through with it. It’s nice to have a mystery story which expands its cast so it isn’t just focused on a core few, but it’s not like anything ever happens with these people. Then there are the characters, of which there are quite a few of them. Instead, Twin Mirror puts you in the passenger seat for its entire mystery and it feels bad. That was a game where mistakes could be easily made during the infamous interrogation sequences, and potential outcomes were locked off if you underperformed. If you want to feel like you’re doing real detective work, you need to look at a game like L.A. Get some of the facts wrong and it’ll just tell you to fix it before letting you continue. It doesn’t make you feel like you’re doing an investigation at all, because Twin Mirror leaves you no room for failure. In terms of the latter, there are sequences where you explore the Mine Palace’s rough reconstruction of events that happened earlier, gather clues, and then logically conclude how they occurred. This also extends to the Mind Palace, Twin Mirror’s physical representation of Sam’s mind where he can recall distant memories and piece together scenes from the investigation. I’ve never known a game with five endings to feel so linear. I felt so restricted in how I approached the game, in which my two playthroughs of making different decisions still led me to the same outcome. They don’t even seem to have any immediate outcomes either, just small differences in dialogue that largely goes unnoticed.

It’s no surprise if you’re already familiar with previous Dontnod games, but most of the choices you make over the course of the story don’t affect the ending at all.

Each one is supposed to branch off the story and take it in new directions.Įxcept it doesn’t do that at all. Some of these moments also signal the appearance of the Double, an imaginative figure who offers some advice on the choice you’re about to make. There are moments on the story where you’re confronted with a decision to make: tell a lie or spill the truth, cover up a crime or report it to the police. Basswood, West Virginia heavily resembles the towns you see in popular crime shows such as Twin Peaks and Ozark, employing a rich cinematic feel throughout the entire experience thanks to its dramatic plot, moody lighting and overly-serious tone.Īs with many of its previous titles, making on-the-fly decisions is a crucial part of progressing Sam’s investigation. Twin Mirror is the latest of Dontnod’s signature ‘choices matter’ genre, now inspired by old crime thrillers set in the gritty reality of small-town America. He, along with his ex-girlfriend, are thrown into one dangerous situation after another as they dig deeper for a truth about Basswood’s seedy underbelly than was ever thought possible. When journalist Sam Higgs returns to his hometown of Basswood to attend a funeral, he suddenly becomes entwined in a mystery regarding the real cause of his friend’s death.

Twin mirror all endings