[BEWARE: SPOILER] My Theories so far

[Paladinbohne]

i have just played chapter 1+2 during early access so far.


At the end of Chapter 2, the photo shows Max with a gun , giving the impression that Max has shot Safi . Aside from the fact that the picture looks quite staged or rather ‘Safi POV’ instead of like shot with a camera quickly photographing your killer, but I think this was just not well thought out in the presentation.

I have several guesses.

I won't cover spoilers from here on out because otherwise I'd have to black out all the text.

Number 1:
Each Max has different powers in the different timelines. For example, our Max has the power to rewind time. The other Max - who presumably shot Safi - can jump back and forth between timelines. And for some reason, both Maxes have swapped powers. The other Max comes into our world through the timeline jump, somehow triggers the swap of powers, jumps back in time before Safi can make the deal in our world and kills her and then gets stuck - which is also why she ‘ghosted’ Amanda in the other timeline for two days. So Max doesn't even seem to be present in the other world anymore.


Number 2:
It wasn't our Safi who died. Instead, both Safis have been swapped and our Safi now lives in another timeline (or somewhere else).
When we walk up the mountain towards Safi, we see the glimmer that we also see later in the game when Max is passively looking into the other timeline. At the same time, we hear the shot. But then we see that Safi is still okay. So the shot can't have killed our Safi. We walk further up the mountain, see Safi still alive, she walks round the corner and suddenly within a few seconds she's sat up perfectly balanced and is dead? I don't think so. Maybe the shot wasn't the kill shot, but something else?


I've also had the thought that maybe we're just playing a completely different Max and not the one we know from the first part.
I've included one thing as a bug because I suspect it wasn't considered during development, but it could have been purely intentional: The outfit isn't adjusted at the end in the photos. If you chose a different outfit, Max doesn't wear the outfit you chose in the photos. As I said, it's very likely that it was simply not taken into account, but it's also possible that this is an hint that a completely different Max can be seen in both photos.


I know that my theories are not flawless or make 100% sense, but they are my thoughts and guesses. Maybe someone has other theories or would like to share their thoughts.


Byeee :)

[Winterlua]

Maybe this time she want to save the world instead of save the one who is Safi. Or this is the only way to stop all the butterfly effect is to kill the source just like the movie. Otherwise Maxine won't kill.

[Sardonicus]

I feel like people like you are over complicating things. The dev team said themselves months back that someone else has special powers besides Max in this game. The most obvious and simplest answer is that there is a killer in this game who is also a shape-shifter. It would explain this whole plague of dopplegangers running around in both timelines including the Lucas that said terrible things to his son, the Gwen that was dealing drugs, and Reggie seeing himself on the Overlook. It would also make sense that this shape-shifter is far more active in the living timeline since that version failed to kill Safi and so is behaving more erratically in that timeline because of it.

The Vihn we saw in chapter 2 living world who didn't know the password to his own phone was possibly the shape-shifter pretending to be Vihn to gain access to what he knows. The Max that killed Safi was also the shapeshifter trying to frame Max for the crime since she was nearby the crime scene so would make an easy fall guy

Into the more wild territory here that I'm more unsure about, but still think is possible. I think Safi herself may be that very shapeshifter. The people who were targeted in the living timeline were all people Safi had beef especially when it comes to Gwen who intentionally got her book deal cancelled. Vihn in the dead timeline also tried to message Safi after she already dead but accidentally messaged Max instead which just feels like a really weird detail to me almost like they may be cohorts. I however do not know how she would fake her own death in the dead timeline so still need to ponder on that one a bit.

[Paladinbohne]

Originally posted by Sardonicus:

The dev team said themselves months back that someone else has special powers besides Max in this game.

oh i didn't know that!!!! that changes everything!

I really like the thing with the Shapeshifter. And the explanation with the text message from Vinh to Safi/Max also sounds very plausible.
But perhaps the person who stole the mobile phone wrote the message to Max specifically to draw attention to Vinh as a suspect.
I already had it in my head that Vinh was involved, but on the other hand he is a love interest. You could, of course, make the player suffer by revealing that you've been in a love affair with a ‘’villain‘’ all along, but I don't think the developers would do that, which is why I quickly dismissed the idea.

