Life is Strange: True Colors did not meet my Expectations... 

I will never get over Alex being shot that close, falling that far, first on a board then on the ground, and is able to live. LET ALONE WALK. That genuinely took me completely out of any game imersion.

when the colours are true and the life is strange

I was sort of disappointed by the fact that there was no “bad end”. I appreciate my experience more knowing my choices prevented something bad from happening. But no matter what you do, Jed fesses up. My feeling of accomplishment at making him confesswas ruined when I realized that.

DontNod is the heart and soul of the franchise, I hope they come back for at least one more game. Decknine isn’t bad but it’s just not the same.

Tbh Decknine’s story inconsistencies always ends up breaking the emersion for me, it’s something about their yikes ass endings 💀 or last episodes, also the plot with their dad and Alex as a character, I loved her at first, then idk what happened

TC was my first introduction to the LiS series and I thought it was brilliant - then I played LiS2. I found that I cared more about the characters and was more immersed in the story of the brothers than I was in TC, because really, in TC the stakes weren't as high. My heart was broken for Sean when I made the decision for him to go to prison, I felt so awful that I replayed the entire game just to get the Wolf Brothers ending. TC had potential - I just think bigger risks needed to be taken because at the end of the day, your choices don't really matter and therefore there isn't the same attachment to the characters or storyline. I loved the complex characters, soundtrack and heart of the game, it just needed more (you were SO RIGHT about the length) to hit the same way emotionally as LiS2.

this is an incredibly well-written analysis!! as someone who is studying writing for video games, i was ecstatic when i saw this video pop up in my recommended tab. definitely deserves wayyy more views!

This is honestly my least favourite LIS game. There are aspects that i like, but i couldn’t bring myself to enjoy the story and found the “power” underwhelming.

When you realize that the review is 1/3 rd length of this game😵‍💫

I agree with you in almost all aspects, yet this game made me feel so happy and chill. It was heartwarming, a perfect LIS game to me. I love this franchise with all my heart. Great video!!!

i was so disappointed with the love interests in this game. steph to me fell really flat, and while i usually prefer going for the gay love interests, i felt more chemistry with ryan. however, once you lock him in as your choice, you cannot break things off with him if he chooses your side in the ending, which is something i don’t think alex would do. how could you date someone when their father was responsible for the death of your whole family? i loved ryan as a character, but not as a love interest. also, life is strange has never given us a love interest who is a person of color. as a POC, it feels like we aren’t allowed to be sought after as romantic interests in these games. in lis 1, chloe was the superior love interest, and warren was implied to be a stalker. both are white. in lis 2, we get our first protagonist who is a POC, but both love interests are white. additionally, finn has dreads, which makes me uncomfortable, and you can only date him if you agree to do something illegal, which most players will avoid because they want to take care of daniel. in lis:tc, we once again get another protagonist who is a person of color. steph is ultimately superior after what happens with ryan, but again, both love interests are white. it feels like the games always have a love interest that they prefer, and another that they either half ass or just make unlikeable in the end. lis:tc highlighted the common issues with love interests even more because they made a whole chapter revolve around romance, and once it came time to see the endings, the endings felt even more underwhelming if you didn’t feel too enthusiastic about the love interests.

I'm sooo with you about the choices and consequences part. I was so angry, that I decided not to preorder the next Life Is Strange game. I will buy it, but on a heavy discount. Making decisions is a core gameplay of Life Is Strange and I paid like 80€ (Deluxe) to get 2 Endings? That's so much money! I really hope hey improve next time! I encourage everyone to complain in this regart.

I think having all the episodes come out together hurt the game a little bit

Tech & Art: solid effort and definit upgrade! Characters: Interesting characters, not properly explored. Narrative: fundamentally broken, tons of lost potential. Plot & Pacing: broken. Romance: interesting but poorly handled. Power: Creates repetitive gameplay, inconsistent, and mostly junk. Choice & Consequences: lack luster and irrelevant. Price: should be $20 or less Soundtrack: Great songs misused. I feel like our feelings on the game align pretty well! That's why I love your content!

Honestly the game just felt.. far-fetched? Like the way Alex survives the shot and everything, the way the dad turns out to be a miner and Jed killed him sounds like a last minute idea tbh, or at least they didn’t know how to develop it because they just presented it to us in the last second thinking it would make as a good plot twist but for me it was just cliché and unoriginal, and the way everyone doubted Alex and behaved like true mindless npcs when she showed up bleeding to death like HELLO? A lot of things just don’t sound plausible enough for me. Conclusion: give decknine a lil break and let dontnod do it’s magic.

I know this is an old video but after watching it all i felt like i needed to drop my 2 cents as well After finishing the game once back when it released and a second time in june 2022, (i wanted to play wavelengths but my save corrupted after an update so i had to play it all over again) I gotta say, i still don't believe how she survived a bullet wound and falling from that high during a whole night! That and choices barely making a difference made me realize this game is kinda shallow if you make different choices. After finishing the game a second time I managed to make everyone agree with me in the council and I left with steph, I did feel the relationships with the characters increase, but then I saw a "worst" ending playthrough of the game, and the differences? 1) Typhon goes down in both spectrums! 2) During the council meeting, in the "good" ending, it makes sense for Alex to confront Ryan's dad. In the "worst" though, it just feels like she was losing validity from the council members and after talking to Ryan she just stops him from talking and goes at his father?? 2.1) why is it that in the "worst" ending, Steph protects Alex? Im sure you can make them barely have met but she'd still trust her, even after the Council doesn't. Steph just ends up leaving in the ending too. 3) In the "worst" ending, Instead of leaving with steph or ryan and having people behind you, you're alone, but like, it literally just looks like the same cutscene, just directed and cut differently. 4) When alex goes on stage, in the "best" ending she gets a text from either steph or ryan depending on who you chose and she, obviously smiles (in my opinion, with each love interest you should've gotten a different scene, maybe steph would be with her on stage and ryan in the crowd) buut, guess what happens in the "worst" ending? Good ol' ETHAN texts her good luck and the animation proceeds to be the same after closing the phone, Alex with her confidence and all.... 5) the "preview" that Gabe gives Alex of staying in Haven is leagues better than the ending, the actual thing is LITERALLY 20 seconds or less of Alex walking away, and it doesn't differ if you romance Steph or not!! What were the direction in these cutscenes??? Loved every second of your video, and thanking you for thoroughly disecting this game.

