Life is Strange has a legacy that is really hard to maintain and I believe that True Colors does it at the extreme edge.

Characters are great, as usual for a Life is Strange game. But Chapter 2 is where they all miss common sense. And this really took me off the game, as I was questioning myself whether a character had a whole missing plot to his background or if the writers of the game were just taking me for an idiot.

Graphical side, True Colors and his city, Haven Springs, is beautiful, and facial expressions are still Deck Nine's strength. But I was really disappointed by the soundtrack of the game that is definitely the worst one we had from all LiS games.

Anyway, whole game has a chill vibe for sure, but it wasn't as remarkable as LiS1 & 2 storyline. As Deck Nine only worked on the prequel to Life is Strange 1 called Before The Storm, I believe that True Colors is still a good game from them because there is some upgrades compared to BTS, but definitely not a good Life is Strange "special issue" game.

Well I've played all of the Life is Strange games now and I still think this series peaked with the first entry. I get why people don't like these games. The writing can be cringey sounding like out of touch older millenials or gen x people thinking they know what kids today sound like. The gameplay is shallow where you just walk around and press a button to make decisions in conversations and MAYBE solve a very simple puzzle. I can't really explain it well myself, but I kind of enjoy these aspects of the games. I'd probably rank this between 1 and Before the Storm (I didn't really care for 2 all that much and Captain Spirit barely counts). It addresses several of my problems with 2 and gets about as close to 1's quality as any game after has gotten.

One of my biggest problems with 2 was that you felt like the sidekick to the main character of the story. It made things less fun when you weren't playing as the person with the power. While Alex's power doesn't do as much as psychic abilities or allow you as much freedom as rewinding time, I liked it. Really it's just used for the story and the only gameplay use is to find collectibles. However I always took every chance to read every optional emotion that doesn't have anything to do with completion. It gave lots of insight to the people of Haven and helped flesh the world out a bit.

The variety of characters was nice. I did feel that Ryan didn't get much use with Steph taking up most of the screentime between the two, but that could also be because of the choices I made (yes I went with the lesbian route cause Life is Strange is a gay series where everyone in these games are super gay and I love it). Duckie is probably my favorite charcter since he's just this random old guy who likes to make people smile with his stories and believes in the best of everyone. Made me so happy when I could take the time to help him with a problem later in the game.

The music, as expected, is really nice. I'm typing this while having the credits play in the background and I just love the soundtrack to these games. It's usually from bands I've never heard of, but I was surprised to actually recognize some songs in this one. This kind of goes with the whole series as I basically have all of their soundtracks on my Spotify playlist and get a joy out of listening to them. I liked having moments where I could just relax for a moment to listen to the music.

The Life is Strange games are 200% not for everyone and I'd really struggle to recommend them to people. I'm never going to say they're high art or amazing at storytelling cause they're not. They're just games I like playing and I hope to see another entry someday unless the devs want to do something else.

Technically, it's a marvel. The jump in detail, character and face animations and lighting is remarkable, while other strong aspects of the series in the past (voice acting, sense of place) remain very compelling. Having said that, I'd be lying if I said it hit me as hard the original game and Before the Storm (which I actually prefer). It doesn't pack the same emotional punch, even though Alex is a completely "fine" character with an interesting story and personality. It's quite hard to nail exactly what makes it less special, but yeah, it is. It looks and plays better, but it left me feeling less. Still, if you love story-driven games, it's a must play.

The Life is Strange series is one that will constantly be compared to the first game, as it sets the precedent for how players engage with the rest of the series. True Colors has a lot that is similar to the first game, but with a more positive outlook. Whereas the first game was a tragedy with good scattered throughout, the second game was a tragedy that got worse as it went along, and the third game is a tragedy that gets better and shows the positives of life.
While bad things do happen, the player gets to experience something the other games do not show: healing. The mood is largely nice and does not revel in the misery of its characters allowing them to grow beyond the situation.
Saying all that, it does lead to the game being less impactful than the rest of the series. I played this game far more recently than Life is Strange 1, but remember far more than I do from True Colors.
Gameplay-wise, the game has everything I like it: you get to explore fairly freely, talk to whoever you want, see others develop without your influence, and use empathy to interesting effects. While empathy is the least impactful power in this series, it is used well, just with fairly obvious conclusions that come from choices regarding it.
All in all, a nice departure from the trends of the series that blends tragedy with hope to provide a more light experience than the rest of the series.

