When I first heard about Life is Strange: True Colors, during E3 2021, I was curious about what Deck Nine had planned. I was excited about the possibilities an empathic, or a telepathic, character could have on the Life is Strange universe. Could this new character subject others to her emotions, or manipulate the emotions of others, to get what she wanted? How would Alex build on the legacy of powered individuals in Life Is Strange: True Colors?
With these questions in mind, I, like many others, looked forward to the next installment in the Life is Strange franchise. In this Life is Strange: True Colors review, we will look at the positive and negative aspects of Deck Nine’s latest game.
Story
Life is Strange: True Colors is the story of Alex Chen, an orphan, getting a new lease on life. After aging out of the foster system, Alex is reunited with her older brother, Gabe, in Colorado. Gabe is also restarting his life, after getting out of a Juvenile Detention Center, and is searching for their father. Despite hitting a wall in his search, Gabe has created a life in Haven. Now it is Alex’s turn to start a new life, make new friends, and spend time with her brother.
Sadly, Alex’s new life does not start out the way she desires., Tragedy befalls the town of Haven when a mining explosion kills Gabe. Despite saving the life of Ethan, a life is stolen away in a tragic moment. Although the police ruled the incident an accident, Alex and her friends believe that Typhon, the mining company, is burying evidence. The remainder of the game follows Alex and her friends’ plot to expose Typhon’s dark secret, and get justice for Gabe.
Each following chapter reveals a little more of the mystery, and soon the puzzle pieces start coming together. Who is actually behind Gabe’s death? Could it have been avoided? And how do you take down a massive corporation when the law is not on your side? Alex must find a way to overcome the powers that be, and decide who to trust with her secrets.
Gameplay & Decision
In this section of the Life is Strange: True Colors review we will focus on gameplay elements, how the player’s decisions impact the world, and our thoughts on the story. Like previous games in the franchise, and genre, Life is Strange: True Colors allows the player to make decisions that will impact the story later on. These choices can be minor actions, like helping townsfolk make decisions around town, choosing a romantic love interest, and even taking the raw emotions away from people.
Sadly, these choices do not feel impactful towards the overarching story; they help to build great interpersonal relationships, but how do these relationships affect Alex’s overall goal? Despite Alex having the power to read emotions, or even take them away from others, the discovery of important information is slow and tedious. Even at the end of the game, most of the choices you make, up to the major confrontation, feel empty. Why take away someone’s fear, anger, or depression, just to have them side with you? When the dust cleared what has changed?
During our two playthroughs of Life is Strange: True Colors, we arrived at the same finish. Typhon’s secrets in Haven are revealed, and a beloved resident of Haven faces jail time. The player then has to choose if they want to stay in Haven Springs or depart for new adventures.
Relationships
The main character’s relationships with the Haven citizens felt genuine. Each relationship had its own unique characteristics, despite being intertwined with the main story. By interacting with these different characters, you learn more about the town, its citizens, and its history.
Even with minimal interaction, the player is able to sway others to their cause. Refusing to remove the strong emotions, of certain characters, will not strongly impact the story, except on certain occasions.
In this game, the ending feels like a major letdown. This letdown almost rivals the release of Cyberpunk 2077 or the ending of Kingdom Hearts 3. Unless you play through the game only looking out for yourself, the outcome will remain the same. Some allies’ bonds will be stronger based on dealing with their negative emotions. The game’s final narrative sequence ultimately feels lackluster. When you finally get to confront the face of Typhon, and the person who tried to kill you, their reactions remain almost the same.
Story Review
When it comes down to our Life is Strange: True Colors review of the story, the game had the chance to be something powerful like its predecessors. Instead of focusing on the difficulty of grieving and death, it primarily focuses on taking down the man and greedy corporations. Yes, corporate corruption is an issue in America, but the death of a loved one and coping is more significant. The story focuses more on love interests and revenger than grieving. Overall, the game has an enjoyable character to character connection, but the overarching story feels too linear and is missing what makes the other Life is Strange games so special.
