#twin mirror

[thealexchen]

Even more Artstation!

I found way more Artstation portfolios for the artists who worked on Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, so I've compiled them here. Really cool pieces in here!

Sam Bradley (Art director and concept artist) (This is his IG)

Lucille Meunier (Art director and concept artist)

Edouard Caplain (Art director and concept artist who worked on LiS1 and 2)

Juliette Devillers (Lead character artist)

Ricardo Madariaga (Character artist)

Julianna Michek (Illustrator)

Marie-Eve Cournoyer (Principal environment artist)

Karole-Anne Bernier (Environment artist senior)

Elmie Molina (Environment artist)

Maude Blondeau (Environment artist)

Joyce Silva (Environment artist)

Alexandre Mijoule (Environment artist)

Kelly Recco (Materials artist)

Daliana Rivas (Lighting artist)

Mika Lemerle (Lighting artist)

Other DN artists who haven't uploaded B&R pieces but worked on B&R and/or other DN games:

Pierre-Alexandre Côté (Lead material artist)

Aglaé Chalaux (material artist)

Quentin Zoude (environment & texture artist)

Etienne Brassard (VFX artist)

Nicolas Hiernaux (Senior props artist)

Guillaume Lebeau (Environment artist)

Simon Léotard Prigent (Environment artist)

Thomas Luke Garcia (Environment artist)

Laurent Dufresne (Technical artist)

I also really liked Juliette Devillers's open letter about her time working on Bloom & Rage:

"I’m honored to finally share what I’ve been working on these past five years on Lost Records: Bloom & Rage.

For Swann, I handled modeling, texturing, hair, and her final look. I also worked on facial animations and moods to help bring her personality to life.

Like any game, this was a huge team effort and I was lucky to work with the best of the best: Under the guidance of our Very Creative Director Michel Koch, we shaped these characters into something meaningful. Lucile Meunier paved the way with her original concepts for our Riot Grrrls crew, and Sam Bradley deepened their style and personality with his kind direction and creative touch, including some of the most badass outfits.

I shared the journey with Ricardo Madariaga, my brilliant Character Artist partner, who nailed customization and created some iconic characters. Go check out his work!

Etienne Brassard gave the characters' eyes that spark, that little "je ne sais quoi" that makes them look so alive, and Clément Marchal lit every moment with those "golden hour" tones we all love.

Huge thanks to Bohdon Sayre, a powerhouse of a programmer and a mentor, who taught me invaluable Unreal Engine and Animation knowledge.

I’m so grateful for everyone I worked with. We poured ourselves into making something personal, intimate, and rarely seen in games. This is a game I’m proud to stand behind, and I hope you’ll enjoy it too!

Remember me - remember us.

Take care."

[writerforestgames]

Twin Mirror (2021)

[miyakuli]

Twin Mirror

I don't nod this time

I'm no stranger to the studio's interactive adventures, and they often range from the very good (Life is Strange) to the more conventional (Tell me why). Unfortunately, this one falls into the lower category… and yet we're immersed in a thriller in which our main protagonist tries to solve murders, all with the help of his mind palace, which enables him to reconstruct scenes or anticipate actions. Sounds cool, doesn't it?! if only the script and gameplay had been better worked out…

❤ I'd like to praise the dubbing actors, who succeeded in making their characters far more lively and expressive than their animated models (we'll come back to the animation in another section). ❤ Some interesting staging ideas, though too few and far between. ❤ The scenes between Sam and his double personifying his reason are the most successful; we feel the security of this voice in his head in the face of an increasingly violent and sad society, but we also understand the social isolation he faces by literally remaining immersed in his thoughts. This was really the most pertinent point of the whole game.

