COLD CASE

TWIN MIRROR is a psychological mystery game that fails to go deeper than the surface.

- Rachel Watts

Leaving time travel, telekinesis, and mind-reading to the wayside, Dontnod has stepped away from the supernatural themes of its previous games for Twin Mirror, a psychological-drama of mystery and conspiracy. This genre of game should be well within the studio’s wheelhouse, but unfortunately, Dontnod’s first self-published game is a little underwhelming. It has the set up of a great detective mystery, but its unwillingness to explore difficult topics with depth leaves it feeling shallow and half-baked.

Twin Mirror follows Sam Higgs, a former investigative journalist returning to his home town following the death of his best friend and fellow reporter, Nick. It isn’t long before Sam gets caught up in a larger conspiracy involving the mining town’s community, and he decides to follow the case until the end, which leads him deeper into the underlying secrets of his childhood home. To make matters worse, before he left town two years ago, Sam wrote an article exposing the lack of safety measures in the local mine which led to it being shut down, leaving many people jobless and angry.

There’s bad blood brewing and after Sam arrives at the wake, Nick’s daughter, and Sam’s own goddaughter, confides in him that she thinks something about her father’s death feels off. Presented with the possibility that his friend’s death may have had a sinister dimension, Sam agrees to investigate.