Out of respect for this essay, my comment will also be long! Cheers: It bothered me that the game wanted me to hate Mac as an a-hole immediately by laying it on so thick, without giving me much context first. I start with this, because it was my first red flag. He's the only exaggerated caricature in True Colors. It just felt lazy to me, and it's funny since they try to walk that back later on- which also disappointed me because the game is very "soft" about it's characters overall. From Diane sorta being bad but not really, right down the main villain crying and begging for your forgiveness, in a very anti-climatic finale. Haven is so nice and friendly and everybody are best friends, and it made me want to throw up in my mouth a little, lol. For all the detail in world-building Deck Nine put into it, this never felt like a real place to me. It's idealistic fantasy, and I personally don't find that kind of thing interesting. Yes, there is a dark secret, but placing it on a faceless shady corporation still frames the town itself as blameless and innocent. Arcadia Bay felt more real because the people themselves behave more realistically. Some folks are rude, or judgemental. People have their biases, their cliques, and it's more like how the world actually is. Haven is like "Safe Space: The Town" and it's really weird. The meanest a person gets is tricking someone over jelly beans at the festival. Which brings me to my main problem with the game- a lack of interesting conflicts. It would be one thing if Gabe's death was a mystery (like Rachel Amber, or even in Tell Me Why), but it's NOT- yet the game treats it like it is. We SAW what happened, it was clearly an accident, and since there's no one to blame (even though I'd like to blame Ryan for cutting the rope, but the game never lets me- yay for choices) it's just about 'why' it happened rather than 'what' or 'who.' Exposing Typhon, on behalf of a community, becomes an Eric Brockovich style story, rather than the Twin Peaks or Donnie Darko influences people forget made the first game so engaging. Now this could still be interesting if Alex was up against the odds, but she's supported by everyone, so the journey of revealing this conspiracy doesn't exactly have a lot of obstacles. The one time things pick up is when she's questioned at the station. But the bulk of the game is a bunch of pleasant conversations where what few characters you meet all turn out to be on the council, making the world of True Colors feel very small and low-stakes. This is a good video. I agree with things like the pacing, and the romance issues and the things they force or ignore are as much "Deck Nine Syndrome" as anything else. Their games feel like fanfiction a lot of the time. But I disagree strongly that empathy is the best power in a Life is Strange game. It's neat to read minds, and help NPCs, but, as a game mechanic, it amounts to little more than a different way to present more exposition, and it feels like the supernatural equivalent of videogame audio logs. (And these people's thoughts are surprisingly safe, censored, and boring- except Charlotte. She was great). And that's not even getting into the ethical implications that go completely unexplored. Unlike the time travel or telekinesis, Alex's power doesn't really matter to the main choices, unless you do what they want you to do. It's as much a design problem as it is a writing one, but her ability should factor into how the narrative plays out a lot more than it does. Life is Strange 1 has a brilliant moment where they actually take your power away, and that loss is felt. Max's ability makes a difference to the PLAYER in a way Alex's did not for me. Suddenly, Kate may live or die based on how much I took the time to get to know her. Entirely my choice or not. It was genius.

I can't even imagine how much time you've put into this video. It's amazing, keep it up!

I bought this game a lot more recently, on sale for about 20 or so dollars. I remember being satisfied with the experience I received with the money I spent, but I can’t imagine I would have felt the same if I bought it at its peak price during release. The issues I had you covered: episodes 2 and 3 were an absolute drag to get through and when it did finally pick up in episode 5 it didn’t wrap up everything I wanted to see.

I must say I'm a newcomer to this channel. I came here from playing tell me why, but staying for life is strange, being the reason for me trying tell me why. I watched all two hours of this and I'm genuinely impressed. for a channel with 2.3k subscribers at the time of watching this, the effort put into this video is so apparent I'm impressed. more impressed than I was in the later life is strange series games. I'm not quite intelligent enough to create such an opinion on the games to share with you, but I can say that what you've had to say is insightful in a great sense and I'd like to support this channel. If I can help in any way please do tell. I think your words can be inspirational at the very least to thousands or hundreds of thousands of people with the right support. And I'd like to be a part of that. If I can help in any way do tell. If not, this video was amazing. good work, keep it up. I appreciate it (:

a really good video on par with multi-editor videos, honestly a good job! you hit the mark on what felt wrong with lisTC. It was pretty, had cool collabs. I had so much hype for this game after absolutely loving Lis2, only to be disappointed with the outcome (with half of my hype probably just being excited to see someone like me get represented in the series I love) it especially sucks to see how little choices impact your endings too, I think that was one thing I was hoping to see the next game expand on after how the series handled the choices Sean makes in lis2. I loved the characters in true colors, especially charlotte !! resentment for her son, something I would have never expected the game to touch, and they did - briefly. And like you mentioned, duckie and diane's nova scenes should have gotten much more love like ethan's scenes. It could have just been silloutes of shadows of people dancing around duckie while almost avoiding him. or maybe diane's table being in a cage with no door out, or have the walls seemingly close in one second to be pushed back to normal before they close in again. something small like that instead of a (kinda) lazy color overlay. after watching this it kinda makes me want to go back and replay LIs2 now oops

