Life is Strange is back with all the teenage and young adult drama that comes with it in Life is Strange: True Colors. With a new entry comes a new lead and a new power and in ‘True Colors’ you play as Alex Chen a young woman with empath powers. Alex returns home and is investigating the death of her brother Gabe shortly after the two reunited following a years long separation. Alex uses her powers to read the emotions of those around her throughout her investigation for the truth behind her brother’s death.

Life is Strange: True Colors is a 2021 graphic adventure game, it is developed by Deck Nine, and published by Square Enix. It is currently available on PC, current & last gen consoles, and will release on Nintendo Switch at a later date.

Editor’s Note: A Playstation review copy for Life is Strange: True Colors was provided by Square Enix in support of this review. Minor to medium spoilers for the game’s story may be present within this review.

Deck Nine once again takes over for Dontnod in Life is Strange: True Colors.

Square Enix’s graphic adventure title Life is Strange is a bit of a strange enigma. On the surface it looks like a cheesy teen drama written by staff of an MTV scripted series, and admittedly that’s part of it’s charm. However, as you play each game the darkness of the danger zone these characters are forced to contend increases each and every chapter and you have to take a few steps back thinking “well this isn’t what I expected at all”. The series is fantastic at playing to the emotions of the player through these often brilliantly written characters who possess a unique ability which effects the rules of the game world. The first game involved time travel, the second psychokinesis, and the third game ‘True Colors’ deals with empathic abilities. This of course should lead fans to believe that True Colors may in fact be the most emotionally driven game of the series so far. And you’d probably be right if that’s what you were thinking.

True Colors brings out the power of empathy.

THE GOOD: Life is Strange: True Colors starts with lead Alex Chen making her move to Haven Springs where she reunites with her older brother Gabe after both were separated during childhood. Having come from a broken home following the death of her mother to illness Alex has trouble properly channeling her emotions. The irony is that she has empathetic powers in that she can sense and even completely read (and later change) the emotions of those around her. Gabe tries to make Alex’s new life in Haven Springs as comfortable as possible by having her befriend the locals such as Steph (Before the Storm) and Ryan. Unfortunately, as is the case with the series things don’t go 100% as planned and Gabe loses his life in an accident. The closer Alex gets to her new friends and colleagues the closer she gets to the dark reality surrounding the circumstances of Gabe’s death.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think that exploration of the world is always a big part of Life is Strange. Every game feels like a much bigger world than the last while at the same time not really doing all that much to expand it. The few changes we do get with every release are instantly noticeable and ‘True Colors’ is no different. As you go around Haven Springs there’s a few areas to explore, but they seem way more open that the school, junkyard, and  forest in the previous titles. I think with the budget increase every game receives we’re getting to a weird, but welcome place where Life is Strange will eventually meet in the middle of an AA & AAA game. We’ll probably even end up with a small open world at some point. Which if that’s the case I’m looking be forward to the day I can just explore any and everything in a future installment. Alex’s empath powers adds extra intrigue in exploring as many areas as possible as you unlock character memories that further expand the world around them.

As with every other game in the series your choices have very small and extremely large impacts on the game’s story. Some even have a direct effect on the final ending of the game. And yes this entry also has multiple endings for players to toy around with for multiple playthroughs.

Alex’s empath can greatly impact the people around her as well as the story.

Life is Strange has always been a color heavy series, however it’s never been quite as heavy than with True Colors. It really follows through with it’s namesake and not just with it’s story content. The game is full of bright, vibrant, beautiful colors that really help make the world feel alive. It takes on a bit of it’s own life and you can’t help but think Haven Springs is a character of the game world itself carefully crafted by the artists at Deck Nine. As is always the case with Life is Strange, the game explores the beauty of humanity and the danger humans can present to themselves and each other through emotion. This has never been truer in  True Colors. Color also plays a role with Alex’a abilities such as certain colors describing the current emotion of someone she’s attempting to read. Such as red for anger or gold for pure joy.

While not necessarily as dark as the first game it does take some wild character risks that should be commended from a writing perspective. It legit seems as though people working on the Life is Strange series took psychology classes while taking a deep on dive the study of humans on the side. Characters always indicate a feeling of raw realness to them as the story edges closer and closer to the climax. I do kind of think that they’re a little softer on characters this time around where no one is truly the bad guy. However, when you consider the connection between the people of Haven Springs thar’s actually the reality of of small town USA. No one is ever 100% truly evil with the actions they’ve done and although that becomes less true with a certain character it’s ultimately the type of relationship close communities like these have if it seems as though the person or people in question did the things they did for the community. Trust me on this I grew up in a small town and it’s very much often like that. The goal of True Colors though (at least in my opinion) is to educate people on how to evolve and maybe even move on from their past & any lingering trauma.

The importance of music returns in Life is Strange: True Colors.

THE BAD: A full playthrough will net you a bit over ten hours of play and that’s if you do everything. Honestly, that feels a tad short for a mainline Life is Strange, but the series is undergoing a bit of a revamp so it’s understandable with new hardware being available and what not. Still just as the story really starts to come together and you want a bit more it kind of ends before you know it. There’s a handful of graphical bugs in certain chapters and some frame rate issues. Nothing game breaking, but it’s very easy to catch when they occur.

The powerful relationship building mechanics of Life is Strange also return in ‘True Colors’.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Life is Strange: True Colors continues the ever popular story-driven series to it’s greatest achievement. While it skips out on it’s trade mark episodic release it refuses to skip the quality the franchise has ultimately become known for. And after the controversy that followed Deck Nine taking over once more from ‘Before the Storm’ that’s quite a comeback. While Dontnod Entertainment is currently stepping away from Life is Strange sucks. Deck Nine is quickly filling in that massive Dontnod hole they’ve had to fill since their franchise debut with the aforementioned Before the Storm. And if they’re the ones working on future installments moving forward then I’m all for it.