Square Enix, a leading game publisher known for major franchises like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, is returning to Life is Strange to bring us the widely anticipated next instalment in the story of player favorite, Max Caulfield.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure follows beloved character Max Caulfield, now teaching at Caledon University, as she tries to move on from the events of Arcadia Bay and Blackwell Academy. Just as Max must maneuver through two parallel worlds to investigate her best friend’s murder, Altagram’s teams were charged with delivering parallel experiences to players in multiple languages.

Altagram, just like Max, is making a return to the franchise, having been responsible for the localization of previous Life is Strange titles, including True Colors in 2020. Below, we present an overview of Altagram’s involvement in the localization of the newest episode in the series.

A Glimpse into the Localization Process

Timeline:
32 weeks from project announcement to delivery of the bulk of voiceover content

Languages:
Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish (Latin America)

Text Localization:
175,000 words across six languages

Voiceover Production:
German and French, featuring over 9000 lines of dialogue and 81,000+ words

Voice Acting:
35 actors per language bringing 78 characters to life, with 255 hours of recording per language over 8 weeks

Seeing through Max's Eyes

To facilitate great acting performances in the voiceover, Altagram’s team played through the test build, taking over 500 screenshots so that the actresses for Max—and the directors directing their performances—could travel around Caledon with Max and see what she sees as the lines were read; often out-of-context comments on posters, collectible objects, or interactions Max sees as she free roams the halls of Caledon University.

Localization engineer, Antonio Manuel Beleño Rodríguez, then automated the implementation of the images into the recording script, so they could be referenced at a moment’s notice.

Publisher Square Enix, experienced in cooperating with their localization partners to bring accuracy to the results, were on hand to provide what they knew Altagram needed:  Extensive visual assets, as well as scene descriptions and directions in the script, to provide context on Max’s lines. Using these materials, Altagram was able to bring the actresses right into those same halls.

A Star-studded Cast

Looking for more reasons to be excited? Listen out for your favorite Twitch streamers Tatjana ‘Pandorya’ Werth and Friedrich ‘H0llyLP’ Schwemler as Alice ‘Goth Girl’ and Connor ‘Cryptid Enthusiast’ and talk to them as you make your way around Caledon University!

Pandorya and H0llyLP travelled to the Altagram studio in Berlin in March 2024, to be interviewed about their participation in the game and their love of the Life is Strange series. Check out the behind-the-scenes videos here:

The Twitch streamers are joined in the cast by Bernd Egger, the German voice of Arnold Schwarzenegger, in the role of investigator Vince Alderman, and Samina König, known for her work in The Hunger Games and League of Legends, as Max’s best friend Safi. And, since Altagram is headquartered in Berlin, we couldn’t miss mentioning Philippa Jarke bringing her voice, which Berliners will recognize from the metro network, BVG, to the role of Dr Gwen Hunter.

We extend our deepest gratitude to everyone involved in bringing Life is Strange: Double Exposure to life in multiple languages. Special thanks go to our dedicated linguists, voice actors, and the entire Altagram team.

Most importantly, we want to express our sincere appreciation to publisher Square Enix and their project management team. Their trust, collaboration, and support were instrumental to the success of this project.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure is available now on Steam, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch.

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Reviews:

• GamePro.de
  “Double Exposure ist von den (Gesichts-)Animationen über die Schauplätze ein wirklich schickes Spiel, das mit einer sehr guten deutschen Synchro daherkommt

• PcGames.de
  “Hervorheben möchten wir an dieser Stelle noch einmal die hervorragende deutsche Sprachausgabe. Egal, ob Max, Moses, Safi, Alderman, Amanda oder Lucas - hier hat das Loka-Team wirklich ganze Arbeit geleistet!”

• Gamers.at
  “Weit über den Durchschnitt hinaus ist das klangliche Erlebnis. Der Soundtrack passt hervorragend und die Lokalisierung ist einfach top! Die Sprecherinnen und Sprecher leisten hier einen wahnsinnig guten Job. Wer sich ein bisschen mit der Thematik beschäftigt, wird sofort merken, dass wir hier eine Loka auf sehr hohem Niveau haben. Lina Rabea Mohr als Max ist einfach grandios und führt den Cast würdig an. Auch Bernd Egger als Vince Alderman, den viele von euch als deutsche Stimme von Arnold Schwarzenegger oder zuletzt als ND-5 aus Star Wars Outlaws kennen, liefert hier ordentlich ab und lässt einen die unangenehmen Situationen von Max wirklich fühlen.”