![]() 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. The number of threads laid down that lead to nothing would make Mass Effect 3 blush. I managed to finish Twin Mirror in six hours. Furthermore, what little we get of Sam’s dark side is hardly resolved nor is it expanded upon in any meaningful way. While the game explores the dark side of Sam briefly, it resolves things way too soon. Immediately we start seeing the threads being laid down that are never satisfied. 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. 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. We’re immediately taken back to the bar and Sam throws on his Sherlock Holmes hat to find clues. Even something that could be used as a great narrative hook falls flat. Showing up at the wake, Sam gets drunk and wakes up the following morning with blood all over his shirt. In fact, the protagonist talks about it more than anyone actually affected by the coal mine’s closure. Unfortunately, this amounts to about three small encounters that go absolutely nowhere and only inhibit Sam’s progress once. It’s built up everyone hates Sam and that’s why he left town, leaving the expectation that this will hinder Sam’s investigation. For a West Virginian town, that’s pretty damning. 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. However, it’s also a place he accesses to explore a darker side of his mind. This is kind of what Sam does when he enters The Mind Palace. 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. The Mind Palace is a place in the game where Sam goes to piece together information or remember things. There to attend his best friend Nick’s funeral, he ignores his phone and the funeral to enter his mind palace. 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 dodging texts from old friends trying to get him to come to his friend’s funeral. 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. Pitched as a thriller, Twin Mirror could have leveraged this into something exciting, getting the story moving immediately. 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 jumps straight to the montage. 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 seems rushed right from the get-go. However, with Twin Mirror, I could tell something was wrong. Twin mirror is no exception, having you control the protagonist and make decisions in the world that are supposed to impact the outcome. ![]() Most of Dontnod’s titles share the same gameplay, a 3D version of a point-and-click adventure game with branching dialogue choices. Having recently played Tell Me Why, Dontnod’s release just before Twin Mirror, I felt like Dontnod was on a roll. Life is Strange, another Dontnod title is one of the most compelling games I’ve played in almost a decade. ![]() Dontnod Entertainment’s latest offering into the adventure game genre, Twin Mirror, left me utterly disappointed. ![]()
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