Liked it

(8/10)

I hope most folks know the story (har har) with these narrative adventure games by now. This outing hits somewhat closer to home than most (quite literally as I'm from ostensibly the next town over from Haven (Idaho) springs. It does an amazing job of capturing the small mountain town life and I really enjoyed getting to walk through something quite familiar and warm (except in the winter aka september to june).

All kidding aside, I really enjoyed the characters in this one and outside of a stretch in the middle with a very bare-bones larp that overstayed its welcome a bit I really enjoyed walking through the town and inhabiting the world for the little bit I could.

If you like narrative fiction games this is a pretty good one but definitely do not expect much action, this is much more of an introspective experience (which is for me exactly what I wanted)

While I enjoyed the story of Life is Strange True Colors, I cannot recommend it to others who have played the other games in the series.

Life is Strange 1 + 2 were amazing games, with 2 being my favorite, where the choices you made throughout the story had real impacts on your character, other characters, and the projection of the story. Life is Strange True Colors does not provide this. Instead, it is a story with a railroaded timeline that you will follow regardless of the choices you make. Every single choice timeline leads you to the exact same ending. The only difference is your romance interest, NOTHING else is different.

For this reason, I cannot recommend this game despite finding the story itself overall enjoyable. The best part of the Life is Strange series is the feeling of your choices with interactions with characters having real implications and changing the ending you get. Life is Strange True Colors just takes you along for the ride with the guise of making you think that any choices you make matter at all.

Honestly a dog ass game. I spent a good 60 pounds thinking it would be on the same level as life is strange one possibly even better as its been released years after. But no its so bad, the mechanics make no sense, the graphics in certain scenes makes the characters look like they are having a stroke... The story line isnt even good, ive tried over and over to get back into it but i just get completely zoned out because of how boring it is. Bumcheeks dont buy.

I really enjoyed the story, the characters, the ambience, the rythm
Very well done!!

again can't relate to the main character, and kinda fine it boring, but I'll try to beat this game sometime.

I thoroughly enjoyed playing Life is Strange: True Colors. I think this is my favorite so far. The "main story" may not be as strong as the first life is strange, but I think the characters were relatable and grounded. The main character, Steph, Ryan, and Gabe were all great characters and felt very real. If a story can get me feeling emotions and questioning my decisions and interactions with other characters, it's a success in my eyes. I personally didn't enjoy life is strange 2. I thought it was all over the place with the time jumps and messy characters, but this was great and a step in the right direction.
The animation in this game is a huge step up over the previous 2. I am looking forward to playing more in the series if we get more!

Genuinely gorgeous and moving. Exactly what I would hope for out of a modern rendition of Life is Strange. Yes, it is corny at times, but at this point, if you’re playing the 4th Life is Strange game, chances are you know what you’re signing up for and are more than okay with that. True Colors is much more like LiS1 and BTS than LiS2, highly recommend if you’re looking for an experience similar to those two games.

While Life is Strange 2 valiantly tackled the colossal issues of systematic racism and police brutality, True Colors returns to the overly-sentimental teen drama of the original game - but with a fresh coat of paint.

In fact, True Colors presentation is downright beautiful. Most scenes are defined by a richly saturated colour scheme, with a permanent sunset casting down on the town of Haven giving a dream-like quality to the game world. The muddy textures of the original Life is Strange - a practical resource consideration perhaps covetly played off as an aesthetic choice - is largely dropped in favour of detailed texture-work. The town’s lake has so many colourful reflections bouncing off its surface that you’d think it was an industrial oilspill. True Colors even comes packaged with a raytracing mode, although given the lack of dynamic weather, baked lighting works just fine.

But the game’s presentation goes far beyond pretty sunsets. True Color’s facial animations are significantly more detailed than previous games, offering subtle nuances which often speak louder than words. Characters are able to wink, blush, or give anxious grins in a much more convincing and believable way, as if there was hundreds more vertices in each face to animate. The cinematography is also leagues above previous games, and I’ve been frequently scrambling for my screenshot key to capture moments of the game’s immense beauty and more poignant scenes.

Alex Chen steals the show as True Color’s protagonist, offering the endearing nerdiness of a Max Caulfield with a more proactive, emotional side which sees her act less like a bystander and instead an active participant in her situations. Her family story is brilliantly weaved into the plot and steers away from blatant misery porn, while still having a story based in tragedy and loss. The side cast explores several thought-provoking storylines, none of which I’ve seen explored in a game before, yet two prominent characters remain curiously under-explored given their involvement.

True Colour’s experiments with an open-ish game world, and on several occasions you’re allowed to explore the town at your whim and complete quests non-linearly. For the most part, it’s a welcome addition and you wonder why this type of gameplay hadn’t been introduced to the series before. There are a few teething issues though: side-quests (you heard that right) are just a bit too easy. There’s accessible, story-based gameplay but these puzzles almost complete themselves.

The gameplay in general skims the fat of previous LiS games. Gone are the long, drawn out walking sequences of past and most spaces are now scaled down, making them quicker to navigate. Alex has much better cardio that previous LiS protagonists, jogging at a quicker pace and most ‘downtime’ is wisely spent on the game’s beautiful zen moments - with Alex either sitting on the side of a pier or strumming her guitar. I loved the focus on mid-western emo, modern folk and, of course, indie music in the game.

True Color’s is much shorter than previous LiS games. Episode 4, for example, clocks in as low as 50 minutes, and I’m someone who insists on interacting with everything . For the most part, this is all quality - however episode 3 is the only real blemish, featuring a long, meandering side quest that uses up all its charm within the first 20 minutes and contributes little to the main plot. Conversely, episode 5 is perhaps one of the greatest chapters in Life is Strange history, absolutely nailing every single scene and wrapping the plot together beautifully.

I had a few performance issues for the first time in the series. Specific moments would begin dropping 20-30 frames for seemingly no reason, and only for a few seconds, fixed only by restarting my laptop. The problem isn’t as much the frame drops, but rather the impact on frame times slowing down the game’s motion and becoming really distracting. Again, this was fixable, but it’s strange to happen when my system breezed through the rest of the game at 90fps.

Life is Strange: True Colors represents a lovely step up in production values for the series. The brisk length, beautiful presentation and emotional story pushes the series forward in all the right way. Now let me use the UK-spelling of Colours again, please.

I wasn't sure going in, because I loved the Max/Chloe/Rachel world of Life is Strange so much, but Alex really is awesome as well. Some great and unique game mechanics here. Overall, I must say I enjoyed the other Life is Strange stories more (also Double Exposure), but definitely worth it after you've played the other ones.