Now, this game is short. very short, in fact. But I don't consider it a problem. It doesn't overstay it's welcome, and isn't too short that it's unsatisfying. It's more grounded than the first life is strange entry, and it's characters are way more likeable. Although the game HAS two romance options i feel one is downright better and more developed than the other (Steph). The game handles a lot of themes around emotional stress, loss, trauma, anxiety, feeling out of place, etc. and it does so quite well. If you're looking for a short break from action games, this right here is PERFECT.

It was cozy, if nothing else.

The pacing was weird and each chapter could be summarized in a single sentence. A lot of stuff was optional, which would have been fine if the main story had more meat. For a mystery there are only really 3 steps to uncovering the truth.

What stood out was how Alex's empathy superpower is so underbaked. She can only sense four emotions, and the game never puts her in a position where she needed to have literal superpowers instead of regular human empathy. One scene really stood out to me where Steph looks at a bottle labelled "Foosball Champion" and becomes visibly upset. Alex uses her superpower to investigate, then asks Steph for a match of foosball to cheer her up. Steph asks "How'd you know I liked foosball?" What do you mean "How'd you know I liked foosball?" That kind of thing happens every single time. Maybe I'm just gifted in emotional intelligence and empathy, but it never felt like superpowers were at all necessary and were only added because that's the Life is Strange gimmick.

I had fun, I'm glad I played it, and it was a nice change of pace. But it didn't leave a strong impression and I probably won't think about it a week from now. It's just... okay.

This game is currently in the Humble Choice for February 2024, this is part of my coverage of the bundle. If you are interested in the game and it's before March 5th, 2024, consider picking up the game as part of the current monthly bundle.

True colors shining through.

Life is Strange can be a bit of a roller coaster and while each title is an independent story, they all revolve around a few things. They are “choices matter game” where the choices affect the journey more than the destination. One of the main characters has special powers, in this case, a form of empathy, where our main character can read minds, oh and licensed mostly indie music which, yeah I’m going to try to avoid here. But that’s just what the game is.

True Colors though is extremely good at what this series does. Creating interesting and somehow relatable characters, a good universe, and a drama that will pull the player into the story with minimal effort. You start to care for every character in the game, and the world is well-built so that it flows naturally. It’s well-written and has a unique style to its dialog which feels refreshing.

At the same time, admittedly True Colors does little to stand out on its own. It falls back on a romance triangle that feels a bit like a trope at times. There’s great writing, but the entire fifth chapter feels rushed, and the big twists in this game just don’t feel like they make the impact the team was hoping for.

Pick this up if you like narrative stories or if you enjoyed any of Life is Strange. Yes, I sound like I have issues with this game, but I still enjoyed my time with it and would consider playing through this again. Just because it wasn’t remarkably different from the franchise, doesn’t make it bad, and the writing works extremely well when it is supposed to.


If you enjoyed this review or want to know what I think of other games in the bundle, check out the full review on or subscribe to my Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/hVGME-pBU7g

Life is Strange: True Colors feels like a return to form for the series in many ways and an evolution in some aspects but it’s bogged down by its mediocre narrative and questionable direction.

True Colors has a lot of the ingredients that made the first Life is Strange special, most notably on the amount of focus on the environmental storytelling to make the central location feel lived in. Life is Strange truly shines when it gets a central location that evolves with each chapter and is sprinkled with characters that progressively develop and react to what’s happening in the story. Every chapter in True Colors, minus the final one, opens the town of Haven Springs up for the player to free-roam through. Giving the player the chance to explore, find interesting information about the town and its inhabitants, and helping out said inhabitants through whatever they’re going through during that chapter. True Colors’ Haven Springs feels like the best evolution of what the team learned from the previous game to deliver a gripping setting.