I think it's a shame that you didn't address the issues of the game. Because I think that the opening scene on the bridge already portrays it perfectly: The difference between a mere sleeping place and a real home shown through the song and the bird. When Alex arrives in Haven Springs at the very beginning, she first admires the view on the bridge. To this we then see various views of the surroundings and the song "Home" plays. One of the views shows a bird on the railing. And now my analysis: The chorus of the song says: 'Cause they say home is where your heart is set in stone It's where you go when you're alone It's where you go to rest your bones It's not just where you lay your head It's not just where you make your bed' It basically means "The fact that you're in that place right now and sleeping there doesn't make it your home." Makes sense, if you're on vacation somewhere for a few days, the vacation spot is not your home for those few days, it's just your place to sleep. And if you stay there too long, you can even get homesick because your heart is not set in stone at the vacation spot. Similar to the bird. Just because it's there on the railing right now, that doesn't make the railing its home. Its home is where it has built its nest. And it's the same with Alex. As she admires the view on the bridge, she is a bird without a nest. Because she first has to build one in Haven Springs. Fittingly, she says at the end of chapter 2 on the same bridge: "A home is not something you find. It's something you BUILD." The bird also underscores Ryan and Steph's personalities. Ryan was born and raised in Haven Springs. His job lets him oversee nature with the plants that also grew there and inevitably belong to the place. And he likes birdsong. It's a sound he will have come to love in his work. It comes from the birds that have built their nests there. It all shows the roots he has put down in this town. And then there's Steph. She's not from Haven and is really only still there because she lost a bet. Her job has her working with music and songs that weren't made in Haven Springs. And she works in a building that didn't grow there by itself but was built there. She has a tattoo on her collarbone of a bird with its wings outstretched and facing up. No nest. This represents her restless nature. She is a bird that likes to fly around instead of building a nest.

I would like to add something about the novas at the end of the empathy powers segment. Because there, in my opinion, you didn't quite understand why the auras are sometimes more and sometimes less embellished. They are as different as the people they come from. You see the world through their eyes. In the first nova, it's Ethan just before Gabe dies. He is very afraid and in the nova we see what causes his fear. He thinks there's a monster lurking in the ditch, so we see it too. The second is Steph. She is sad about Gabe but in a calm way. She has tears but doesn't fall to her knees and cry her eyes out. She is sad and depressed and a similar impression is made by the room in the Nova. The third is Eleanor in the flower store. She feels old and frail and so seem the flowers and the building itself. And she slowly loses track of everything, which is why numbers and letters are mixed in a totally confusing way. You explained the Nova with Mac very well yourself. The following nova with Ryan is about how he is totally angry at himself for cutting the rope, how a world breaks down for him and he feels totally empty. In the nova with Diane, we see that she is either angry at Typhon or sad about Gabe. She doesn't have an imagination that makes that clearer, so we don't see any. We see a red or blue filter because she is angry/sad and the things we can target explain that. Ethan's joy nova is relatively simple. He imagines everything as we then see it, that triggers his joy, so we see it in the nova too. Of course, this immediately crumbles as then fear and sadness take over Ethan. In Charlotte's anger nova, we then see how everything outside is black and everything inside is also bathed in dark red with lights on the artwork representing the four people Charlotte is angry at. There we see how anger can take you over and how you then only concentrate on the things you are angry at, and tune out everything else. And the same thing is the case with Duckie, as Diane.

The game is basically a soft reboot. Marketed as a Sequel but us really just a remake and it pretty much is a bland repeat of the 1st game. Not that it's bad but it's just forgettable. I'd rather we had Dontnod back. They are least know how to craft meaningful stories

One thing you mentioned that I seriously felt and agreed with is how "they tried so hard for it not to be another LiS2". How painfully true is that. LiS2 was such a good and decently executed contribution to the franchise, but it was mainly the fanbase's immaturity that caused rifts and hate. Now it feels like SE seriously wants to pretend this game doesn't exist and it's such a shame. Not saying the game was absolutely spotless, but it's such a unique, atmospheric in its own way and emotional branch of the series. I'm just grateful Dontnod themselves have a good relationship with their creations and that most LiS newcomers are giving all the games equal chances. As for TC, pretty much the same things you've noticed. So many cool aspects, yet kind of bleak and misproportioned storytelling. Either too much or too little of everything and inadequate pricing on top. Considering also how flimsy the remasters are, some reflections ought to come upon SE and D9, if they want the franchise to continue. Lovely analysis! You had me glued to the screen for 2 hours gay! -(I'm sorry, I just had to)- Thanks for your work ❤️

