Life is Strange: True Colors is delightfully dorky and in many ways a much more faithful successor to the original game.

The first Life is Strange was a game about fighting fate and asked how far you would go for someone you love.
Life is Strange 2 was a game with a lot of ideas, but at its core, is a story about two brothers growing up and trying to survive on their own.

True Colors is a game about letting go of the past, a story about processing emotions and trauma. And it is very beautiful.

I hope a middle ground can be found between having games like LiS 2 that are a drastically different kind of story in this world, and games like this, that are much more faithful to the original and return to solving mysteries with the help of strange abilities. I think they both have their place and are both valid ways of turning Life is Strange into an anthology series. But if you asked me to choose one?

Yeah, I'd choose True Colors and the Deck Nine team any day of the week.

The storytelling feels halfway between the original Life is Strange and Before the Storm, and that works really well. I don't know whose call it was to bring back Steph and have her be part of the main cast, but I'm so glad they did. She was always a highlight of Before the Storm.

The return of a supernatural mechanic like Max's time abilities helps to make things more involved and I'm very appreciative of its return - it's empowering, as you feel like you're solving a mystery in a way that only you, the player, could. And the gameplay loop of understanding people's memories and emotions to piece together how to help them is simple, but I feel, both distinct and very effective. And something that Life is Strange 2 lacked.

It's still not the original game, and it can't be - the original Life is Strange is something really special - but unlike the second, which opted to try and differentiate itself as much as possible in hopes of finding its own magic (and only somewhat succeeds), True Colors tries to tap into the original's while trying to highlight its own strengths.

And it succeeds with true flying colors. (Pun intended.)

My only real gripe with True Colors is its length - it's the shortest Life is Strange game to date (possibly with the exception of Before the Storm), based on my own playtime and HowLongToBeat.com. And that's even with me compulsively checking everything and doing laps around Haven to make sure I didn't miss anything. I genuinely think it could've gone toe-to-toe with the original if certain characters and plot points had longer to cook.

Even so, I really did enjoy True Colors. There are a lot of moments throughout this story that were, to me, breathtaking in a way that is distinctly like the original. It's not all the way there, but this is the closest they've gotten to recapturing that magic. And possibly the closest they ever will.

One final aside - how is it possible we have gone four games now and not a single character has said the words "life is strange"? It would be so easy, man. I expect better.

I respect the hell out of Life is Strange 2. It feels like this game was developed with such raw determination to prove that Life is Strange is more than just the story of Chloe and Max, of Arcadia Bay, that this can work as an anthology series and they can tell more kinds of stories in this world.

This game knows it can't be the first Life is Strange, so it sprints in the opposite direction with brazen confidence and a "look what we can do". It knows its got something to prove, and it goes all out in trying to differentiate itself from the first game, even if it risks isolating its players.

And I think this is pretty rad. Doing something like this takes guts, it takes vision, and most of all -- it takes love.

But as much as I wanted to fall in love with this game the same way as the first, I can't. It's well-intentioned, but in many ways, this game is a cauldron of bizarre choices of what to change and what not.

Life is Strange 2 feels less like a Life of Strange game and more akin to something like The Last of Us wearing Life is Strange's skin. And that would be fine, but I really think for such a drastic change in both presentation and story structure there needed to be greater changes to gameplay. This feels like a game where I should be fighting, gathering resources and crafting, something to enforce how different these boys' lives become and how brutal the wilderness can be. And instead, we have a game that's all about travel and surviving and living off the grid trapped in the body of a choice-based mystery game. There's so much to interact with and investigate, but why am I still investigating when Life is Strange 2 has no mystery to speak of?

Additionally, I don't know what it was about Before the Storm that convinced LiS we didn't need a new supernatural mechanic tied to the L2 button, but as was the case there, the lack of one and indeed any sort of gameplay loop that adds a layer of complexity to this game's light puzzle solving makes the adventure feel dull in parts. Because you can't fuck it up, everything feels so scripted. And unlike Before the Storm, Life is Strange 2 doesn't have the excuse of being a prequel about a beloved character it would be contradictory to the story to give a supernatural ability.

