This review contains spoilers
finally at the end of my journey with life is strange, i booted up this game and noticed two things immediately. one, holy shit this game is gorgeous. and two, while i was connecting with alex, i really wasnt sure about the actual story being told. i felt like it was aimless and trying to do a lot of things at once. it felt unfocused. it didnt hit me til near the end that this was by design.
i spoke about the last 3 games focusing on different versions of love. romance, friendship and family. true colors continues this theme, but focuses on a less mentioned and less considered aspect of love. the inevitable aftermath of all forms of love, grief. no matter what, grief will come after love. this isnt a hopeless statement, rather, a fact of life. and grief can make you feel largely unfocused and aimless in your life.
trying to pick up the pieces you or a love one left behind is so difficult. some people become angry, they lash out at the ones closest to them and feel hatred over people who aren't to blame.
some people become scared, suddenly the idea of death is real, tangible. it could come for any of us at any time, ourselves and the people we love. so we wrap ourselves up in a tomb of our own making. a cocoon of loneliness, fear and self hatred.
some people become sad, letting the overwhelming loss completely wash over them, becoming distant, cold and despondent. what was once a constant in their life is suddenly gone. what does that mean for who remains? what does that mean for myself?
and some people feel joyful. the choose to remember the good times, they make new connections with the people around them, they fall in love all over again. for death is not the end, but the start of what comes after.
but alex finds herself in a dilemma. all of these answers feel... wrong. in her youth, she wanted people to only feel positively, she wanted to help them forget their negative emotions, she thought this would help people, and it never did.
then she became jaded and cynical. emotions in general were the problem. she forbade herself from feeling them, and never got too close to anyone else who would feel them too. she thought if she felt nothing, she could be okay, and she never did.
finally, after losing gabe, alex decides the best way she can help anybody is to help them through their emotions, but quickly. run through it, get it out of your system, and maybe things will be better on the other side, but it never was.
because thats not how emotions work. thats not how grief works. grief at its core is love, just a different phase. you cant just expedite the process, you cant just say the right words, feel the right things, and everything will be alright.
you have to let yourself work through it. you have to open your heart to people, to possibility, to the hurt that will come. only then, can you begin to feel normal again. slowly but surely, alex comes to realize this, not just with the people around her, but herself.
you have to work through it, you have to feel it. the good and the bad. because if you dont, it will always lie somewhere beneath the surface. the final chapter sees jed as a perfect narrative foil for alex, not because they stand on two opposite beliefs, but because they stand on the same one.
they both pushed down the hurt so deep they almost forgot it was there, but when it rears its head again, suddenly its dangerous to yourself, and others. alex believed she had nobody who understood her pain, who could help her work through it. but that power was in her all along.
but jed had been lying to himself for longer, the power that once was there had since dwindled. alex brings forth his guilt and self hatred, not through anger and spite, but through empathy. through shared grief. in a series where the final confrontation is usually a stand-off, alex chooses kindness and love. alex chooses forgiveness. a better world.
and now, overcoming her grief, alex is able to truly move forward with her life. she can love, she can hurt, she can see the future, she can make a life for herself. at long last, she finally sees her own true colors. and they are beautiful. (like a raiiiinboooowwww)
(chapter ranking is 3 > 4 > 5 > 2 > 1)
i spoke about the last 3 games focusing on different versions of love. romance, friendship and family. true colors continues this theme, but focuses on a less mentioned and less considered aspect of love. the inevitable aftermath of all forms of love, grief. no matter what, grief will come after love. this isnt a hopeless statement, rather, a fact of life. and grief can make you feel largely unfocused and aimless in your life.
trying to pick up the pieces you or a love one left behind is so difficult. some people become angry, they lash out at the ones closest to them and feel hatred over people who aren't to blame.
some people become scared, suddenly the idea of death is real, tangible. it could come for any of us at any time, ourselves and the people we love. so we wrap ourselves up in a tomb of our own making. a cocoon of loneliness, fear and self hatred.
some people become sad, letting the overwhelming loss completely wash over them, becoming distant, cold and despondent. what was once a constant in their life is suddenly gone. what does that mean for who remains? what does that mean for myself?
and some people feel joyful. the choose to remember the good times, they make new connections with the people around them, they fall in love all over again. for death is not the end, but the start of what comes after.
but alex finds herself in a dilemma. all of these answers feel... wrong. in her youth, she wanted people to only feel positively, she wanted to help them forget their negative emotions, she thought this would help people, and it never did.
then she became jaded and cynical. emotions in general were the problem. she forbade herself from feeling them, and never got too close to anyone else who would feel them too. she thought if she felt nothing, she could be okay, and she never did.
finally, after losing gabe, alex decides the best way she can help anybody is to help them through their emotions, but quickly. run through it, get it out of your system, and maybe things will be better on the other side, but it never was.
because thats not how emotions work. thats not how grief works. grief at its core is love, just a different phase. you cant just expedite the process, you cant just say the right words, feel the right things, and everything will be alright.
you have to let yourself work through it. you have to open your heart to people, to possibility, to the hurt that will come. only then, can you begin to feel normal again. slowly but surely, alex comes to realize this, not just with the people around her, but herself.
you have to work through it, you have to feel it. the good and the bad. because if you dont, it will always lie somewhere beneath the surface. the final chapter sees jed as a perfect narrative foil for alex, not because they stand on two opposite beliefs, but because they stand on the same one.
they both pushed down the hurt so deep they almost forgot it was there, but when it rears its head again, suddenly its dangerous to yourself, and others. alex believed she had nobody who understood her pain, who could help her work through it. but that power was in her all along.
but jed had been lying to himself for longer, the power that once was there had since dwindled. alex brings forth his guilt and self hatred, not through anger and spite, but through empathy. through shared grief. in a series where the final confrontation is usually a stand-off, alex chooses kindness and love. alex chooses forgiveness. a better world.
and now, overcoming her grief, alex is able to truly move forward with her life. she can love, she can hurt, she can see the future, she can make a life for herself. at long last, she finally sees her own true colors. and they are beautiful. (like a raiiiinboooowwww)
(chapter ranking is 3 > 4 > 5 > 2 > 1)