New town. New characters. Another murder mystery?
Life is Strange: True Colors Review (PlayStation 5/PS5)
I was intrigued when I heard the rumor DeckNine would be handling the next Life is Strange game, not DONTNOD Entertainment who were lead developers for the series. DeckNine did a decent job with the prequel game, Life is Strange: Before the Storm, telling the story of Chloe Price and Rachel Amber. Despite my dislike for Life is Strange 2, I wouldn’t mind another game from DONTNOD. Once the rumor turned into fact, Life is Strange: True Colors was announced to be developed by DeckNine as a full game release coming September 10th. I was quite impressed by the initial trailer as it was going back to the series roots in a small town solving a murder mystery. With the new protagonist, Alex Chen, she has the power to read another person’s emotions. Seeing their true colors if you will. Also, the game is being released all at once, not episodically. Tell Me Why, DONTNOD’s last graphic adventure title, released its episodes weekly which was good. Life is Strange 2’s release schedule was all over the place. Three to four months apart between episodes doesn’t make it easy to understand the game’s story. Suffice to say, I am very happy Life is Strange: True Colors released all at once. So, how does this game hold up to its predecessors? Does it live up to the Life is Strange franchise despite the new development studio?
Controlling emotions
The gameplay is more of the same for a graphic adventure title. You’ll be making choices as you deem appropriate to move along with the story. Big choices don’t really affect the course of the story but affect your relationship with the cast characters. A lot of objects to interact with in each area, so be sure to explore everything. The gimmick this time around is Alex’s ability to read people’s emotions. It works well for the game’s story but as a gameplay device, it’s fine. I’m not too thrilled about using it because, in my opinion, using it during the game’s big decisions feels like I’m picking the wrong choice. It’s harmless when I use it to interact with certain objects and characters but during the story’s big choices, I’m against it. That’s just me obviously but I never used Alex’s power when it came to these moments. It’s cool when characters start glowing a certain color because of their emotion but as for a gameplay device, it’s okay. It’s somewhat bare bones for the gameplay but that’s to be expected for graphic adventure games. It works and that’s all I can really ask for.
Another murder mystery (no spoilers)
The story of Life is Strange: True Colors is about Alex Chen reuniting with her brother, Gabe, in the town of Haven Springs, Colorado. This is their first time seeing each other after a number of years. When she arrives, she meets the locals and starts enjoying life in Haven Springs. Suddenly, someone in the town gets killed. Alex Chen brings it upon herself to solve the new murder mystery of Haven Springs with the help of some new friends.
For the non-spoiler part of this review, the story is a pleasant return to form for the Life is Strange series. Bringing it back to a small town setting, Alex Chen really gets a chance to develop as a character along with getting to know all of the side characters. Seeing Alex interact with everyone in town is fun to see. Compared to Life is Strange 2, where the plot is constantly changing locations and changing up the side characters, Life is Strange: True Colors allows the player to get invested into Alex’s story. You really get to know who the people of Haven Springs are and that’s wonderful. Moving from one chapter to the next, I remember who these characters are and why they’re significant to Alex. Alex herself gets plenty of room to develop as a character and is a fantastic addition to the franchise. The small town setting is reminiscent of the original Life is Strange, even Tell Me Why to a certain extent, but that’s okay. I’m sure DeckNine doesn’t want their first original Life is Strange title to be a flop and the story of these games is the most important. By playing it safe and keeping the characters in a small town in Colorado, it works extremely well in developing the game’s story. I liked Life is Strange: True Color’s plot because of the small town setting with its tight cast of characters. I do have some issues with the story but I’ll talk about those details in the spoiler section of the review.
Frames, bugs, and crashes
Presentation and performance is a little all over the place. When I played Life is Strange: True Colors on the PS5, there wasn’t an option for 60 frames per second (fps) gameplay, only 30 fps. Recently, Square Enix announced PS5/Xbox Series X can now do 60 fps gameplay which is cool if I decide to play it again. It’s just weird it wasn’t there when it launched on the platform and locked the game at 30. I’m sure they were rushed to get it out on PS5/Xbox Series X and didn’t have time to make it stable at 60 fps. It’s fine now but rather disappointing, as this is my first time playing a Life is Strange game on console. I usually buy these games on PC but decided to buy it on console to see how it held up. I was made aware of no 60 fps gameplay after I bought it. I ran into some weird glitches. One time, a character spoke their lines twice. Another time, this game breaking glitch happened where the entire screen went black except for the parts I could interact with. So, I was playing a guessing game where to move in order to advance my progress. Even after I restarted from the last checkpoint, it did it again. Lastly, the game straight up crashed on me which is kind of funny. I didn’t expect that to happen but the game ran smoothly after that. Outside of those three bugs, the game runs fine on the PlayStation 5. It’s not sporting the highest graphics for the generation but looks good for the Life is Strange series. Performances all around by the cast of characters is great. I believed in their performances, especially in our main lead, Alex Chen. I bought into development as a character and was glad to see her progress through the story. The music hits the right notes once again for the Life is Strange series, bringing back vibes from the first game. I’m content with how Life is Strange: True Colors runs on the PS5, despite the few glitches I ran into.
Worth your money?
