I played “Life is Strange: True Colors”, released back on September 10t, 2021. “Life is Strange: True Colors” is an interactive narrative adventure video game developed by Deck Nine and published by Square Enix. It’s the fifth installment in the “Life is Strange” series. The game follows the story of a young woman named Alex Chen who has the supernatural ability to experience, absorb, and manipulate the strong emotions of others and more interestingly, detect and relive the emotions embedded in the objects around her. She uses this power to uncover the truth behind her brother’s mysterious death in the fictional town of Haven Springs, Colorado.
Throughout the game, players make choices that influence the story’s direction and outcome, shaping Alex’s relationships with other characters and determining the ultimate resolution of the mystery. “Life is Strange: True Colors” explores themes of family, identity, empathy, and the consequences of one’s actions. It incorporates elements of exploration, puzzle-solving, and decision-making within its narrative-driven gameplay.
Interestingly, the death of Alex’s brother occurs at the end of the first chapter, relatively early in the game which becomes all the more mysterious for Alex since she is new to the town. Relying heavily on exploration, the player through Alex will come to know the many secrets and interpersonal dynamics and drama of Haven Springs and its residents. The player walks through the town and there ca be interaction with many of the NPCs within the game that shed light on who the true antagonists of the game will be, the history of the town and the quarry that caused the brother’s death. Using Alex’s powers, the player can reach deeper into the psyche of other characters who may find information to solve the mystery. Those emotions narrate true motives and thoughts of characters and move the narrative forward toward solving the mystery and allowing the player to learn more about Alex’s life. For example, Alex will use these powers to save a boy that will give her information of suspicious activity he saw in his adventures of sneaking away.
There are also certain objects in the vicinity that will move the narrative along, narrating what happened in that area, what emotions were present there, as well as what emotional attachments characters may have had with that object. Players will use these as clues to solve the many puzzles throughout the game, such as getting into secret passageways or places where ordinary citizens wouldn’t have access to. The architecture, specifically the placement and frequency of interactable objects works to control the story. Some objects are easy to miss and can be missed which can shift the player’s alignments with certain characters in the story, because of the lack of information. Based on this, the story can end differently, with severe consequences based on the action of the player. In total, this detail gives the game four separate endings players can get.
The mechanics of exploration and focus of interaction as well as strategy using Alex’s power all come together to introduce and weave the world into the central mystery of the game. The player comes in knowing nothing but of a murder and works to solve it.
