*♫ "But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doin' here?
I don't belong here" ♫*
There's always been something that makes the Life Is Strange series so magical to me. True Colors is a return to form of what made the original game special, while also fixing most of the issues that people had with the previous entries. The episodic nature is gone (although optional), the story is more fleshed out, the graphics and animations are more realistic, and your choices actually feel like they matter this time.
Life Is Strange: True Colors has a story that returns to the roots of the 2015 entry, while shifting things a bit. This isn't a story without superpowers, nor is it a story about trekking through several locales. True Colors is about a girl with already-established superhuman abilities who is thrown into a small town conspiracy as she struggles to be accepted. It's like the series grew up alongside me, going from the first game's high-schooler protagonists to True Colors's adult characters (the main character of which is a musician, which I can relate to). No "cringe" dialogue here, just brilliant adult writing that makes each one of these characters incredible fleshed out, whether you choose to seek out their stories or not. I laughed, I got chills, and I felt heartbroken at times. There are even several moments that seem to be inspired by the likes of Captain Spirit, fully capturing the emotions and feeling of the individuals that Alex reads; some incredible fantasy-like imagery. And I know writing is on-point when, while I was splitting up each chapter one or two per week, I was excited to hop in every time and see where the story was going to go. It learns to take your own emotions and twist them in relatable scenarios during its well-paced 10-hour narrative.
Gameplay here is incredibly improved as well. As mentioned as a critique for the previous games, these stories never really felt like your choices mattered...until now. It wasn't until the later half of the story that I realized that even the slightest interactions with each of the characters in this small town can impact certain pieces later on. And by the time the final chapter is reached, you truly see every variable at play here and how they affect the outcome. It's not on the permutation level of something from Quantic Dream, but it's a very impressive feat for Deck Nine's second attempt at an adventure game. This is on the level of CRPGs.
As for the actual adventure game mechanics, it's a simple interaction-heavy game, although the story itself takes this traditional design for a turn during certain moments. No spoilers, but True Colors would sometimes look towards an "escape room" aspect of puzzle solving, and even to other genres that might surprise certain players. It's incredibly accessible as well; the puzzles feeling brilliant at times and easy to solve.
Of course, this can't be a Life Is Strange game without a great soundtrack, and True Colors actually provides an absolutely INCREDIBLE set of tracks. The licensed music helps establish the story's setting with some notable tracks and indie tunes, while the actual music score provides a haunting, otherwordly feeling to emotions going through Alex's head throughout several sequences. From the opening scenes to the end credits, the music invokes a true adult drama about settling into a community. Shoutout to mxmtoon for the really awesome set of singles created specifically for True Colors.
The game isn't completely flawless. (No game is.) Other than a few performance issues, I only have two minor critiques that, although personal complaints, leave room for improvement in any future game.
Firstly, the game allows you to read texts and posts from other Haven citizens, but doesn't quite catch you up on the things you missed. I understand the intention of this is to have the player see what happened between time jumps, but it would've been easier to queue these unread messages in reverse order so I don't have to scroll up.
Second, the one thing I loved about Before The Storm was the opening introductions to each episode/chapter. With True Colors, all we get is a simple black screen and title card which, while I get that the game is moving away from the episodic nature, shows a slight lack in quality compared to the production of Before The Storm. Thankfully this is balanced out by the rest of the game. Just a tiny desire.
True Colors is a perfect example of succeeding those that came before. One that's not only accessible to longtime fans, but one that might bring newcomers into the genre. Alongside gameplay and narrative improvements, it also boasts a modern production with gorgeous graphics and motion capture technology to emphasis the emotions at play.
It is arguably the best game in the series. Let's just hope we don't go downhill from here.
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doin' here?
I don't belong here" ♫*
There's always been something that makes the Life Is Strange series so magical to me. True Colors is a return to form of what made the original game special, while also fixing most of the issues that people had with the previous entries. The episodic nature is gone (although optional), the story is more fleshed out, the graphics and animations are more realistic, and your choices actually feel like they matter this time.
Life Is Strange: True Colors has a story that returns to the roots of the 2015 entry, while shifting things a bit. This isn't a story without superpowers, nor is it a story about trekking through several locales. True Colors is about a girl with already-established superhuman abilities who is thrown into a small town conspiracy as she struggles to be accepted. It's like the series grew up alongside me, going from the first game's high-schooler protagonists to True Colors's adult characters (the main character of which is a musician, which I can relate to). No "cringe" dialogue here, just brilliant adult writing that makes each one of these characters incredible fleshed out, whether you choose to seek out their stories or not. I laughed, I got chills, and I felt heartbroken at times. There are even several moments that seem to be inspired by the likes of Captain Spirit, fully capturing the emotions and feeling of the individuals that Alex reads; some incredible fantasy-like imagery. And I know writing is on-point when, while I was splitting up each chapter one or two per week, I was excited to hop in every time and see where the story was going to go. It learns to take your own emotions and twist them in relatable scenarios during its well-paced 10-hour narrative.
Gameplay here is incredibly improved as well. As mentioned as a critique for the previous games, these stories never really felt like your choices mattered...until now. It wasn't until the later half of the story that I realized that even the slightest interactions with each of the characters in this small town can impact certain pieces later on. And by the time the final chapter is reached, you truly see every variable at play here and how they affect the outcome. It's not on the permutation level of something from Quantic Dream, but it's a very impressive feat for Deck Nine's second attempt at an adventure game. This is on the level of CRPGs.
As for the actual adventure game mechanics, it's a simple interaction-heavy game, although the story itself takes this traditional design for a turn during certain moments. No spoilers, but True Colors would sometimes look towards an "escape room" aspect of puzzle solving, and even to other genres that might surprise certain players. It's incredibly accessible as well; the puzzles feeling brilliant at times and easy to solve.
Of course, this can't be a Life Is Strange game without a great soundtrack, and True Colors actually provides an absolutely INCREDIBLE set of tracks. The licensed music helps establish the story's setting with some notable tracks and indie tunes, while the actual music score provides a haunting, otherwordly feeling to emotions going through Alex's head throughout several sequences. From the opening scenes to the end credits, the music invokes a true adult drama about settling into a community. Shoutout to mxmtoon for the really awesome set of singles created specifically for True Colors.
The game isn't completely flawless. (No game is.) Other than a few performance issues, I only have two minor critiques that, although personal complaints, leave room for improvement in any future game.
Firstly, the game allows you to read texts and posts from other Haven citizens, but doesn't quite catch you up on the things you missed. I understand the intention of this is to have the player see what happened between time jumps, but it would've been easier to queue these unread messages in reverse order so I don't have to scroll up.
Second, the one thing I loved about Before The Storm was the opening introductions to each episode/chapter. With True Colors, all we get is a simple black screen and title card which, while I get that the game is moving away from the episodic nature, shows a slight lack in quality compared to the production of Before The Storm. Thankfully this is balanced out by the rest of the game. Just a tiny desire.
True Colors is a perfect example of succeeding those that came before. One that's not only accessible to longtime fans, but one that might bring newcomers into the genre. Alongside gameplay and narrative improvements, it also boasts a modern production with gorgeous graphics and motion capture technology to emphasis the emotions at play.
It is arguably the best game in the series. Let's just hope we don't go downhill from here.