Overall, Life is Strange: True Colors is a welcome addition to the franchise. Taking pages out of the original game, Life is Strange: True Colors is able to present a new story while keeping players hooked the whole ride through. The power of seeing someone’s emotions works well as a story device but not so much for gameplay. If you’re familiar with other graphic adventure titles, nothing should surprise you in terms of the gameplay. The presentation and performance is fine on PS5, despite the mishaps I ran into. If you enjoyed any previous installment in the Life is Strange series, Life is Strange: True Colors should deliver on the expectations of another coming of age story while exploring a small town. If you’ve never played a Life is Strange game before but you like coming of age stories, give this one a shot. You don’t need any prior knowledge of the series, so you can just jump right into it. The game is still going for $60 at the moment but you are getting an eight to nine hour adventure. I thoroughly enjoyed Life is Strange: True Colors and cannot wait for more by DeckNine.
Travis “tvsonic” Vuong
Business e-mail: travisvuong56@gmail.com
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SPOILER REVIEW
I want to talk about certain story pieces in my review without having to give a spoiler warning in the middle of it.
This is now your official spoiler warning, the rest of this article will contain spoilers for Life is Strange: True Colors.
The entire five chapter adventure of Life is Strange: True Colors is still fantastic. Despite some of the critiques I’m about to make, I still enjoyed my time with Life is Strange: True Colors.
First, Gabe’s death. I had a feeling this was coming and I’m glad DeckNine decided to do it early in the game. We’re still able to know Gabe’s character through characters recalling their moments with Gabe and the flashbacks during Chapter 5. Gabe is an alright dude and was trying to do his best despite his family situation. Alex’s character fully develops once her backstory is revealed in Chapter 5. I was able to put the pieces together throughout the game but Chapter 5 answers most of the questions I had with Alex and Gabe’s past. By the ending, I really liked Alex’s arc.
Also, this is probably a nit pick, but I found it jarring the character models didn’t change during these flashback sequences. Like, it’s still older Gabe talking to his dad like he’s a teenager but it’s whatever. I’m sure the lack of budget played a role into this, as they would need to make more character models and get more voice actors to play the younger versions of Alex and Gabe. I believe it could’ve had a stronger emotional hit but it’s fine in the final product.
Back to Chapter 5, seeing how much of a piece of garbage their father was kind of expected. I knew their home life wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine, especially since the game starts with their reunion after being eight years apart. Their dad somehow having connections with Typhon and Jed was a bit much. It seems all too coincidental their dad also has connections with Haven Springs. Furthermore, this effectively kills any possible closure between Alex and her father. I feel like Alex would’ve wanted one last chat with her dad after all this time but that’s not happening.
Having all of the Chen family backstory crammed into the last chapter works well in my eyes. I feel like if this was shown to us any sooner, it would’ve disrupted the flow of the story. In addition, it plays into Alex’s life flashing before her eyes because she was literally just shot by Jed and tossed into the abandoned mine shaft.
Speaking of Jed, I did not see that twist coming. I probably should’ve suspected it since he was being too nice to Alex but how was I supposed to know? Gabe just passed, so Jed doing all of these nice things for Alex didn’t seem too far-fetched. Jed and Typhon as the antagonist force was whatever. They didn’t seem like an opposing threat, just one with lots of money. Whatever Alex tried to do, they were always one step ahead.
Steph, an original character from Life is Strange: Before the Storm, was a pleasant addition to the cast of characters. She’s the only one who comes from another Life is Strange game but even then, her role in Life is Strange: Before the Storm was so small. I loved her in this game because she really seemed to vibe with Alex. And yes, I did have them end up together by the game’s conclusion.
Another character I really enjoyed seeing was Charlotte, Gabe’s girlfriend. After Gabe’s death, she’s trying her best to channel her emotions internally. Once Alex gets to talk with her, we see that she hates Ethan (her son) because he didn’t stay put which caused Gabe to go out looking for him. These emotions, while super messed up for hating her son, are valid. Charlotte hasn’t lost someone that close to her in a long time and when she decides to open up for Gabe, she loses him. Hence, when given the choice to take her anger away, I chose to leave her be. This was a battle Charlotte had to handle on her own.
The other time we could use our power was in the police station with Jason. When tasked to sign the papers or not, I chose to sign the papers and not take Jason’s fear away. I didn’t want to put others at risk for what Alex was doing. Sure, they’re her friends and they would do anything for her but I didn’t want to risk it.
One last character I want to talk about is Mac. He’s the first person to get Alex really angry and show what happens when she embodies an emotion. Mac revealing he did answer the call and it’s Typhon trying to cover it up was a nice direction to take it in. DeckNine could’ve easily made Mac the bad guy but that would’ve been too easy. It’s nice to know he’s not a total douche bag by the end of episode 2.
The ending I chose, after talking with imaginary Gabe on the roof, was to have Alex leave town and explore her potential as a musician. The reason I chose this ending over staying in Haven Springs is because I believe in living with no regrets. Haven Springs would’ve been the safer option but what if Alex makes it as a musician and finds success? I would like to see that, even if she fails. Taking the leap and exploring your potential is what life is all about. Because if you play it safe your whole life, are you really living? Anyway, the other ending is fine but I just like exploring the possibilities of life, especially if there’s potential.
Thank you so much for reading my spoiler review! If you want more spoiler discussions on Life is Strange: True Colors, I talk about it on my podcast with my best friend, Damian. Video Link.
Travis “tvsonic” Vuong
Business e-mail: travisvuong56@gmail.com
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