But when I think about it more carefully, I find the Shapeshifter thing almost too risky. Everything I think about can be justified in some way, but on the other hand it's ‘illogical’ for me. The risk of walking around freely on campus without attracting attention is too high in my eyes. But there are some things in the game in general that makes no sense to me :D
For example, the fact that Max changes timelines in the middle of the corridor... What does it look like to other people when a Max suddenly disappears or appears? Or that people are talking in a large hall of a former cathedral about a restraining order being issued and nobody else in this presumably echoing hall hears it? Or the detective in front of whose eyes almost the entire inventory, including ONE HUGE TELESCOPE, has just changed without going crazy?

[Paladinbohne]

Originally posted by Sardonicus:

The dev team said themselves months back that someone else has special powers besides Max in this game.

I can't actually find anything about this.

[Sardonicus]

Originally posted by Paladinbohne:

Originally posted by Sardonicus:

The dev team said themselves months back that someone else has special powers besides Max in this game.

oh i didn't know that!!!! that changes everything!

I really like the thing with the Shapeshifter. And the explanation with the text message from Vinh to Safi/Max also sounds very plausible.
But perhaps the person who stole the mobile phone wrote the message to Max specifically to draw attention to Vinh as a suspect.
I already had it in my head that Vinh was involved, but on the other hand he is a love interest. You could, of course, make the player suffer by revealing that you've been in a love affair with a ‘’villain‘’ all along, but I don't think the developers would do that, which is why I quickly dismissed the idea.

But when I think about it more carefully, I find the Shapeshifter thing almost too risky. Everything I think about can be justified in some way, but on the other hand it's ‘illogical’ for me. The risk of walking around freely on campus without attracting attention is too high in my eyes. But there are some things in the game in general that makes no sense to me :D
For example, the fact that Max changes timelines in the middle of the corridor... What does it look like to other people when a Max suddenly disappears or appears? Or that people are talking in a large hall of a former cathedral about a restraining order being issued and nobody else in this presumably echoing hall hears it? Or the detective in front of whose eyes almost the entire inventory, including ONE HUGE TELESCOPE, has just changed without going crazy?

It's funny how you think Vinh working with Safi or understanding in some way what she's up to is the same thing as being a villain. Like what a leap o take. Out of anything it would suggest he may be a victim being manipulated or used, and is in over his head. Also his tarot card reading also suggest this.

Second you're treating game mechanics like they actually exist in the story. We already know from life is strange 1 that Max popping out of nowhere isn't something the devs were thinking about or else people would be constantly freaking out by her time travel powers in the first game since she'd be popping out of nowhere all the time. Even when you pop up right in front of a person while they are looking directly in your direction never gets a reaction or mention it since the game didn't program that idea into the game. What you're doing is overthinking a game element that was meant to be taken with a suspension of disbelief. The only time things are appearing in front of people's eyes is when they acknowledge within the story that it's happening. The rest of the time it's non-diegetic, and we're suppose to treat it as such.

Though you know what? I'm so confident in my prediction at this point, that if I'm wrong in 4 days you can gloat about it, but if I'm right you have to admit it. That I figured things out. I believe the shapeshifter theory without even a shadow of a doubt in my mind. There is absolutely no way in my mind it could be anything else. Not after what the devs said. None of this stuff about it being an alt Max makes any sense since it doesn't explain all the other non-Max dopplegangers, or the fact the devs said back during the first game when fans asked about it that only one Max can exist in a timeline at a time. The Safi being the shapeshifter thing is more iffy but still the most likely one with all of the evidence currently laid out, so I'm also sticking by that one too.

So yeah, remember me if it turns out I was right on the money.

[Paladinbohne]

I must have missed the moment when this became a competition. I don't really understand why you're confronting me like this now.
I just wanted to share my thoughts and was hoping for an exchange of different ideas. And at no point did I say that my thoughts are the only true ones, just as I didn't dismiss your theory. I was simply sharing my thoughts and my feelings on the subject.
I'm sorry to let my creativity run wild and don't want to pin myself down. I guess...?

I'll remember what you wrote, because I've already been enthusiastically discussing your theory in private. And whether you believe it or not, I find the theory exciting.
So please calm down.

I won't be able to finish the game before Friday, so please don't think you've shut me down if your theory turns out to be correct. But you're welcome to come back and laugh up your sleeve and say ‘I told you so’ if it makes you feel better.