Advanced Access is the latest craze among publishers this year. Life is Strange: Double Exposure also offers paid early access and takes the model to the extreme.

The advanced access model has become as ingrained in the gaming landscape as the bloodsuckers on the dog.From Starfield to Star Wars Outlaws and the recently released Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, many AAA titles are now relying on the business of early access, for which users are asked to pay separately.

As of today, October 15, 2024, you can also play the new Life is Strange: Double Exposure – provided you put 80 euros on the virtual counter at Steam. Only buyers of the Ultimate Edition will get access to the game two weeks before the official release date at the end of October. However, there is a small catch – and it is not only financial.

No access to the whole game

Because if you buy the Ultimate Edition, you can only play the first two episodes of Double Exposure , not the whole game. The remaining three episodes will not be unlocked until October 29, the general release date for everyone. So you can’t get to the end of the game any sooner with early access.

The problem: This restriction is not communicated very transparently. Because on the Steam page for Double Exposure, next to the purchase button for the Ultimate Edition, it says: Pre-purchase this edition and play the game up to 2 weeks before release.

Unsuspecting buyers might expect to get access to the whole game by purchasing Advanced Access. The fact that the early access is only to chapters 1 and 2 is only revealed much further down on the Steam page.

These editions are available in Double Exposure:

What is Double Exposure about?

Double Exposure continues the story of Max Caulfield, the young photographer and heroine of the acclaimed first Life is Strange installment. Several years after the events in Arcadia Bay, Max is now a lecturer at Caledon University in Vermont. However, she has not been able to use her supernatural powers since the finale of the first part.

When Max finds her best friend Safi dead in the snow one day, she has to solve another mysterious murder. The Caledon campus also seems to be a hotspot for supernatural occurrences, because instead of jumping back in time, Max suddenly gains the ability to jump to a parallel world. A world in which her friend Safi is still alive…

When will our review be published?

Of course, we were also able to play Max Caulfield’s new adventure. However, since we have only been able to try out the first two chapters in a non-final version, our full review will follow closer to the launch date , when the other three episodes are also available. We want to experience the whole story before we give the game a rating.

In the meantime, however, we can already recommend our detailed preview of the game, which our colleague Mary wrote at gamescom. Life is Strange: Double Exposure is coming October 29, 2024 for PC, Playstation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.

What do you think of the advanced access model? A good thing for absolute hardcore fans or a questionable money-making scheme? Let us know in the comments.