Life is Strange: True Colors releases at the end of the week, and there’s a lot of people looking forward to it (myself included, obviously). Ever since DONTNOD Entertainment brought Max and Chloe into my life in 2015, I’ve been gobbling up every tidbit of this series I can.
(As a small aside, I think it’s fantastic that the TV show is still in the works. I figured with the lack of anything in the last couple of years that it had been quietly canceled or shoved into development hell.)
This post is another in my What to Know series, meaning that I’ll try and give you the quick and dirty of what you should know before the game releases on Friday. It is by no means a comprehensive history, rather just some fun facts. And I’m a big fan of fun facts.
The Deck Nine Show
I learned earlier in 2021 that the IP (intellectual property) of Life is Strange isn’t owned by DONTNOD. (Square Enix owns it.) DONTNOD has said that they’re finished with their involvement in the franchise for now. They launched several projects since Life is Strange; Vampyr, Tell Me Why, and Twin Mirror.
True Colors isn’t Deck Nine’s first foray into the Life is Strange universe. They developed 2017’s Life is Strange: Before the Storm, the prequel to the first Life is Strange, which brought to life Rachel Amber’s entrance to the series (and Chloe Price’s world). I was a huge fan of Before the Storm. It couldn’t have been easy for Deck Nine to bring to life a character that had such mystery around her.
In 2017, while Before the Storm was releasing, the studio started work on what would become True Colors, and the game was officially revealed at Square Enix Presents in March 2021.
Alex Chen and the Power of Empathy
“Deep in the mountains of Colorado, you’ll find Haven Springs, a small mining town filled with beauty and mystery. As Alex, you’ll discover the shocking secrets behind your brother’s death in an emotional roller-coaster of an adventure, using your psychic power of empathy to change fate and change lives.”
-About the Game (From the Life is Strange website)
The protagonist of Life is Strange: True Colors is Alex Chen, an Asian-American young woman separated from her brother and shuffled around from group home to group home. (That reveal was a big one, especially in today’s climate of rising crimes against people of Asian descent.) When the game starts, Alex and her brother Gabe have reconnected, and he invites her to live with him in Haven Springs, Colorado.
Unlike rewinding time or telekinesis, Alex has the power of empathy – she can see a person’s aura. If the emotion is strong enough, she can even be influenced by it. (If you watch the gameplay video here, look at how Alex mirrors Steph when Steph is on the phone.)
Deck Nine has been upfront with what happens next. Gabe is killed in a mysterious accident, and Alex leans full-stop into her ability to read and manipulate emotions to try and get to the bottom of what happened to him. If you’ve been reading this space at all, you know I love a good mystery. But there are plenty of other reasons to be excited for this upcoming release as well.
Bye-Bye, Waiting!
That’s right, no more waiting months between episodes that end on huge cliffhangers! When September 10th rolls around, the entire game will be playable from start to finish. Even with the graphics upgrades aside, this is what I’m most excited about. (Those Life is Strange cliffhangers are a special breed of brutal.)
(Speaking of upgrades, Deck Nine also did full performance and facial capture for True Colors, so the (sometimes) weird facial animations of previous Life is Strange games should be a thing of the past.)
Deck Nine is also bringing a character back they worked with before on Before the Storm: Steph Gingrich. In Before the Storm, she was a Blackwell Academy student, openly queer, artist, theater kid, and dungeon master. In True Colors, she’s running Haven Springs’ only radio station and the town record store. (She’s also rocking a shirt with a D20 on it!) She’s one of two options for a love interest in the game, the other being Gabe’s friend Ryan.
Steph is also the protagonist of Life is Strange: True Colors’ DLC, Wavelengths. Set before the events of True Colors, we’re going to see what brought Steph to Haven Springs and follow her through Pride, Halloween, New Years, and more. And we’re playing DnD with an old friend! (And the music is A+)
And Now, How to Get!
There are three different editions available to purchase Life is Strange: True Colors. Starting at $59.99 is the Standard version of the game. If you want physical media, this is the only way to get it. Next is the Deluxe Edition; at $69.99, you’ll get the base game, Steph’s Wavelengths DLC, and four outfits paying homage to the other games in the Life is Strange universe. And finally, there’s the Ultimate Edition. For $79.99, the package contains the base game, Wavelengths, the outfits, and the Life is Strange: Remastered collection (Life is Strange, Life is Strange: Before the Storm).
Life is Strange: True Colors releases September 10th for Google Stadia, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X. Wavelengths releases on September 30th for the same systems.
If you’re looking forward to playing on the Nintendo Switch, there’s no release date yet, but Deck Nine has stated it should be later in the fall.
The Life is Strange: Remastered collection will release in 2022.
One More Thing…
I’m also going to throw one last video in here. I’ve wanted to get back to making YouTube content for some time now, and last week, Game Informer released one of their New Gameplay Today videos featuring True Colors. It’s just a simple reaction video, but it was really fun to make and edit.
(I promise I’ll work on my thumbnail skills. Or not. I mean, terrible thumbnails could just become my trademark?)