Also is it only me who thought the game needlessly shoehorned it in to forcefully make us believe that Jed was the villain? For me, I don't think he had much of a role for being a villain. Like he did not mean for the mine accident to happen, it just did. Sure he became overzealous mining deeper even when warned against doing so, but it's not like he tried to murder someone. In the flashbacks, Jed even expresses concern for the rest of the miners saying that they will drown and they have to saved. I know it isn't right to just leave them, but that's just a tough choice Jed had to make at that time - either sacrifice his life for a saving that is not guaranteed to be successful, or just survive with the rest of the miners. It's not like he "murdered" the others intentionally. Isn't that exactly what Ryan did too, in a slightly different circumstance? He cut the rope to save Alex and his life, and let Gabe die. By that logic Ryan should be equally responsible too, but the game deliberately makes us forgive him. And tbh, he shooting Alex was just out of nowhere? Like nowhere throughout the story did he seem like the type to murder a person just to be a hero, he seemed to care about the town, was a really caring bartender and even allowed Alex to live at the apartment rent-free. Sure, I get that it is the point of a twist - to subvert our expectations - but it should atleast make some sense when you look back at it? For example, LiS 1 did such a good job with Jefferson in my opinion, and he even looked like the douchey type from the beginning, and they dropped subtle hints about his obsession with still images. Atleast he is a believable villain. But, Jed had like no reason to be this hostile to Alex. Why did he even bring Alex to the secret he was trying to hide for so long anyway? Alex was nowhere near finding out about that buried secret. Yet he himself wanted to show the secret? Also keep in mind, Jed had no idea about Alex's power. I just feel like Deck Nine just wanted to follow suit with LiS1 and created Jed as a "villain all along" out of nowhere. They really failed to execute it well.

that cut at 1:06:41 in itself deserves a sub from me :) everything else has already been said by others on how great your video essay is. because it really is!

This was my first Life is Strange experience, and I adored this game! After hearing your extended thoughts on it, maybe it was just Newbie Syndrome hitting me. Then again, I think True Colors' bigger appeal for me were the little moments, as opposed to the grand and sweeping narrative. As a big fan of the Zero Escape games, it couldn't come close to those masterpieces, but it also had higher slow moments, and very few games know how to handle that delicate art as well as True Colors did. Great job on being so through in your explanations!

Yay! I have finally time to watch this video! Like you, I really liked the game, but also thought it had some issues that stopped it from being truly great. Interestingly enough, Life is Strange 2 is my favorite Life is Strange game, because its issues either didn't bother me at all or not that much (for example, the non-returning characters or Daniel sometimes acting difficult). True Colors, on the other hand, was amazing in certain parts and lackluster in others. I pretty much agree with everything you said, but I want to be more detailed anyway: Technical & Art Direction: They aren't that important to me - probably because I am already used to neutral faces mixed with emotions -, but it's certainly great that True Colors actually shows the characters' feelings! Too bad it didn't show the character's homes, though … Characters: Yeah, they are great! Not only the Bird Gang, but also the side characters and even the regular NPCs. They felt very human and I liked almost every one of them. (Special shout-out to Riley and Duckie.) Because of this, I also wish we would've spend more time with them, since there would've been so many opportunities to do so. I was especially sad that the characters' individual plots remained unresolved. :-( Narrative: I don't think the murder mystery was done well, since it was solved surprisingly quickly; I don't have any issues with Alex not being badly hurt, however, despite it being a plot hole. I guess I'm too used to characters healing in a very short amount of time? (The glasses are inexcusable, though.) I support your idea of Alex's nightmare sequences being spread out over multiple episodes, since they wouldn't feel so expository in that case. I can't even imagine how disruptive Chloe's nightmares would've been if we had seen them all in the last episode! (Btw, my favorite True Colors episodes are actually the first two, so it surprised me a bit when you said you didn't enjoy the second that much. I hope an episode ranking is coming soon.) Plot & Pacing: Easily the game's weakest aspect. Not necessarily because the last three episodes take place on almost the same day, but because the content of the episodes itself was usually lacking. I mean, I liked the LARP in episode 3, but I would've MUCH preferred it to be optional and focusing on building Alex's relationships more. The pacing hurt the characters a lot; pretty much everyone deserved more screen-time and not a game that isn't at all important to the plot. Romance: While it also suffers from pacing issues, I really, really liked both of the love interests. They feel very equal to me (despite the fact that Steph is more favored) and I was really torn apart between them. They aren't Violet and Louis from The Walking Dead: The Final Season (who are, in my opinion, the pinnacle of love interests you can choose), but the mature take on love was very refreshing and made the relationships believable. However, I very dearly miss a friendship option, and it felt very weird that the character you didn't romance pretty much vanished in the ending, despite becoming such strong friends with Alex. Why couldn't the Bird Gang stay together? :-( Empathy: I liked the power and especially how it affected Alex. I also liked how different the Novas were, and never actually thought about some of them being more high effort than others; I actually thought the canonical explanation was simply that different characters had different Novas, some more complex in design, some not. However, I wish the game would've delved into the invasive nature of Alex's powers more. If I was her friend, I wouldn't have just accepted that she can read my thoughts and feelings, but would've been crept out by it! Choices & Consequences: Another aspect where the game really lacks. I didn't expect it to top Life is Strange 2, which was honestly amazing when it came to choices mattering, but I did expect to be better than Life is Strange and Before the Storm. Instead, True Color's choices mechanic disappointed me a lot, and I agree that even Before the Storm - a prequel which wasn't allowed to have a branching narrative - did it better. (I actually like Before the Storm quite a lot, btw, and I'm honestly not sure if I would put it below or above True Colors.) Also, why couldn't they develop two equal endings? The game did borrow Life is Strange's format, but I'm pretty sure the one thing fans didn't want to see again were endings where one is clearly the “right” choice and the other quite disappointing in comparison. Price: Yes, it was WAY too high, even if we don't count the DLC and the Remasters. (Will you talk about the latter, btw?) The game clearly isn't worth its price, and I would accepts its flaws more easily if it were sold cheaper. If someone is interested in True Colors, it's honestly enough to watch a Let's Play with your preferred romance option. Plus, the game wasn't that long anyway :-/ Soundtrack: I admit, the soundtrack is the one key part to Life is Strange games that was never really important to me. I can't judge it properly, because I don't connect with music as much as other people. While there are obviously songs in all games I enjoyed, it's very hard for me to actually pay attention to a game's soundtrack :-/ Overall, I definitely understand why you felt unsatisfied in the end. The game is far from bad and I enjoyed playing it, but it didn't meet my expectations. I also think it's very important to criticize the things you love, you shouldn't just look at them through rose-tinted glasses. Thanks for your review, you explained your points really well and I like how you didn't just praise or bash the game, but showed its strengths and weaknesses :)

Your videos always bring a smile on my face, especially during these times!! Watching right now, but most probably I agree with you about LiSTC

One little issue is $60 when SquareEnix has said they want all their Games $70 you have to go then making the Game short can't happen. True colors is too short & Wavelength is too Boring.