An underrated aspect of Life is Strange that has always made the series stand out to me is that these games really make you live in the moment. They’re not trying to fill the playtime with plot progression, actually, most of the playtime is spent with the player just taking it all in whether it’s to appreciate beautiful scenery or to ponder over what’s happening in the main story. This has made way for the “Moment of Calm” spread across the games to become series staples and True Colors does them fantastically. Life is Strange uses music in very special ways and in True Colors, it seems like they’ve made the conscious decision to use save licensed music to be played during those Moment of Calm sections. Giving each Moment of Calm its own vibe based on how the characters are feeling and the type of monologue they’re giving. I especially love that they added Moments of Calm to be shared with other characters, giving you the choice to linger on whatever you’re doing with a character to make it more of an intimate moment. True Colors provides the set-piece and the player gets to choose if they want to extend their time in it or if they want to get to the next one faster, it provides a fantastic way for players to pace themselves.

Alex is up there with my favorite protagonists in the series, it feels like they took the best parts that made Max and Chloe work as characters and ended up creating a complex and dynamic main character that I wanted to see the story through with. Another return to form that hasn’t been present in the series since the very first Life is Strange is getting a protagonist that has superpowers again! This time, Alex has the power to visually see people’s emotions and if the emotion is particularly strong, she starts feeling it too. Much like Max’s rewind powers in the first Life is Strange, Alex’s set of abilities changes how you explore the world and how you interact with its characters. Emotions are visually represented as auras surrounding characters in a color that represents the emotion. Most NPCs have these auras which allows you to tap into their thoughts and help them out if they need to or just peek into what gossip or recent story development has been on their mind. This mechanic is used as a powerful tool for the environmental storytelling in True Colors.

When these emotions get too strong, they can completely shift a character’s view of what’s around them, giving Alex the ability to tap deep into their psyche to unravel what they’re going through. These moments are the highlight of True Colors for me, with some of them becoming some of my favorite moments in the series, especially a touching and heartbreaking one that happens in the second chapter that will live in my mind as a standout moment. What makes Alex such a fun protagonist to play as is that she eliminates the chance of the protagonist not understanding where a character is coming from and misjudging them. Alex can immediately put herself in other peoples’ shoes and understand them more deeply through their colorful auras. Stuff like this shape Alex’s abilities into becoming a very unique visual and literary tool.

My biggest gripe has to be with the story of the game though. I won’t be able to say much without getting into spoilers but what I can say is that the story keeps building the anticipation of the player through the return of having a mystery drive the narrative. However, the aftermath of that mystery ends up not being worth the anticipation, making True Colors have the most unsatisfying conclusion in the series for me. I spent most of the final chapter clicking my tongue and shaking my head in disappointment. I genuinely hated the conclusion to the story. However I don’t want to let that ruin the great time I had with the first three quarters of True Colors.

Life is Strange: True Colors does so much right that I can’t help but root for it. I had a really special time in Haven Springs and even though I didn’t leave it in the best note, I’m holding on to everything I liked from it. Fantastic setting, dynamic characters, indie music, and a questionable narrative? All the ingredients to a quintessential Life is Strange experience.

In Stars and Time’s seemingly about a group of adventurers on their final quest to defeat an evil king on top of his tower. But really it’s about the protagonist Siffrin, who after quickly dying on their way to the top realizes they can somehow loop back to the previous day with their memories and experience intact

Initially this works to their benefit, being able to keep the party from failing by returning each loop with the knowledge needed to advance. And eventually they actually succeed and defeat the king, seemingly saving everyone in the process and completing their goal. But when it seems like the game’s about to end here, the loop still happens inexplicably and brings Siffrin back to the start anyway. With no knowledge on how to break it or any idea why it’s even happening, they’re now forced to repeat the same thing over and over again