+/- In line with my point above, the moments when we plunge into his mind palace are also intriguing, whether to reconstruct scenes, plunge back into his memories, or confront his doubts and fears….but they are few and far between and not sufficiently exploited, even though tackling this theme of the psyche could have led to situations far richer in emotion. +/- The soundtrack includes a few nice songs, but the soundscape is very empty. I don't know if it's to suggest the bleak vision the character has of the city, but it's boring. +/- The scenery is quite beautiful on the whole, with some very successful lighting effects, but not always very detailed, and the characters' animation and expressiveness are really too bland. +/- Some characters are endearing, but none are really developed (no time). For example, Joan, the mature kid with the strong character, I only met her briefly 3 times in the game without having the time to really create a bond with Sam. Anna, with whom we spend the most time, doesn't have the most evolved dialogues with him either (even though, given their shared past, there was room for more intimate moments). In short, they're all quickly forgotten.

✖ The game's biggest problem is its length. 5 short hours to rebuild relationships, investigate (and solve) the death of your best friend and, at the same time, introspect on yourself in the company of an imaginary twin? it's impossible to have time to develop anything. Everything moves too fast, and we never take the time to experience a scene or feel anything. ✖ In general, I have no problem with simplistic interactions between several cinematics. The thing is, these are far too long (and slow) and our actions are rather boring; dialogue and story choices are minimal and exploration never adds much. ✖ How predictable is your script, were the writers uninspired or what? (found culprit second 1)

I can't say I was bored by this game (I didn't have the time to feel it anyway in 5 hours xD), but I didn't really get to enjoy it because I felt a lot of laziness in its writing and gameplay. It started from a good premise, with some nice mental phases, and I think that with more time, we could have come up with something at least interesting. My spiritual twin would advise you to buy it on sale if you're really curious about playing it ;)

➡ My Steam page

[memyselfandi2008-blog]

I uh… have a new favorite character to add to my collection…

I know, technically, he’s a part of Sam’s character, but still, I like to think he’s different enough.

I mean, he is a completely different side of him. I do love them both, but for some reason he just pulled at my heart and I had this sudden urge to die for him if the time ever came.

[fandomsideworks]

[andreaskorn]

Twin Mirror

Update: Game Screenshot Archiv (19.06.2025)

Entwickler: Dontnod Entertainment Publisher: Bandai Namco (PS4, XBOX); Dontnod Entertainment (Windows); 2020

Ein weiteres Game des französischen Entwicklerteams mit einer Konzeption, die mit anderen Spielen Ähnlichkeiten zeigt. Twin Mirror (T.M.), suggeriert die Vorstellung von Zwillingen, bei "Tell me Why" sind Zwillinge die Protagonisten. Bei T.M. verfügt die Hauptspielfigur streckenweise über ein "Double" und kann mit dem "Gedankenpalast" Erinnerungen aufbereiten. Die echten Zwillinge können über eine Art Telepathie miteinander für andere unbemerkt kommunizieren. Zielsetzung ist immer eine Art Detektiv Arbeit, um bestimmte Situationen aufzuklären.

Das Spielende habe ich gestern erreicht. Kurzfazit: es gibt einige spannende, aber auch etwas zähe Passagen. Manche Trigger-Auslöser Bereiche sind etwas unklar angelegt, die Figur musste in einem bestimmten Winkel/Abstand davor stehen, damit ein Ereignis (z.B. Tür öffnen) funktionierte.

GP (Gameplay Screenshots): 107, OS (Option Screenshots): 50 Exeltabelle: 23.802 Windows Dateiexplorer Datensätze A-Z: 23.802

[Vorher bestehende kleine Summen Abweichungen zwischen Exeltabelle und Dateiexplorer sind nun endlich bereinigt. Zugegeben: es war nicht ganz einfach, in über 23.000 Bilddaten "Fehler" zu finden ...]

Dr. Andreas U. Korn, 20.06.2025

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[papsutimu]

Two roads and you can only take one.

Lynette

Everyone has their own way of dealing with pain. The path to mistakes come in lots of forms, some of them pretty invisible, unless you look for it. We all stumble sometimes. Most people take a few tries to get back up after being knocked down. If someone isn't there to help them, they just fall back over.

