
Which is why a lot of the game’s premise is seeing Sam debate with his double over making the right decision. A friend that simply wants Sam to become the more sociable and loving person he knows he can be. And though the game is slightly designed to make us initially reluctant to trust him, one of the refreshing things about this game is how this doppelganger is nothing but supportive. It is a projection of Sam’s best possible self, who also serves as his moral compass as mentioned before. Because within Sam’s crystallized and obsessively categorical mind lives his imaginary friend, a person whom the game calls his Double. Thankfully, Sam is not alone in this palace or on his journey. And the more traumatic truths become revealed in Sam’s journey for answers in the game, the more his Mind Palace starts to shatter. But it’s also blatantly obvious that much of this ‘palace’ is an escape for a socially awkward and highly anxious misanthrope. It’s also a very unique take on a detective mode, as Sam’s analyses form a type of photographic memory that allows him to uniquely perceive and analyze objective reality.

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It’s a place free of judgment, where Sam, as well as ourselves, can see universal truth crystal clearly. The Mind Palace is a crystalized recess in Sam’s mind where time basically stops and every honest truth and memory is revealed. Like many DONTNOD games, Twin Mirror features a protagonist with a supernatural ability, which in this case is Samuel Higgins and his Mind Palace. One that overlooks and slyly comments on Sam’s actions.

Still, what would a good protagonist be without his foil? And in this case, oddly enough it’s Sam’s conscientious doppelganger/double that often serves as sort of a Jimminy Cricket role. All of these are real issues in these types of midwestern towns that have gotten pretty out of hand.

Things like rising unemployment in what are now ghost towns, the decline of blue-collar work (like coal miners), and the rise of the opioid crisis. Though what he actually does with these revelations is entirely up to you.Īs a fellow journalist and as someone who has traveled across the US (especially the midwest), I was taken aback by how accurately portrayed the setting and situations felt in this game. Enough for the seeds of shady dealings to take root, which Sam in turn can’t help but try to unearth. Without its mines Basswood became a ghost town. An endeavor whose pursuit of justice (for his then girlfriend’s now crippled father) led to him becoming the most hated person in town. A man who has lost everything in pursuit of truth, Sam was the whistleblower whose article shut down the town’s coal mines two years ago. And it’s not so much what Sam does that makes him a sympathetic character, as much as it is what’s already happened to him. More than anything, I really liked Sam, the small town journalist conflicted about doing the right thing. I really like all of the characters in this game as there’s just the right amount of subtlety where it doesn’t feel too exposition-filled nor does it treat the player as stupid.

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We break it down in our full Twin Mirror review as to how and why. All for a genuinely well rounded story where your actions, and most importantly the truth that you choose to accept, actually make a world of difference in your gameplay. Hated by the townsfolk for an article he’d written that caused their beloved coal mines to shut down years ago, Sam begins to question the circumstances surrounding Nick’s death as he stumbles upon several tragic and dramatic truths about the town. An investigative journalist who is reluctantly called to return to his hometown of Basswood, West Virginia after the mysterious death of his best friend, Nick. Released on December 1st, Twin Mirror is a mystery adventure that follows the journey of Sam Higgins.
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How it skillfully pulls off a series of vastly different conclusions based on your decisions, allowing you to see just how multifaceted ‘the truth’, harsh or beautiful as it may be, truly is.įrom the makers of Vampyr, Life Is Strange, and Tell Me Why comes Twin Mirror, the first self-published game developed by French gaming studio DONTNOD Entertainment. But it wasn’t until my second playthrough when I started to see just how much the game’s story options could branch that I started to realize the beauty of what Twin Mirror achieves. And given the defacto ‘Happy Ending’ most players will likely attain (where you always tell the truth and do the morally decent thing), it would initially seem like Twin Mirror is an underwhelming game. Twin Mirror is a game you can absolutely finish in less than ten hours. Twin Mirror is a Terrific Thriller You Should Try To Play Twice