What stood out most about this game to me was how committed it was to being… repetitive. Siffrin (and by extension the player) will redo this loop, fight the same enemies, run through the same floors, mostly read the same dialogue, backtracking to the same rooms, searching for anything different to try and stop it, for hours on end. There are some things that make the loops less annoying, like being able to jump to different floors after dying or retaining memories for your party, but that’s basically the gist of it. Though as tedious as that obviously sounds, something about that structure still kept me glued to it all the way to the end

I guess it was the way it’s used narratively and how it affects the characters. Siffrin was compelling to play as and you’ll watch as their sanity gradually unravels with each loop from the constant monotony of it all. I liked that you’re basically sharing their struggle the longer you keep playing in a meta sort of way, they’ll get frustrated with it and so will you. The others, Mirabelle, Isabeau, Odile, and Bonnie, are all good as well. While you do spend much time reading their same dialogue over and over (mercifully can zone out and skip it at least), was sweet to see how much they bond with each other throughout and make up the game’s more emotional core

The turn based combat was… alright. Bit too simple, but I liked that it was based on Rock Paper Scissors with the enemy designs actually having one of the signs to show which they were weak to. But really I’d definitely say the appeal for this is in the story than the gameplay, past a certain point you’ll wish you can just ignore or skip past most fights

I do think this is a well made game, but also one that’s (albeit intentionally) frustrating to play. It is pretty long for what it is at about 20 hours for me, and you have to meet it halfway to click with the story it’s trying to tell. But I think it worked for me by the end and appreciate what it went for, even if I doubt it’ll be for everyone

In Stars and Time feels like when a director takes their short film they made for school and decides to film additional scenes to turn it into a full feature, ruining it because its really just stretching out an idea that worked well as something brief.

Not that I particularly buy into the idea of a so called "unbiased" review but if you are looking for the perspective of someone who simply stumbled across the game and purchased it on a whim, this account most definitely will not be it. Back in 2021 I played a short game called Start Again, Start Again, Start Again : A prologue and fell in love with it. It was short and sweet, set up a very neat idea of an adventurer stuck in a groundhog day esque timeloop in the final dungeon of an RPG. Its concept was novel, its implementation for the most part smart, the characters were compelling, the LGBT rep was cool and obvious sequel hook aside, I think it worked well as a self contained story.

I liked it so much in fact, that I wrote a walkthrough for it, because none existed at the time I wrote it. It was an interesting experience, and made me respect every guide writer whos services I had benefitted from all these years. I did get a bit sick of the game by the end of it, having had to play essentially the same sequence about 6 times or so to write the guide. How naïve I was, If I thought that that was an overlong amount of runs for the game, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I loved the game so much in fact it was one of my first reviews on this very site and I even evangelized for it, getting my friend @MagneticBurn to play it and if my delusional ego can take the wheel for a second, I think I might have gotten the ball rolling on the site and now the page for the game is a lot more full of activity, and maybe even some of my mutuals' wishlisting/backlogging of ISAT? or Maybe not, but either way I was anticipating ISAT for a while now. I have definitely learned why I prefer to not do such a thing usually, and just let games drop on me without fanfare or hype of any kind. I think that was part of why I soured on ISAT.

If you have not played Start Again : A Prologue and are wondering if you need to play it to understand In Stars and Time, not only do you not, I would recommend that you do not play it if you are planning to play ISAT. A more appropriate name in hindsight would be Start Again : A Prototype because in the 17 hours I have played of ISAT the first 10 or so played out like a streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetched out version of STAT:AP.

Sweet fucking merciful mother of mary, this game is way way way way way way way way way way too long for what it is. STAT:P was not a perfect game by any means but none of its flaws had a chance to become glaring in its short snappy package. The not particularly engaging combat? Whatever, the game was 4 hours long. The repetition of dialogue? 4 Hours Long. The writing not always landing the way it probably was intended to? 4Hours.

Its not as if ISAT is JUST STAT:P but stretched, there are some new bits of course, character moments, concepts, a whole ass hub town kinda. In short, it's a game which has expanded upon its original prototype to give a more complete experience, and oh how I wish I could appreciate it but I simply cannot. Clearly the developer has accrued a bunch of experience and the general production value has increased at least twofold, but its all in service of an idea which simply cannot support such an expansion. Its like building an airliner using toothpicks, impressive certainly but you'll have to forgive me for not wanting to get on it.

