warmhealers
15 reviews liked by warmhealers
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.
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.
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.
Really solid! Has interesting things to say about found family vs. biological family, Alex is an extremely likeable protagonist, has a dude love interest who manages to be Not Trash. That said the game's pacing is often a bit strange (ha), and I feel like it needed a few more scenes of hanging out/investigating.
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.
This review contains spoilers
As seems to be the trend with Life is Strange games, this had compelling characters, an engaging plot, and a bomb-ass soundtrack that all built up to a less-than-satisfying climax.
With all the build-up to this secret Typhon is hiding, I have to admit, I was expecting way bigger than "so it turns out this one guy didn't actually save all those miners years ago." The only thing that saved that reveal from being a total fucking letdown was the personal connection to Alex- that her dad was one of the miners who died. Despite that, I really enjoyed the character development in this game. Unlike the first Life is Strange, which seemed to focus more on Chloe as a possible love interest while Warren is effectively sidelined, both love interests felt like realistic, fleshed-out characters, and both of them genuinely felt like good choices for Alex. Sure, Ryan could've used a little more development, but maybe I just missed all the scenes that give him more depth by not romancing him. That seems like a backwards way of doing things, but whatever. One thing I'm not happy with the way Ryan is characterized, though, is that he won't believe Alex when she reveals Jed's secret. It's understandable that he'd be shocked to hear someone accuse his dad of that, but what I don't like about the game's handling of this is the fact that, in the very end, if you check your phone, you'll see that Ryan texted Alex an apology, and Alex didn't respond. Seems kinda fucked up to give the player the option to forgive Jed for trying to kill her, but not Ryan for taking a few days to come around to the fact that his father is a murderer. For all its faults, though, overall, I really liked this game.
With all the build-up to this secret Typhon is hiding, I have to admit, I was expecting way bigger than "so it turns out this one guy didn't actually save all those miners years ago." The only thing that saved that reveal from being a total fucking letdown was the personal connection to Alex- that her dad was one of the miners who died. Despite that, I really enjoyed the character development in this game. Unlike the first Life is Strange, which seemed to focus more on Chloe as a possible love interest while Warren is effectively sidelined, both love interests felt like realistic, fleshed-out characters, and both of them genuinely felt like good choices for Alex. Sure, Ryan could've used a little more development, but maybe I just missed all the scenes that give him more depth by not romancing him. That seems like a backwards way of doing things, but whatever. One thing I'm not happy with the way Ryan is characterized, though, is that he won't believe Alex when she reveals Jed's secret. It's understandable that he'd be shocked to hear someone accuse his dad of that, but what I don't like about the game's handling of this is the fact that, in the very end, if you check your phone, you'll see that Ryan texted Alex an apology, and Alex didn't respond. Seems kinda fucked up to give the player the option to forgive Jed for trying to kill her, but not Ryan for taking a few days to come around to the fact that his father is a murderer. For all its faults, though, overall, I really liked this game.
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.
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.
The first video game to have a character play creep by radiohead on acoustic guitar alone in a room and cry. Instant classic. My five star rating is based on this
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.
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
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