It felt like they really tried to go back to what worked in life is strange 1 (small town, murder mystery sharing a ton of similar plot points) but I think it did basically everything worse. Also Really didn’t feel like I got 60$ worth of game it was so short man.

I liked it but not as much as life is strange two. I don’t feel the choices matter enough. With Chloe and Daniel you could feel the pressure to make the right decision. I liked it it was worth it to me because I love life is strange, but consequently it wasn’t my favorite game in the series. I liked the Steph DLC better. Yeah you feel pretty much the exact same way as me. I noticed that after watching the video

I think if the game overshot it at trying to be like LiS1. If they took the Alex and Gabe "nightmare" sequence and spread it across the chapters, and tying it to each major instance where you help someone with your powers it would have been better paced.

Opinions are interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed true colors, but maybe it's because the story that played out is exactly the one I wanted. Could also be because I bought it at half price. I watched a video earlier today saying how LiS 2 is soulless, and I actually felt that, so it's interesting hearing how some people remember that one so fondly. (I didn't feel compelled to even finish episode 2 of that one.) I definitely loved the original and before the storm, but I enjoyed the story that was told with True Colors. That's not to say the criticisms aren't valid; to each their own. It's just interesting how opinions can differ so much. A well thought out video, even if I don't wholly agree with the opinion shared.

Great video homeslice look forward to more LIS and story driven game content in the future! keep it coming :3

Absolutely great analysis. I'm a huge LIS series fan myself and had to come with the terms that the price just isn't justified. I bought the huge edition which also comes with terribly buggy and lacking remasters. Thanks for the great video.

Damm two hours , i would just say "cute but get it half off"

i completely agree. thank you so much for recording this and analysing it in depth. i feel frustrated about this game, especially because other LIS game fans love it.

I really enjoyed your video. It was a very good analysis of the game. You have done a good job. Keep it up. 👍

The best way to describe True Colors to me would be enjoyable, but a bit underwhelming. There’s pretty much no stakes, and when compared to the incredibly emotional and difficult final choices seasons 1 and 2 brought us, it’s hard to really care about what final choice you make. The sacrifices, to me, are a staple of each game’s finale. I also find most of the characters really dull next to every other game. Season 1’s background characters (ex. Brooke, Daniel, Juliet) show more distinct personality traits in the like 4 conversations you have with them then Ryan and Riley show in the entire game. The side characters in Season 2 all felt fleshed out and impactful. BtS avoids side characters for the sake of focusing entirely on Rachel and Chloe, but some of them were charming and memorable regardless. The only characters in True Colors who I really felt I could get invested in were Alex, Steph, Charlotte, and Gabe. Considering how the central idea of the game is empathy, AND that Alex has the ability to literally see inside their brains, it’s hard to justify the lack of depth in most of the cast. On top of that, there’s an inherent weakness in Alex’s character. We’re playing a protagonist who’s had her power her whole life - who’s already faced the trauma based around it, and who doesn’t even grow past it until one giant life montage in the last episode. Max, Chloe and the Diaz brothers are all facing something new and supernatural and they’re TERRIFIED of it - theres a gravitation from the protagonist towards their given partner, and there’s a sense of codependency in both pairs in the face of their trauma, and it’s part of what makes those relationships so strong and engaging. The lack of stakes in True Colors makes the level of investment unattainable. I guess, more than anything, True Colors feels more like playing the aftermath of a final choice in a LiS game then a game itself.

I admit im not a physics expert, but i also rationalized it as Alex was having several "smaller falls" because she was hitting multiple boards on the way down and thus weakening the force of her fall? Like still ridiculous, but the in universe reason.

I love the game and it was my favroute out of the LIS series but I feel they need to change the way they do things, theirs allot of things left out or not explored enough because of the episodes. I think they wither need to make more, make them longer or just get rid of them all together and instead of splitting it up into bits have it be all one big thing. I love the episodes but it does stop the games from reaching their full potential

wait im confused, what do you mean by sean growing his eye back in episode 4? Also unrelated point, Ryan literally walks up to Alex worried like Steph. Its literally in the clip you showed.

This video is amazing, deserves more views. Really well said.

amazingly well made video! Thank you c:

I hope you read my comment where I explain how the novas are not just about the emotions, but also how the person sees the world at the moment and that is different every time. The developers really did put a lot of thought into this.

this game is a huge step down from number 2

A great video essay on such an interesting game series. I could see myself coming back to this video every now and then to reflect on this game and remember what it was like. Amazing work on analysing every aspect of both True Colours and the series as a whole, comparing and contrasting between them while shining light on both pros and cons. The editing is superb and something I hope you're very proud of. Just watching this, I can see the heart and soul you've put into this video and that alone brings a smile to my face. I hope this video leads to greater things for you, be it more videos like this or something else your aspire to achieve. I believe in you, and this video is proof you can do whatever you set out to achieve. Very well done, 10/10

Thank you for making this - I'm laid in bed with Covid, and watching this has kept me entertained and distracted for a lovely couple of hours, you're incredibly correct in all your points, and a lovely voice to listen to. Cheers :) I also love that Life Is Strange is the sort of game series that can create 2hr essays about their flaws, then be like "it's a 7/10, love it, can't wait to jump in again."