As much as the new interactions and character quests and all that are nice and well done, most of the game is in service to an appropriately named gameplay loop which is simply beyond tedious after a while. I don't even really want to discuss the mechanics at length but in short, like most timeloop games you will be going through the same areas over and over and over again. Somewhat ameliorated through the use of mechanics to skip forward and not have to redo the whole dungeon all over again, but still the game is not deep or interesting enough to make the repetition not grating. Especially when it seems to begrudge you at times for taking the skip dialogue options it keeps giving you. And that, in short is the issue I have. After 16 hours of the same thing over and over and not ending and not concluding and 3 million ways of saying the same thing I just want the goddamned game to end. And here's the thing, I'm sure at some point I am going to get the "that was the point!" from someone and admittedly I have not finished the game, but I reject this notion.

Spoiler Warning I suppose.

The whole thing in STAT:P which extends to ISAT is the absolute misery that Sif feels at having to relive the same day over and over again and their friends not even being aware of it, having to pretend to feel fine about it and not let them catch on to his existential nightmare. One could argue then, that the overlong nature of ISAT is meant to serve this, through putting the player through a similar experience. I reject this for 2 reasons: 1 in STAT:P a similar thing is achieved much more succintly, just because I agree to something being necessary does not mean you should not show restraint in how its implemented; and the other being that even if it was this point would not be worth making the game an unmerciful slog. Even the points which clearly are meant to at least be compelling on a first time around like the character quests and whatnot were so dampened by having to trudge through a million loops to get there that I didn't even really connect to their emotional cores much.

Anyways, the breaking point for me was getting to Act 4 after what feels like an eternity, trying to look up in the dev's own discord server the next steps in lieu of a walkthrough which does not currently exist (and Im definitely NOT going to be the one writing it this time) and seeing "act 6 spoilers" and my heart sank. NO, I'm sorry but get fucked. I will look up the ending on youtube whenever someone uploads a walkthrough, I am done. And I feel sad about it, I had looked forward to this game, I thought I would at the very least sort of like it. Clearly it has had a positive reception and I wish I could join the positive consensus but this game makes me miserable.

Ok I'm gonna be writing a bit about this but just gonna preface it with I think the game was extremely obnoxious with how it handled being a Ludonarrative. But I do want to clarify with this that yeah the story is pretty good imo.

Starting with the characters I think they're good. You constantly get to learn about Siffrin without the game telling you outright what he's like at the start and that is awesome! I think every1 is written in a fun way!

I will not go deep into story bcus yeah just in case idk whos gonna play it but there's that. But gameplay? Dude the gameplay? I love exploring the same 3 floor dungeon for hours. For so many hours. Yes. Its a time loop. I got exactly what I should've expected But like, Yeah? I guess I did but did I have fun scrambling back and forth for all those hours? No? Wow just like siffrin haha you see its a ludonarrative because I am suffering like siffrin haha. Having to see the same 3 floors over and over and over and over and over again

They try? To mix it up in act 3? They try kind of? But it does literally nothing? You start seeing enemies from floor 3 in floor 1 and its like "Oh cool I guess enemies will be stronger from now on I wonder what new enemies I am going to see in future floors" and it turns out that no not really its just randomizing where enemies show up thats cool. Its meaningless though. Nothing changed. Its still just enemies that I have to hit and kill in 2 actions. So if that can change though, why not change literally anything else? Anything at all?

This is what I mean by the ludonarrative is too much. It just overpowers everything else. Act 5 changes layout a bit yeah but it just. Sucks. Act 5 sucks. Other than the ending. I think the ending is really good. Im free. Siffrin is free. At least it gives us both catharsis from it all

But overall? I had a good time with the story yeah. But. Yeah I wrote what I did not like. I can't recommend anyone to play it in good faith. If you can accept a ludonarrative as overpowering as this then yeah, play it, you'd probably enjoy it. If not then probably don't play it.