Nick

Fishing's a lot like life. Practice, patience, perseverance hooks you the big one.

Walter

The friend of man, the friend of truth. The friend of age, and guide of youth: Few hearts like his, with virtue warm'd. Few hearts with knowledge so informed: If there's another world, he lives in bliss. If there is none, he made the best of this.

We don't know where we're going in life, but we can learn from where we've been.

[imperotenebre]

Twin Mirror PS4 gameplay - prime impressioni

Riscopriamo l' avventura narrativa di Dontnod

[corkinavoid]

DPxDC My Brother in the Mirror

Damian doesn't like mirrors.

He never mentioned the fact to other members of the family, but they are detectives and vigilantes, it's their job to be observant. Which, after so many years, becomes a habit.

Damian doesn't actively avoid the mirrors - he has a mirror in his bathroom, he didn't express any discomfort over going into a mirror labyrinth at some carnival they've attended (he expressed disgust over taking part in something so stupid, in his words, but that's a whole another story), and he actually spent a few minutes in front of the funhouse mirrors when no one was looking, watching his own reflection distort in various ways. He also has no problems with his self-image - he doesn't mind pictures of him taken at any time (unless it's Tim, but that's, again, a whole another story), he's drawn a few self-portraits that were rather accurate and he liked them.

He just doesn't like mirrors. For some reason.

His family, both close and extended, never questioned it. They did some gentle research to see if the dislike was caused by some kind of problem Damian was experiencing without telling anyone, but when they found no proof of that, they've just decided it was some quirk of his. Everyone has quirks. Dick doesn't like eating cereal like a normal person, Tim despises sleep, Steph is at war with any color other than purple.

That is, until one day, Tim witnesses Damian sitting in front of a mirror.

He is not even aware of it - the whole family is having a game night, and through some arguments and rearrangements on the couch, Damian ends up sitting on the left side of it, where his back is turned to one of the three mirrors in the room. Tim, who's lost the last round, is slumping in an armchair nearby, pointedly looking away from the screen where Damian and Jason are enthusiastically competing over the first place in Mario Cart. Of course, Tim can't just not watch it since he needs to know their strategies. But turning back around would also be admitting defeat.

The solution? Easy, watch the screen through the mirror.

Which is when he notices it.

Damian in the mirror doesn't act the same as Damian in the room. Out of the corner of his eye, Tim can see the real Damian moving around, shoving Jason with his elbow, fully concentrated on the game, and yelling something. Damian-in-the-mirror is sitting unnaturally still, the back of his head over the couch unmoving.

Tim forgets all about the game when Damian's reflection starts to turn around. Slowly and carefully, eerie in the way the horror movies are, the boy in the mirror turns his head around like an owl, his neck twisting inhumanely.

His eyes are green. Green like the toxic waste, like Jason's madness, like acid in cartoons, like the Waters of Lazarus.

Damian in the mirror smiles, his unblinking, gliwing eyes fixed on Tim, and his teeth are sharp and pointy, and there are too many of them, humans can't smile this wide.

"-im? Tim!" A hand nudges him in the shoulder, and Tim looks away from the mirror, finding Dick standing over him. The noise of the game room returns all at once, and, wait, when did it become quiet for Tim?.. He must have a strange expression on his face because Dick's easy smile falls slightly, and he frowns, "Is everything okay?"

Tim looks back to the mirror, but the green-eyed boy in the mirror is gone, and the mirror only reflects Damian as he is: sitting on the couch.

"Yeah," Tim shakes his head and forces a smile on his lips, "I just zoned out."

"Okay," Dick pats him on the shoulder and gives him the controller, "It's your turn now."

Tim takes the controller and turns around, facing the screen. Tim throws a quick glance at Damian, who had slid down on the couch so his head would not be in the reflection anymore. Tim sees the cold, warning hint to his eye, a clear do not speak of it message.

