Review of Life is Strange: True Colors – a trip to a (non) idyllic town

Life is Strange. A series of episodic adventures that brought sadness, joy, depression and various surprises to our video game lives. The pilgrimage of this brand began in 2015, when the first adventure arrived from Dontnod, in which we watched the somewhat unfortunate fates of Max and Chloe in the town of Arcadia Bay. The title was a great success with critics and players alike, mainly due to well-written dialogues and characters. Two years later, there was a prequel Before the Storm from developers at Deck Nine, which focused on the relationship between Chloe and Rachel. His reception was a bit lukewarm, but the players were glad to be able to return to the familiar world. The big change, however, came with the official second “series” (preceded by the amazing The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit), which told the completely different story of the Diaz brothers. Some did not like this direction, while others did.

However, the developers from Dontnod then threw themselves into other projects, such as Tell Me Why or Twin Mirror (neither of which turned out very well), so the authors of the prequel Before the Storm returned to the Life is Strange series, who are currently bringing Life is Strange: True Colors – again a completely new adventure with a different set and characters. And it’s an adventure that fans should definitely not run away from.

• Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (reviewed version), Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S (Nintendo Switch later)
• Date of publication: 10. 09. 2021
• Producer: Deck Nine
• Genre: Adventura
• Czech localization: Born
• Multiplayer: Born
• Data to download: 12 GB (PS5)
• Game time: 8 hours
• Accessibility: 16+
• Sales version: Box and digital
• Price: 1 599 CZK (Xzone)

Everyone would like to live in Haven Springs

First, let’s look at what the new episode is all about. And since the official synopsis reveals unnecessarily much, we will try to modify it a bit. This time, the players take on the role of 21-year-old Alex Chen, who, after an unhappy childhood, leaves for the picturesque town of Haven Springs, Colorado, where she is finally to meet her brother Chad after many years. At first, everything seems idyllic, when the locals are basically excited about the arrival of the younger sister, but fate can be very insidious, which is why he has prepared another really unpleasant test for young Alex.

Alex has an unhappy past and no better future awaits her.

Right at the beginning, the melancholic atmosphere of an American small town breathes on you, which is depicted in a very romantic and therefore unrealistic way, but from time to time we have the right to flee to worlds where world problems are not solved and simply enjoy. And that you will love setsakra. True Colors is so far the most beautiful looking title of the series, which has worked on models of characters or mimics, as well as on various effects and scenery, which will completely draw you in, even to such an extent that you forget to make pictures from the game (personal experience of the author) . And of course there is also a typically excellent soundtrack, which includes indie pop, folk and folk-rock pecks, which this time are backed by a light dose of mainstream Kings of Leon, one unsuccessful cover of Blister in the Sun and one better cover of the legendary song from Radiohead – Creep.

Miss Chen’s troubles

Therefore, it is largely freezing that a rather ordinary central plot takes place within this beautiful venue, the plot twists of which you can estimate well in advance, as it offers various clichés without trying to surprise. Of course, let’s put our hands on our hearts. The main reason why we always liked to play Life is Strange games was not the story itself, but the excellent characters and conversations between them. And from that point of view, I can say that the developers from Deck Nine hit the mark. Alex Chen is probably the most likeable character of all the games, which you will love the moment he gets off the bus and for many he becomes an immediate platonic love.

The characters are infinitely nice.

However, the rest of the ensemble will definitely not be ashamed. Steph is a cool nerd, Ryan is an unbelievable guy (we all like boys in flannels, don’t we?) And Ethan is a lively young man who would like to have him as a younger brother. However, each of the locals also wears their own skeletons in the closet, which gives them the necessary hallmark of credibility, awakening empathy in you (assuming you are not a sociopath), which is also helped by phenomenal acting performances. However, they definitely regret that this time the authors offer perhaps unnecessarily short game times, due to which there is a relatively significant brevity / haste and they do not have time to sound different nuances.

Emotional intelligence for a better tomorrow

In any case, empathy itself plays a very important role in the game. Following the example of previous episodes, Alex also offers his own “superpower”, which is emotional intelligence. Although it is a more or less dubious construct in our world, Alex abounds in its somewhat paranormal manifestation, when he senses the emotions of other people or objects, which allows the individual to better calm or manipulate him, so to some extent he works as such a therapist. The ability is really interesting, pleasant with its relative groundiness and offering a nice message to take care of our mental hygiene. However, the brevity also manifests itself here. While Alex does not control these forces at all from the beginning, over time he will learn to tame them, use them for various purposes and open up new possibilities. However, this rebirth is careless and actually too random, which is unfortunate.

The ability of the main heroine is interesting.

However, this brings us to the gameplay itself. It will probably not surprise anyone that we will not see any big changes here. This means that again we will mainly explore individual locations and talk to others, where we will have many dialogue choices. Some are traditionally more of a role, while others are more prominent in the story itself, which can culminate in one of the six ends (the main ones are two, the rest are just different variations). In addition, from time to time you will solve some really simple “puzzles”, or you will find collectibles in the form of memories. However, the authors try to successfully disrupt this classic template from time to time with the help of various mini-games, such as table football or video game machines. From this point of view, I have to highlight the phenomenal third chapter, which perfectly breaks the imaginary stereotype and works great in terms of emotions and acting. In your free time, you can then drive through your mobile phone, where you can read the main character’s diary, or rummage through the news and the local social network, which will further deepen your insight into the local world.

Unfortunate tearing

This leads us to the fact that the format of gradual episode publishing was abandoned with this work, so we can immediately enjoy the whole (ie without additional DLC). The game is still divided into chapters, but among them we have no summary of the previous events and no trailer for the next one. It is clear that this approach will suit many people more, but it will honestly freeze it a little, at least due to the lack of partial closing captions, which have always left a pleasant feeling in the person.

The title left the model of gradual episode publishing.

However, pleasant feelings will definitely not be left by the sometimes slightly scrubbing run of the game on the PlayStation 5. In outdoor locations, the frame rate drops and the game looks uncomfortably jerky. Surprisingly, there are also relatively longer loading times, but it’s not so bad that you can make coffee. The use of the functions of the DualSense driver then remains very minimalist and does not deepen the experience in any way. In addition, you can turn on ray tracing, but no significant visual changes were observed.

Have a nice return

In any case, Deck Nine does not have to be ashamed of its return to the Life is Strange series. Fans have been given a successful new adventure, which offers everything they like from years past. The melancholic atmosphere of a small town, great characters, an excellent selection of music and an interesting ability of the heroine, all this is wrapped in a beautiful visual jacket and supported by a few ideas that pleasantly disrupt standard gameplay. The experience is spoiled only by a short story and a high degree of predictability.