The game does allow the player to find out new things by using the insight feature. Use people’s emotions for good or evil.
Negative Graphical Experience
By far, the graphics section of the Life is Strange: True Colors review will be the most damning. Whether you are a return fan of the Life is Strange franchise, or a newcomer to the series, you expect a certain level of quality from a renowned franchise. Disgustingly, Life is Strange: True Colors does not live up to those expectations. During our playthroughs, we encountered a variety of graphical issues on various occasions.
These graphical issues, sadly, were not one-off occurrences. On multiple occasions, character, background, and objects within would render during the cutscene. At times, the game would display only half of the scene on the screen making you miss certain interactions and details. This issue would continue, even if you reloaded the checkpoint. Additionally, character models would load in strange ways or positions. To makes matters worse, the game would occasionally flicker between colors.
Despite cell shading being disabled for the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, lesser characters and the surrounding areas would lack details or not render fully. This made it difficult to look at an important character, the background, and a less significant character or object. These issues made playing through the game a chore rather than something enjoyable.
Due to this, we recommend waiting for a graphical update before playing through Life is Strange: True Colors.
Positive Graphical Experience
Interestingly, the best graphics came midway through the game during the L.A.R.P event when Ethan and Alex battle the Evil King. The art style changes significantly and resembles other popular Square Enix titles.
Despite the game having rending issues, each scene looked great when rendered properly. Certain chapters had interesting details to make them unique and stand out. One example is when the lettering, and numbering, are out of order, or shifting as the player looks at it. This attention to detail allows the player to get a deeper insight into what the character they are helping is experiencing. It gives a sense of realism to the illness, rather than just verbally addressing it.
Controls
Like previous Life is Strange games, the player controls their dialog options using the right control pad. The player can get Alex to walk faster by holding R2, and gathering emotional insight by using L2. If replaying a chapter, the player can skip through cutscenes by using R1. This is great if you want to skip through cutscenes. In terms of the Life is Strange: True Colors review it is one of its strongest features.
Audio/SFX
Arguably, the audio/SFX category is the strongest category for the Life is Strange: True Colors review. The voice acting of each character was believable and conveyed real emotion. When the characters say their dialog, you feel their emotions and are able to connect to the characters. Even when there is a graphical issue, you are still able to understand what the characters are saying, and how they are supposed to be feeling. The game’s music is a great additional feature, that some Twitch.tv viewers may miss out on it due to stream mode. Each song added to the scene makes you connect to the characters on an intimate level. Each background soundtrack gives off a good ambiance, that makes the player feel as if they are there in the moment.
Replay Value
In the past, the Life is Strange series has had a high replayability factor. The ability to choose between different dialog options, to get varying outcomes, has always been a beloved feature of the series. Life is Strange: True Colors continues this tradition, however, certain alternate choices seem to be insignificant. Life is Strange: True Colors introduces a crowd choice feature. This feature has two options that allow audience members to participate in streamers’ streams. In certain instances, the game will make decisions for you based on prior decisions which can make for interesting moments.
Verdict
Life is Strange: True Colors had the potential and momentum to expand and improve the franchise. Sadly, True Colors feels like an average to a mediocre title in the beloved Life is Strange franchise. With strong and unique characters and relationships, the overarching story does not live up to expectations. What does the player gain from solving the mystery plaguing the small town; the knowledge that they caused a ripple or wave in the pond of corporate corruption? Other than revenge and seeking justice, the protagonist is left asking “what’s next?” The feel-good moment is finding out the truth, and deciding on a future that provides further exploration. Despite easy-to-use controls, emotional voice acting, and a great soundtrack, the graphics, and limited outcomes hold the game back. The game’s replayability is enhanced by the community choice feature and some alternate story paths.
Wait!
We strongly recommend waiting for a graphical update if you plan on playing Life is Strange: True Colors on the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. What did you think of the Life Is Strange: True Colors review? Do you plan on picking the game up at launch?
A PlayStation 4 copy of Life is Strange True Colors was provided for review purposes. A future DLC will expand the story giving some insight on Steph’s past.
