Twin Mirror review: an intimate, captivating and unfortunately a bit short title

Dontnod has forged a solid reputation with its interactive fictions plunging us into the heart of poignant stories alongside often unforgettable characters. The first example that comes to mind is necessarily Life is Strange, whose critical and commercial success revealed the studio to the eyes of many. Encouraged to continue on this path by the praise of the press and players, Dontnod has therefore made a specialty of stories that are both intimate and ambitious, and proves it once again with Twin Mirror. A title that, despite a few weaknesses and a scale that is more short story than river novel, manages to touch the universal by deploying a very personal story.

Samuel Higgs is a journalist exiled from his hometown of Basswood after one of his investigations caused the closure of the mine that supported much of its population. Held responsible for the destruction of what was the pride of this small town in Eastern Virginia, and after a difficult separation with his then partner, Sam decided to take off. For two years he gave no sign of life. Not even to Nick, his best friend. It is when he learns of the latter's death in a tragic accident that Sam decides to return, briefly, for the time of the funeral. In the parking lot of the local bar, inside which the vigil in memory of Nick is being held, Sam comes across Joan, the latter's daughter, with whom he was once very close. The teenager will tell her about an intuition that has tormented her since her father's death: according to her, there was nothing accidental about it. At his request, Sam therefore agrees to lead the investigation into the circumstances of Nick's death.

Acheter Twin Mirror

Leave one day, without return

For those who lived in a small town from which they ended up leaving, the first moments of Twin Mirror will not fail to revive some bittersweet memories. The theme of uprooting and then returning to the fold, often haunted by the stranger syndrome, permeates Dontnod's latest production. Leaving Basswood and its small, seemingly tight-knit community, Sam became an object of curiosity and rejection. Neither entirely from here nor entirely from elsewhere, he is for many an intruder whom we often look at with suspicion, more rarely with tenderness. Especially since his investigation into the embezzlement of the company operating the local mine has put everyone on the straw. His obsession with facts, to the detriment of the common good, earned him opprobrium and exile.

But this frenzied rationality did not wait for the closure of the mine following its investigation to cause it harm. Sam is a solitary, distant, obsessive, radical personality in his worldview and this results in short-circuiting his relationships with others. Anna, the love of his life, couldn't take it anymore and their story didn't survive it. It's that Sam tends not to listen enough to the little voice in his head telling him to prioritize his happiness and that of others, rather than always trying to restore order in this world that escapes him. And this little voice, the player encounters it very early in the adventure, personified in the guise of an empathetic and friendly alter ego that Sam never ceases to confront in moments of doubt. A kind of superego, all gentle and benevolent, whose impulses struggle to overflow the defenses of our hero.

And that's where the player comes in first. On many occasions, we will be given the choice to listen to the alter ego or to silence it in favor of the reassuring and pragmatic logic to which Sam is accustomed to resorting. And in most cases, contrary to what one might imagine, the choice is really not obvious. The decision will in any case never be made without sacrificing something to him. More often than not, a choice one way or the other will have an influence above all on the relations that Sam maintains with the inhabitants of Basswood, whether they are dear to him or totally indifferent. However, we would have appreciated that the impact of each decision is more decisive on the sequence of events and not only on the quality of his interactions with the other protagonists of the story. Indeed, apart from a crucial choice with heavy consequences at the very end of the investigation, the decisions taken by the player never really influence the course of events. And we then find ourselves with the unfortunate impression of being taken from one place to another in the investigation without ever having the real possibility of deciding anything.

En quete de sens

Because it is there, at bottom, that the heart of Twin Mirror is indeed located: the internal fight led by Sam to finally allow himself to be happy with those for whom he matters and who also matter in his eyes. The investigation is ultimately only a fairly secondary pretext and this can be guessed quite easily in view of the little importance that Dontnod makes of it in the general balance of the game. It would however be unfair to say that the Parisian studio does not has made no effort to involve the player in solving the mysteries they face. The Mental Palace, for example, is both an inner refuge where Sam can isolate himself with his memories, but also a play area in which his analytical and deductive mind can fully express itself, especially during the investigation phases. .

Concretely, it will be a question of collecting clues, of making several hypotheses on the course of the events on which Sam is investigating, then of choosing the most plausible. If these sequences are undeniably successful from a formal point of view, they unfortunately never manage to renew our interest, after the intrigued discovery of the first two of them. We thus find ourselves collecting the clues quite mechanically and our sagacity is never really called upon when solving the mysteries on which we are investigating. Too bad, because there was really material to bring a little depth to this investigation and a little space of expression for our intellect.