I really liked true colours but I also never played true colours again or feel any desire to and don’t really remember it but I remember that I really liked true colours :)

Personally I liked True Colors, but the choices didn't exactly matter all that much. If they had, then this would be a really solid game LIS 2 is my favorite. That kind of story really appeals to me

I have a headcanon that the people who have these odd powers in the Life is Strange universe have superhuman physical abilities. I mean, they are already superhuman with their Telekinetic like powers, so would it be out of the relm of possibly that they have the ability to fall from great heights and get terribly injured just to heal a few days later? They are already not very normal people.

Lol when Alex and Jed were walking to mines it all hit me and was like Oh my god they really are about to do a Jefferson here are they. Difference is in the first game it actually was foreshadowed excellently and is just better written and the Impact was much harder since Jefferson kills Chloe. Here Jed is basically an Idiot and doesn't finish the Job. Good job amateur plus his reveal really comes out of left field other then the Larp foreshadowing his turn. I enjoyed the character interactions in this game but the whole plot fell flat for me. My main issues is the powers rules and mechanics keep changing all the time and her mind reading capabilities only sometimes work I guess and she never really brings that up. Also if she can read peoples emotions and minds then Jed wouldn't have glowed Gold at the end of Lanterns. They tried to Hide it to much unlike the first game where on replay you can literally see how they slap you in the face that Jeffferson is the main villain but its so well done that most will not see it coming on first playthroughs and it doesn't feel cheap when looking back in hindsight. But I think my biggest gripe with the game is that the central focus isn't about two characters relationship. Max and Chloe. Sean and Daniel. Chloe and Rachel. Here it's just Alex. Gabe is mostly a plot device for most of the game so that doesn't count and he is the replacement for Chloe here in the game not Rachel . Gabe literally takes the same role as Chloe from the first game only difference is he is dead. Long lost friend instead now long lost brother and are central to the plot and the protagonist learning to control there powers. Chloe activated Max's powers where as Gabe gave her the confidence to control her empathy powers, Both die hell Chloe can die in numerous ways and in one of the endings. Difference is we actually spent time with Chloe and she was actually a character. This game also had no murder mystery since we literally saw it happen. It was the most predictable thing ever that it was Typhon covering themselves. Who would've seen that coming lol Most people love the first game for the relationship Between Max and Chloe lets be honest that's why the game is famous. Missing that element in True Colors leaves it a bit hollow for me personally. Gabe could've have been used a bit different in the game and spoiling his death in the marketing was a mistake also. Also the editing felt really weird at times when scenes would abruptly end and cut away. Plus that Time skip between chapter 2 and 3 really annoys me. All of their friendship was just build off screen....-_- don't even get me started with the shit ending. I enjoyed my playthrough of True colors but tbh all it did was made me load the first game and play it for the 100th millionth time to see Max and Chloe again. I don't have the desire to replay this since I just played it on PS plus lol

I wish you uploaded more often. Your vids are great!

18 mins in you've made me curious enough to go watch a playthrough, liked and bookmarked to return to this video

Just curious but have you reviewed Thw Last of US 1 and 2 at all ?

I really enjoy ur LiS Videos! Cheers from Germany!

I LOVE the LiS franchise, but Novo Amor’s song was the best part of this game

Excellent thorough review+analysis, exactly what I was looking for, thank you for putting the time+effort to do this! Finally beat the game on gamepass (i was busy when the game released at launch), i've played prior entries at release and I find that I prefer DONTNOD's entries > Deck Nine's overall (even though i do think D9 is a bit more subtle/less dramatised/tragedy fest as you say). I agree with you overall with true colours, there was so much potential to expand with content within the town/stories to supplement the main plot and characters. If that was there i'd be much more favorable towards it caause the foundation is solid-enough, it just needed more or to set expectations accordingly that it'll be a side/shorter story compared to 1&2.

The length of your review is equal to like 1/4 of the entire game. lol

I don't know if you've already brought this up, but one thing I've personally been missing while looking into listc is the lack of a solid deuteragonist. Ryan and Steph are great characters/friends/love interests, but in my opinion a good lis deuteragonist is a lot more than that.. The very fact their role in the story is frequently dominated by the love interest route means they're not as deeply intertwined with Alex's story as Chloe (the blue-haired version from lis, since she's a full protag in bts) and Daniel are with Max and Sean, respectively. Chloe and Daniel's storylines are as complex and intense as Max and Sean's, they're constantly there no matter which options you choose, and you could even say they kick off each game's respective plots with Chloe getting shot and Daniel causing the Seattle explosion (as opposed to Alex being the one to arrive in Haven Springs). They both work as these constant counterbalances fulfilling and challenging the lis protags: Chloe's punk recklessness and vulnerability to fate contrasting with Max's timidity and control over everyone's destinies, Daniel's impulsive distractibility and godlike power contrasting with Sean's intense focus on Puerto Lobos and distinct lack of superhuman abilities. It gets to the point that they inadvertently serve as a disruptive force to Sean/Max's goals throughout the game (Max wants to save Chloe and Chloe is shit at staying alive, Sean wants to keep a low profile and Daniel is shit at hiding his power) I always thought that was a really interesting plot/character aspect of dealing with a character who the protag loves, whose plot is irrevocably intertwined with theirs, who simultaneously keeps them going and transforms their goals on a scale we don't really see with Ryan or Steph. Daniel and Chloe are also characters who've been heavily disliked by a lot of (extremely lame and breathtakingly tasteless) fans, possibly because of just how vibrant and uncontrollable they are, so that might be why deck9 avoided creating a character who could fit into their shoes or a narrative that requires a deuteragonist's presence. It's a choice that creates an absence--I'm reminded of all the lis crossover fanart (probably the only crossover we'll ever get, sob) I've seen that depicts Chloe and Max, Sean and Daniel, and...just Alex. I'm not saying this an automatically bad thing, since it does break the lis mold and Alex being older means she can more easily hold contradictions inside herself. Still, I've always felt that the amount of focus lis gives its deuteragonists is one of the things that makes the series particularly striking, and it feels like a missed opportunity to see what kind of deuteragonist could have been developed to fit Alex's personality and power.

