Life is Strange Double Exposure: A retrospective look
What happened to Chloe in your Life Is Strange: Double Exposure playthrough? With the recent confirmation of a new Life is Strange coming in 2026, I find myself reflecting on my playthrough of Life Is Strange: Double Exposure and Chloe’s presence – whether she is alive or dead depending on your choices from the first Life is Strange [2015].
In my playthrough, Chloe was alive, but she and Max Caulfield were no longer in a romantic relationship but still in each other’s lives. However, if you chose to save Arcadia Bay in the first Life is Strange, that means Chloe, unfortunately, had to die and in Life is Strange: True Colors, Max is still grieving her loss.
During my playthrough, I remember there were folks who wished that Chloe and Max were still together if she were alive, and while the idea of that is lovely, I thought them not being together was actually more realistic and grounded.
In Life is Strange [2015], Max and Chloe went through so much, finding Rachel Prescott’s remains, exposing their teacher as a serial killer, bullying, peer pressure, and on top of that, if you chose to save Chloe, the deaths of everyone in Arcadia Bay. I always found Chloe and Max’s romance to be compelling and a beautiful coming of age story of self discovery, gaining confidence and their development into the individual artists they were.
I also thought their romance was developed, and exemplified the beauty of first love. But as their lives continued into adulthood Chloe realized that Max was very much planted in the past, while Chloe wanted to move forward, which considering Max sacrificed an entire town for Chloe can be a bit difficult to move on from. Sometimes people drift apart and that’s the hard part of life and something that must be grieved; which I do not think Max attempts to do.
The perspective I enjoyed most in Life Is Strange: Double Exposure is that even though Chloe and Max may not be each other’s person, the love they have for each other went beyond the trauma they endured and that they will always be a part of each other’s lives despite great tragedy. Chloe will text Max things happening in her life while Max never responds, but keeps photos and journal entries of Chloe in her home.
One thing this shows is that relationships are complicated especially when the people involved want different things. I do not think it is a reach that as people grow, especially going from teens to adults they may want/need different things; especially when there’ mountains of trauma involved.
On the other hand, if Chloe is dead and Max is coping with grief, Chloe’s mother, Joyce will send messages talking about how much she misses Chloe, good memories and her loneliness. Max still has newspaper articles of the incident. The grief of Chloe being gone and knowing she had the power to stop it is a lot for one person to bear.
Grief is love with no place to go, and that can be difficult when trying to move on, with the added feeling of them being your first love. I could not imagine Chloe not being alive so I personally could not get through this playthrough, it would have broken my heart too much.
No matter which playthrough you experience, Chloe’s presence and love is tangible. I truly believe how Max loves and expresses herself in romantic settings. Max’s power weakening and the events in Arcadia Bay is a deep source of trauma that I do not believe that she has fully processed, which probably is the source of her ‘being stuck in the past’, versus Chloe who wants to look ahead to what the future will bring.
I think Chloe and Max process the events they went through almost through opposite methods which can complicate romantic relationships. Ultimately, I believe Max still has some healing to do before getting in a relationship with anyone but that is my personal opinion.
I do hope in a future Life is Strange we see them connect again. Whether they get back together or not, I believe the writers need to handle our girls with care and consideration to what the fans want. Many of us want to believe in love, first love, love at first sight because it is fun and whimsical. And also, in my opinion, if Chloe and Max simply cannot work out but it’s grounded in reasons that make sense and they can at LEAST communicate and talk out their issues.
Relationships are A LOT of work, and I also understand people’s perspective who were disappointed by their break up. I think a lot of us know that not all love stories get a happy ending, but in a world where queer folks are constantly under attack and rights being taken away, I think we need a little more hope. I do think Max and Chloe are soulmates and if that is explored in different forms, I’d be open to see how it plays out.
In an article from ‘The Gamer’, the original director of the Life is Strange [2015], he stated responding to backlash/harassment against the Deck Nine developers, “”You can be disappointed, you can want other narratives for those characters you love, or different stories,” says Koch. “Ultimately creation is hard and very subjective and if [Double Exposure‘s] story does not please you, it does not erase what you imagined.”
I love the passion in the games industry, but harassment and death threats are never okay.
I am excited to hear that Life is Strange is returning in 2026. The sneak peak we saw showed someone with an Eagle on the back of their jacket, and I am crossing my fingers that it is Chloe! I want to see her and Max team up after the events of Life is Strange: Double Exposure, because THEY are the best team and work so well together to get things done.
Chloe does not play when it comes to Max and the other way around so I hope we get to see them in a game soon again. I also wonder if we will see more people with abilities in one game. Regardless, I am SO excited.
Check out the live stream reveal event on January 20th.
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