A rather symptomatic observation of the approach of Dontnod on Twin Mirror since the title refuses to leave us free rein and only involves us through its tree structure of choice. There are a few opportunities for wandering in the small main artery of Basswood or in a few other settings, but we regret that the interactions with the other inhabitants are not more numerous. And it's a shame, because the small town of Basswood, with its working-class history and its sores that we guess, quivering in the autumn wind and ruminating on its bygone glory, is a place that we would have liked to get to know at will. encounters and walks.

Going back to the infamous Mental Palace, credit to Dontnod for his clever use of it during the panic attacks that overwhelm Sam on several occasions. In these moments, the haven of peace is swept away by the tumult of Sam's thoughts. And Dontnod has not lacked ideas to materialize the torment in which our hero finds himself. We then find ourselves wandering through our memories, facing our guilt and doubts, and it will then be a question of finding our senses through small puzzles without great difficulty, but very nicely formatted. Of rather minor playful interest, these sequences nevertheless remain a real success in terms of interactive narration.

It was Shao-Lin the murderer!

We mentioned it above, the real crux of the story is not what we believe in the first moments of the adventure. It is indeed Sam's inner struggle that is at stake throughout the game and the outcome of the investigation, without a deafening twist, only confirms it. The title also sends the resolution of this one with a certain casualness which makes us again regret not having been more often put to contribution.

And yet we come to the end of this story with the satisfaction of having experienced something important. Admittedly, the events that Sam has investigated throughout the game are more news items than the case of the century, but Dontnod has managed to use them as a common thread to lead us to meet a city and its people, and paint a picture of deindustrialized rural America. From a small case that probably wouldn't have made a big splash in the newspapers, Dontnod extracts a bigger truth about the social consequences of these sadly frequent tragedies and the importance of the community as the last bastion of a humanity of more and more fragile.

JVFR

Twin Mirror can be proud of very beautiful supporting roles

As such, we must salute the care taken by the studio in the scenography of its game. Although fictitious, the small town of Basswood nevertheless seems very real and its truth is expressed wherever we look. A scenography which is based moreover on a realization of very good performance and which is further sublimated by a soundtrack which always agrees very precisely with the atmospheres depicted and the events which take place there. We must also salute the writing of the different protagonists of the story, served by a convincing dubbing. Too bad however that some technical wanderings do not come to spoil the performances of the actors, in particular when the synchronization between the facial expressions and the voice knows some stalls.

Twin Mirror : l'avis de Clubic

Like Sam, torn between his calculating coldness and his often repressed empathy, the decision on the rating to be given to Twin Mirror was made after a small internal conflict. In view of its good, insufficiently developed ideas such as the investigation phases consisting of a stack of clues without any real involvement of the player, choices that only too rarely influence the course of events or this mysterious town of Basswood in which we would have liked stay much longer, reason commanded us a much more lukewarm appreciation. But the successes of the title of Dontnod are elsewhere and have impressed us enough for us to also give the floor to our little enthusiastic voice. Despite the regrets we have just expressed, Twin Mirror was able to captivate us thanks to its nuanced and unspoken characters, to the melancholy of this small town with a working-class past swept away by History or even to the incessant dilemma in which the character of Sam struggles and in the resolution of which the game manages to involve us brilliantly. Of course, it will be possible to replay the story differently, to make other choices, especially since the title gives us the possibility of starting from the chapter of our choice. But as far as we are concerned, we prefer to assume ours until the end and, without looking back, embrace the outcome of this story as they led us there.

Twin Mirror

Twin Mirror is a title that must be considered for what it is: an interactive fiction in which the player does not have the same prerogatives as in a classic game. Of course, we would have liked to have a little more elbow room during the investigation phases, just as we would have liked to be able to stay longer in this small town of Basswood. We also regret that our choices do not have more impact on the course of events. But despite these regrets, Dontnod manages to deliver an intimate story that touches on the universal and raises themes that video games are only too rarely interested in. We will also remember the character of Sam, in perpetual struggle against himself, as well as the other protagonists of the story, all so precisely written and interpreted. We leave this title with the feeling of having lived a story that matters and that's really the main thing.