The first Life is Strange and all of the content surrounding it has become very important to me. It holds a special place in my heart, one that Life is Strange 2 could never live up to. I love the colorful cast of Arcadia Bay, its familar locales, and most all, the story of Max and Chloe. But ultimately, I'd be a terrible liar if I said I didn't enjoy the story of these two brothers on the road fighting to survive. It's slow to start, but in the end, I am all around satisfied with Life is Strange 2.

So long, Wolf Brothers.

Chloe Price is such a tragic character that I understand only too well. My heartache following the first game has intensified.

Before the Storm definitely isn't as strong as the first Life is Strange game. With the removal of the time mechanic the game becomes a little less involved, and Chloe's Backtalk doesn't make up for it. The story itself feels a little directionless to begin with, lacking that sense of mystery the first game has - but as it continues, it brings even more depth to Chloe as a character and culminates in a very strong final episode. Her relationship with Rachel is also much more charming and interesting than I ever could've anticipated.

There's so much love in my heart for these games. Before the Storm, as well as its special episode Farewell, has only deepened my connection to and appreciation for Chloe and Max. I love them. I truly do. And I am sad to say goodbye to them and the rest of Arcadia Bay.

As I spoke about playing Before the Storm and the first game with friends, I said one of its greatest strengths is making its characters feel like real people in a way that appeals so strongly to me. But I suppose that's the catch when it comes to humanizing characters - the more devastating it feels when their stories don't end in sunshine and rainbows.

One of the greatest games I've ever played.

Adapting the second act of Final Fantasy VII, Rebirth is a complete step-up from the original in every regard. Compared to Remake, combat feels snappier, features more playable characters, and there's so much to do and see in the open-world. I spent over 100 hours on my first playthrough and was sad to see it end.

The way the party is handled is second to none. The characters are what makes the original Final Fantasy VII so special - here they feel even more alive, and even more like a family. I can't gush about it enough. I just love seeing these characters exist in this way. Every single scene brought me so much happiness.

It's controversial, but the more I have thought about it, the more I really think the ending is excellent. Regardless of your thoughts on it, I think there is inherently something beautiful in the fact that this story is so crazy and over-the-top that you know its being told exactly as the developers envision it.

I don't know if they can top this with Part 3. But I am more excited than ever.

vincent valentine... save me...

vincent valentine

save me vincent valentine

What was it with Tetsuya Nomura in the late 2000s and tragedies?

God, I fucking love Zack Fair. This game is very fun. It's also very sad. I think it has a little too much repetitive content for its own good - it eventually gets tiring killing the same 5 enemies on the same 5 maps - but the story itself is incredibly strong, well-paced, and fun to play.

Unfortunately, the final chapter implements my favorite game design philosophy, which is what I like to call "putting a really ridiculously complicated, overdesigned dungeon right at the end". It's the slowest part of the game and a little tedious.

But really, I did enjoy this game a lot. And while Zack's new voice actor definitely sounds a little goofy in parts, he absolutely nails the final scene, which I have rewatched maybe 200 times. I love you Zack Fair.

Oh my god, I love Final Fantasy VII.

This game's story is so dense. Within 30 hours you feel as though you've watched 5 seasons of an anime. And for as clunky as it can often be, I adore it. Themes of identity, a strong pro-environment message, wrapped in a found family bow.

It's endlessly loveable, and the story still manages to carry weight despite being carried out by characters that you can count the polygons on.

Unfortunately it has random encounters.

I adore this grand tour of Midgar even more on a second playthrough. The opening hours of Final Fantasy VII are some of its best - and I really feel that dedicating an entire game to it, giving the player time to experience the city that blemishes Gaia, expanding upon all the many, many plot points OG tries to introduce at breakneck pace - was an excellent decision.

The characters in this game feel so alive, and every interaction endlessly charming. There's also a surprising amount of content for a very linear game set in one city.

Episode Intermission was phenomenal, and immediately made me fall in love with Yuffie, who to me, is very forgettable in OG. Now, she is a lifelong comfort character. And for a story entirely original to the Remake project, it's shockingly well executed, feeling like a natural inclusion within this world.