A dontnod version of TC would be more bleak: Alex being an intruder in Haven Spring doing more harm than good with her powers pushing her down into the plot, maybe even being herself an antagonist, losing her love interest (disparition, manipulation, treason), then solving the plot and finally picking between fleeing or staying to rebuild the town.

I thought true colours was great but I felt like it failed to deliver to me at least, the reason why I say this is because I thought they were going to go more in dept Like how Alex absorbed emotions, I was thinking this was going to happen to more characters and if I decided to take there bad emotions it would change Alex but they did noting with it, and there is many more examples I have but I don't want to end up rambling

Oh fuck yeah it's here

this video is so thorough and well edited! underrated channel :)

Thanks for the video! I’m a bit of an off LiS fan in the sense that I watched my husband play bits and pieces 1, 2, and True Colors. I hadn’t played myself until this past fall. I started with True Colors because I remembered the environment and music being amazing. I fell in love with TC. I’ve played it 7 times for myself and watched at least 4 full playthroughs of other players. The character journey of Alex and her stumbling into belonging really got to me. This past week, I finished playing LiS2 for the first time. I went with a high morality/high brotherhood play through and got the Redemption ending. I was honestly really interested in the choices and consequences of 2 and I loved Sean and Daniel, but I felt the rest of the game was lacking in places. I had trouble connecting with the places they went and the other characters they encountered. That being said, I can see where True Color’s ending is lacking in the same choice/consequence sphere. I plan on playing LiS1 here soon, but I think TC will always been my favorite. Your criticism are valid and I can definitely relate to them, but the story that TC tells has overshadowed a lot of the criticism I can levy against it (except that I wish there was more!) Thanks again for the video! I’ve been enjoying your LiS videos.

I played through the game (exception of Wavelengths, which I still have to play) this past week, and I personally enjoyed a lot of it, but, like you, was disappointed in other parts (I also agree about the realism of Alex's injuries as well after falling in the mine shaft--I also thought that she died, and immediately started playing episode 5 straight after). The things I enjoyed most about the game were the cast of characters, the sensitive and well-researched approach to a minority character and her culture (unlike LIS2, which I think was one of its lowest points, where they used Sean and Daniel's race for "trauma porn" for a lack of better way to put it.), and the interesting use of the power of empathy where I could step inside another person's emotions, and trains of thought (the Eleanor one was definitely very scary as Alzheimer's is one of those diseases that puts the fear of several gods inside me). I can tell Erika Mori really put her heart and soul 100% into her role, and I don't think I can recall a moment where she ever flagged. If anyone deserves a BAFTA award, it's Erika Mori. I too was disappointed by the ending length as well, at least the one I got (which was Leave Haven). It felt far too short, as you mentioned, and it just...ends. Even Parting Ways (my favourite LIS2 ending, followed very closely by Blood Brothers) had more substance, comparatively speaking, and it's definitely not the...best written ending. I also liked your point about it showing which ending the writers preferred, as the stay in Haven one (like Redemption and Sacrifice Chloe), was much more detailed and fuller than Leave Haven's ending. I definitely thoroughly enjoyed everything about this video and all the passion you put into it. And I echo your recommendation on visiting Jaimie's tumblr--she's very intelligent and articulate and always love reading her thoughts on the various LIS games.

Still haven't found the motivation to play it, so this video could really help make up my mind! I'm way, way too wary of being left pessimistic, considering how the franchise retroactively has formed into its earlier stage (which I personally feel has a lot of flaws and questionable moral that LiS2 improved upon); the way LiS1 and BTS concluded their stories and made sense of its own narrative didn't feel very good to me, personally. It made me feel bad about stuff that's close to my own heart, but didn't let me make peace with anything. It kinda just bites the player in the ass because "some things are out of your control." That's alright, but I also feel that kind story needs a way of coping with that loss of control (a "gift" that fucks everything up) in a educated and prefably non-toxic way _points at LiS2_ and not create this sense of... inescapable fate. _Points at LiS1 and BTS_ Last, but not least, the line "the truth will hurt" doesn't really have me racing towards it. It's somewhat easy to portray people hurting, to bring up real-life issues, and to make your players feel the impact of that (empathy.) But what's harder, and more cruicial than to just fire away a poetically charged cannonball and measure your success by the strenght of its impact, is to make sense of it. To make it all worthwile. I just hope this game does that... *shuts up and plays video*

I also thought her falling into a 30 meters deep mine, then just walking it off and somehow magically finding a way out of the mine was so weird. Jed himself said earlier there were many tunnels under haven spring, but of course she finds the way out of them. Like, isn't this the mine they just exploded so that nobody would find out Jed's secret? Apparently you could easily reach it with the entrance they were at earlier at the beginning of the game. And Jed would have known this, since he used to work there.