Tim doesn't like that the mirror is now behind him.

[bixels]

The Piedra sisters.

Born and raised in a small mining town in New Mexico. Calida and María Molina have stayed behind to support their parents while Rosita and Madelina have gone off to pursue their dreams. Madelina recently obtained her Ph.D. in geology from Las Cruces College. Rosita works as a baking apprentice and entertainer in Ponyville, Nebraska. Madelina is the eldest, Calida the middle child, and Rosita and María Molina (non-identical) twins.

[fatedroses]

POV: You laid hands on the garlean delegate, and suddenly there are two very pissed off elezen who just rotated you, standing there menacingly.

[akanemnon]

Chara knows something that we don't, methinks...

BONUS COMIC

FIRST - PREVIOUS - NEXT

MASTERPOST (for the full series / FAQ / reference sheets)

[cyphertronix]

ghost therapy (gherapy? tost?)

[fandomsideworks]

[andreaskorn]

Twin Mirror

Spielsequenzen: "Gedankenpalast"

Entwickler: Dontnod Entertainment Publisher: Bandai Namco (PS4, XBOX); Dontnod Entertainment (Windows); 2020

Ein Kurzbeitrag zur Ästhetik und Geschichte des Computerspiels (Game Testing)

Der Protagonist Sam verfügt über einen sogenannten "Gedankenpalast", mit dem er Erinnerungen zurückrufen kann. Tauchen solche Passagen im Spiel auf, ändert sich die Bildästhetik.

Teile des Raumes (Objekte, auch manche Charaktere) werden in kleine Glas- oder Metall ähnliche Segmente aufgelöst. Das hat zum Teil surrealen, traumartige Züge. Einige Gegenstände und Räume sind aber sehr realistisch dargestellt. Diese kennt man zumeist über bereits im Spiel aufgesuchte Orte, die gewissermaßen mit dem "Gedankenpalast" teil rekonstruiert werden.

Damit kann Sam schließlich mit seiner "Hypothese" bereits in der Vergangenheit liegende Ereignisse wieder klar beleuchten und um ihm fehlende Teile ergänzen, sofern er alle dazu erforderlichen Hinweise gesammelt hat und in der richtigen Reihenfolge nochmal Revue passieren lässt. In der Konsequenz hat er also einen detektivischen "Erkenntnisgewinn" und kommt der Wahrheit immer mehr auf die Spur.

Manche solcher interaktiven Szenen sind Sonnenlicht durchflutet.

Andere hingegen sind sehr dunkel gehalten.

Neben dem "Gedankenpalast" steht Sam oftmals mit seinem "Double" (mit Brille, s. die Abb. unten) in Verbindung, der für andere Personen nicht sichtbar ist. Er fungiert als eine Art Berater und übt Einfluss auf Sam's aus. In manchen Situationen muss der Spieler entscheiden, ob er Sam's oder den Weg vom Double einschlagen möchte, was für Situationen schon bedeutungsvoll zu sein scheint.

Frage: wer oder was ist dieses "Double"? Ein Repräsentant des eigenen Gewissens mit potentiellen Eigenschaften zwischen gut und böse? Der Titel weist auf "Zwilling" hin. Aber von einer physischen Existenz wird in der Story nichts berichtet. [Lediglich eine kurze Passage aus Sam's Kindheit erwähnt, dass Sam's Vater auch wohl einen "imaginären" Begleiter hatte.]

Twin Mirror erinnert mich an das Game "Remember Me" (2013) des gleichen Entwicklerteams.

Besonderheit hier: der Spieler kann eine Art interaktiven Filmausschnitt steuern, punktuell anhalten, um ggf. die Kamera im dreidimensionalen Raum drehen zu können. So können normalerweise versteckte Details sichtbar werden. Interessante Konzeption.

(Abb. Screenshots aus meinem Game Screenshot Archiv)

Dr. Andreas Korn, (19.06.2025)

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