The Life Is Strange series is one I hold very dear to my heart. Their characters, the stories, the beautiful messages, all made for great serialized experiences. Until now, most of the games in the series were developed by Dontnod Entertainment and were released episodically. In this case with Life Is Strange: True Colors, Dontnod has passed the baton to Life Is Strange: Before the Storm developers Deck Nine. At the time of Before the Storm’s release I was very hesitant about this prequel since they weren’t the original developers, luckily that game ended up being fantastic and had some of the most memorable moments in the franchise for me. So, when given the opportunity to review their follow up, True Colors, I was much less trepidatious and much more excited.
This installment also decided to go against tradition and not make it a serialized game. There are still five chapters which make good stopping points to take a break, but like most serialized media these days, they opted to go the method of being able to binge it all at once rather than waiting weeks or months for the next chapter. This strategy I think has more pros than cons. While we as gamers miss out on the anticipation of looking forward to the next episode, with getting them all in one package it gives the creative team the option to really form the story the way they wish to tell as a whole. Where as if it was episodic some narratives may have felt a bit clunky due to decisions possibly being changed along the way. With a serialized game you also run the risk of losing hype from the players as the time goes on. It’s a smart experiment to see if gamers will have an overall better experience if they can digest it all at once.
In Life Is Strange: True Colors, you play as Alex Chen. A girl who has been in and out of group homes and foster parents for most of her adolescence. Her older brother Gabe finally tracks her down and invites her to live with him in the town of Haven Springs, Colorado. Like most of the games in this series, the lead is given special abilities. First was time travel, then telekinesis, now with this one, our lead Alex has the gift (or curse) of being able to feel what other people are feeling. Tapping into these feelings also allows her to get to know a lot about people in the matter of an instant. For a story driven franchise, a superpower such as this lends itself perfectly to developing an interesting world of characters and creating interesting circumstances to play through.
Haven Springs is utterly beautiful. It really makes me sad that the place is fictional, but it is based on a handful of different towns in Colorado. Walking around this small town really inspired me to want to travel the country more. The beauty is helped of course by being the first in the franchise to really ramp up the quality in graphics. They will soon be releasing remasters of the first game and its prequel to bring it up to the same caliber as this one. Even though playing on the PlayStation 5, the game wasn’t still without some flaws. I noticed many NPC characters get stuck in areas while walking, or even some pause and make the infamous “T pose.” Also, I was starting to get used to not seeing loading screens anymore in my games, alas, they are present here. But these aren’t anything that can’t be patched later. For a third-party game, I was impressed they took the time to take advantage of some of what the PS5’s DualSense has to offer. The adaptive triggers take part in using your powers and in finding collectible items.
I know I’m being vague on the game itself, because it’s all story and I don’t want to spoil literally anything for you. I will say that the lead Alex is a phenomenally layered character who is amazingly voiced by newcomer and Colorado resident Erika Mori. In fact, I was quite charmed by pretty much every character and performance in the game. Normally there would be one or two odd ones out, but everything about this game just clicked with me. The story gets you invested, it can get heavy at times, but can also be very sweet and lighthearted. The third chapter of the game revolves around a big LARPing adventure with a little boy. It was just so nice to be put into these people’s shoes for a while.
From what I took out of this story is you could make it be about a few different things. It can be about finally belonging somewhere, or a story about realizing what you’re meant to do. There is beauty everywhere you look and even when things get dark, and things do (The tag line of the game is “the truth will hurt” and they weren’t kidding) there is always someone there for you. Life Is Strange: True Colors is a journey worth taking and really has something to say.
9/10
Check Out the Life is Strange: True Colors Trailer – https://youtu.be/sCx-j4hrwpA
LIFE IS STRANGE: TRUE COLORS is slated for release on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC Steam, and Google Stadia on September 10, 2021, and Nintendo Switch later this year.
PlayStation 5 Reviews
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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