Something that might have happened (I'm gonna speculate here) is yes, the game had increased budget, but Square Enix still wanted the game to be made quickly. From what the game files tell me, True Colors runs on Unreal Engine 4.25 which was released in May 2020. You usually don't update a game engine for the whole duration of a project since it could break things, so that's roughly when the game entered full production (pre-production probably started a bit before that). That leaves less than a year and a half to program the whole game, which is quite short. My guess is, they prioritized presentation over substance, because they simply didn't have enough time for both.

this game was really good only complaint is that the poor ending and how come she survived with that fall lol but besides that this game was good

I have one thing to say that you missed... "That guy is bad to the gnome" lol. No truthfully now what I wanted to say is that the first thing that set my expectations with this game was in the bar after the drinking game with Steph. After beating Steph at the drinking game and seeing that Steph posted about it on My Block I thought ahhhh how cool, what happens if I beat Gabes score on the video games, surely Gabe will comment on My Block... Over 40 minutes of mini game later I beat his score and... nothing. But when this really threw me for a loop was seeing how competitive he was with Steph after the wake, seeing that competitiveness brought back that dissapointment. It really felt to me to be a missed moment that in a real world situation would have happened. Tru Colors to me always feels like a great swing of the bat... only to fall a few meters short of the ball. Watching this now as we gear up for their next release I can only hope they have don better this time around. And to really end this well, yes "He won a gnomebell peace prize" lol

I have a question as someone who didn't full watch chapter 5 of the game yet, what was the overall theme of True Colors? I know the part I missed gave the message of confronting past traumas, but what else is there that the original game didn't explore? (besides the side stories of Eleanor and Charlotte) I feel the theme and message is what makes or breaks it being better than LiS 1, in my opinion.

I think True Colors might be my favorite in the series.

Tbh, the falling that far also kinda happens in Until Dawn (a game that I adore), and the character can also walk, talk and then even run like nothing happened in the same night, so

You gotta provide the names of the background music you used!

I would say to the endings that they were a mix of those from parts 1 and 2. It has some of the weakness of the first part but with the pretty variations of part 2. I would say that True Colors is definitely better than Before the Storm in that regard. And I don't think the scene in the meeting is that bad. Here you see the results of how you've been dealing with your roommates from the city over the past few days, and you don't have any more influence on them in the scene. I agree that the game, although it is already comparatively short, has a rather thin plot, but this was well compensated for with things like the LARP and the spring festival. Somehow I even learned from the game that plot isn't everything and filler isn't always bad. Is it automatically wrong to sometimes focus on characters, details and nuances rather than plot? It was never completely left out, the focus of the game in episodes two and three was more on its own themes. Episode 2 was largely about coming to terms with Gabe's death and helping the others with that as well. Episode 3 was then about how to continue living in Haven Springs without Gabe. The plot itself then comes more and more into the foreground until it dominates the whole game in episode 5.

Hey, excellent review + critique/analysis! Due you perhaps have a list of the background music you used?

I thought that wether enough people stand with u or not determines wether u can stay or have to leave. It should've been that way rly.

Played the game on game pass PC. Loved the experience. Squeenix be Dambed. I would never have paid $60 for this.

I love True Colors but it did fail in a certain aspect...for one the world felt waaay too small, not enough to do with amazing powers that Alex had to keep me going

my honest opinion on this game is it felt like it was maybe 25% of what i feel like a truely epic and amazing story driven game like this could be. lately i have been playing fmv story games and while those are fun i can see the difference of playing those over playing a video game like this. you can tell a much more detailed and interesting story compared to just playing an fmv game that being said i just feel like while it was a step in a direction i feel like a lot of the game was underultilzed and in general for this game it does sort of work due to what the story was but next time for any game like this they need to make a far bigger story and have you be able to affect the story heck have moments where you do not progress the story but interact with the world and get to know the characters.

so excited to watch this

I know this is 2 years ago ( the video) but I’m struck between I love it and it’s just above average. This game came out when i was struggling so much and this game , the main character felt like me , my life. I feel thing so strongly and I think that’s why i have a soft spot. Personally the games in the order I like is lis 2, true colours and the first lis tied and then before the storm. Captain spirit is good too but more of an after thought.

Great video

Damn. This video is longer and has a better narrative than True Colors lol

Second oldest? LiS/Before the Storm teens. LiS2/Captain Spirit teen/kid...? Did I miss something?

Phenomenal review. I just finished the game myself and was left disappointed. It felt like it had wasted potential. I also have serious issues with the believability of Jed’s motivations, his willingness to commit cold-blooded murder, and the confusion regarding Typhon’s actions regarding the cover-up. It felt like it was full of contrivances that didn’t work for me. Very frustrating.

I honestly love this game . I personally think its the best game in the franchise since the first and it gets very close to being the best

43:56 What is this shade for?

Man, I loveu=your chanel! Please post more LiS related videos!

I thought this game would solve my issue with the series, but it gave me the most "give me these powers, i can solve this problem faster than the main character" more than the previous 2. Just imagine, the game is over if you go back and grab the kid before you walk away. Its so frustrating to be yelling at your screen and the game just continues on its doomed track to no where.

I played both this and Assassins Creed Valhalla in the span of two months and they’re both examples of game length being detrimental. Valhalla was too long and had no focus, True Colors was too short and way too focused

1 was the best and made me almosy cry... im a 35 year old men

life is strange: before the storm is great, actually

Okay I feel stupid for asking this but … Who are the other 4 main line protagonist? Because I can only think of three haha. And who is the older than 21? LIS: Max 18 LIS 2: honestly don’t know at what age Sean ends the game so maybe he’s older? LIS bts: Chloe 15/16 and true colors what other main game is there?😭

Why is the fps in this vid so low lol. Awesome analysis.

Heavy on the trio bit.

well said