This is a pretty unusual situation because, unlike some of the games I’ve played before on the backlog of beaten journeys, Life is Strange: True Colors didn’t finish over the weekend. No, instead, I’ve been checking out the game over the course of a few weeks, usually a chapter when I’m reviewing gaming laptops. I chose to do this for no negative reason, in fact, I’ve actually really enjoyed the game and appreciated its slower, lighter pace. However, it still took me a few months to complete a game that was about ten hours long.
But anyway, as I just mentioned, I’ve really enjoyed the true colors. The story, while a little slow at times, is generally a captivating one, and the characters and the way they are portrayed are very impressive. Alex Chen is an excellent protagonist with enough depth, deep exploration in a way that both makes sense for the story and gameplay, and inspires emotional interrogation in the player. The decisions you make in the game and the scenarios Alex finds himself in are presented in such a way that you want to make the right decisions – even if the answers aren’t black and white. I mean, in general, a lot of game dialogue has a clear right and wrong answer, depending on whether the player wants to be the perfect good guy, or play the devil’s advocate and choose something evil. In True Colors, there’s never a clear way to determine which is which, and it does give weight to each decision because there’s no real way to tell how the character will respond to the dialogue you choose.
While narrative is obviously very important for a game like True Colors, and developer Deck Nine has done a great job of creating an engaging and immersive game, one of the other parts of the game is What caught my eye was the colorful and vibrant art style and world the game was set in. The host town of Haven Springs is absolutely stunning. It’s the kind of picturesque country town you see on a postcard, or the kind of place you’d expect to find out of frame in a Bob Ross painting. It’s a truly gorgeous place, a wonder worth exploring, in fact, thanks to a plethora of characters spread across the streets, and offering unique and unusual interactions to keep exploration and the wider gameplay fresh.
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On the topic of gameplay, I’d say the general pacing here can be a little monotonous and dull at times, as you’ll be exploring just to hear some minor, and often irrelevant, dialogue. Sometimes important memories can be uncovered, or sometimes talking to someone or interacting with something can open a dialogue option to learn more about a specific character and their motivations. But in general, these are few and far between, which means a lot of exploratory gameplay revolves around cruising around the same part of Haven Springs just to discover something pretty trivial. Needless to say, you can see why I often find it a little boring at times.
But the part that really needs to be considered is that it’s generally rare for me to be less positive about this game, and for the most part, I’m starting to really appreciate what Deck Nine has to say about this fabulous narrative series. While I don’t think the story is set for a sequel like the main Life is Strange game, I do hope we’ll see Alex and some supporting characters (maybe even Haven Springs) in future LiS games because of this The game is so full of charm and character that it’s a shame it never comes back.
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