Alex Chen doesn’t just see colors. She feels them. It’s a terrifying way to live, honestly. Imagine walking into a Black Lantern bar and suddenly your chest tightens because the guy in the corner is radiating a localized supernova of "red" anger. You aren't just watching him; you are him for a second. That is the core of Life is Strange: True Colors, and it is arguably the most human the franchise has ever felt.
Deck Nine took over the reins from Dontnod for this one. Some fans were worried. People thought the magic might leave with the original creators of Max and Chloe. They were wrong. Haven Springs is a gorgeous, suffocatingly small town in Colorado that feels more alive than Arcadia Bay ever did. It’s a place where everyone knows your business, and in Alex's case, she literally knows your business whether she wants to or not.
The game isn't perfect. Not by a long shot. But it tackles grief in a way that feels raw and unpolished, which is exactly how grief actually works.
The Empathy Problem in Life is Strange: True Colors
Most superpowers in games are about power fantasies. You want to fly, or throw fireballs, or maybe rewind time to fix a social faux pas. Alex Chen’s power is a burden. It’s psychic empathy. If you’re around someone feeling an intense emotion, it bleeds into you.
Early in the game, we see Alex in a group home setting. It’s bleak. The game doesn't shy away from the fact that the foster care system often fails kids who are "difficult," especially when that difficulty is actually a supernatural sensitivity nobody understands. When she finally gets to Haven Springs to meet her brother, Gabe, there’s this palpable sense of relief. You can almost smell the mountain air through the screen.
Then, things go sideways.
Gabe dies. It’s not a spoiler; it’s the premise. The mystery of how and why he died drives the plot, but the real meat of Life is Strange: True Colors is how Alex uses her "curse" to navigate the fallout. You start seeing the world through the lens of other people's trauma. It’s heavy stuff.
Why Haven Springs Feels Like a Real Place
The town itself is a character. Usually, in these types of narrative adventures, the NPCs are just set dressing. They stand there until you click on them. In Haven, they have lives. You see the same people at the spring festival that you saw at the record store three chapters ago.
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Steph Gingrich is back, too. If you played Before the Storm, you’ll remember her as the D&D-loving nerd. Here, she’s grown up, running a radio station and a record shop. She’s one of the best-written queer characters in modern gaming, mostly because her identity is just a part of who she is, not her entire personality. Then there’s Ryan, the park ranger who’s a bit of a dork but has a heart of gold. The triangle between Alex, Steph, and Ryan is handled with a lot of grace. You don't feel forced into a romance.
Honestly? Sometimes the best path is just staying single and focusing on not having a psychic breakdown.
The Technical Shift and Performance Capture
We need to talk about the faces. Older Life is Strange games had a certain... "potato" quality to the character models. The lip-syncing was often hilariously bad. Life is Strange: True Colors changed the game by using full performance capture. Erika Mori, who plays Alex, does incredible work here.
When Alex feels a flicker of fear, you see it in her eyes. You see the micro-expressions. This matters because the game is literally about reading people. If the graphics couldn't convey subtle shifts in mood, the whole empathy mechanic would fall flat.
It’s expensive. It’s high-tech. But it makes the quiet moments—like Alex sitting on her floor playing the guitar—feel incredibly intimate. You aren't just playing a game; you're voyeuristically watching a person try to keep their life from falling apart.
Breaking Down the Aura Mechanic
The colors aren't just for show. Each one represents a primary emotion:
- Blue: Sadness. It’s cold, heavy, and sluggish.
- Red: Anger. It’s sharp and violent.
- Yellow: Joy. It’s blinding and sometimes deceptive.
- Purple: Fear. It’s jagged and erratic.
The game gets interesting when you realize that "helping" people by taking away their pain isn't always the right move. There’s a specific scene involving a character with Alzheimer’s. You have the option to take away their fear. It sounds like a mercy, right? But fear is often what keeps us grounded in reality. By removing it, you might be stealing a piece of their humanity. The game doesn't give you a "Good/Bad" slider. It just shows you the consequences.
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What Most People Get Wrong About the Ending
There’s a common complaint that the ending of Life is Strange: True Colors is too binary or that your choices don't matter as much as they did in the first game. I disagree. The "Big Choice" at the end isn't about the fate of the world. It’s about whether or not the people of Haven Springs believe you.
Throughout the five chapters, you’re building relationships. You’re helping the florist with her grief. You’re helping the local miner deal with his guilt. If you’ve been a jerk, or if you’ve manipulated people’s emotions for your own gain, they won't stand up for you when it counts.
It’s a reputation system disguised as a narrative. It’s much more subtle than a "Save the City" button. It’s about the cumulative weight of being a decent person in a small town.
The Typhon Conspiracy
The corporate villainy of Typhon Mining is the weakest part of the story. Let’s be real. We’ve seen the "evil corporation covers up a workplace death" trope a thousand times. It’s a bit Saturday-morning cartoonish compared to the nuanced emotional work the rest of the game does.
However, the way the conspiracy ties into the town’s economy is realistic. Haven Springs exists because of the mine. Everyone is on the payroll. When you start poking the bear, you aren't just threatening a corporation; you're threatening everyone's mortgage. That tension is where the real drama lives.
Real Talk: Is it Worth the Entry Price?
When it first launched, people balked at the $60 price tag. Previous games were episodic and cheaper. This was a full-price, "AAA" indie-style game.
If you’re looking for 40 hours of gameplay, you won't find it here. You can breeze through it in about 10 hours if you rush. But you shouldn't rush. You should sit on the docks and listen to the ambient music. You should read every single text message on Alex's phone. You should play the arcade games in the bar.
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The value is in the atmosphere. It’s a "cozy" game that occasionally punches you in the gut.
Comparing it to the Original
Max Caulfield had the power to change the world. Alex Chen has the power to change a person. That’s the fundamental difference. Life is Strange: True Colors is smaller in scale but deeper in its emotional resonance.
Max’s story was a coming-of-age thriller. Alex’s story is a "finding your place" drama.
Actionable Steps for New Players
If you're jumping into Haven Springs for the first time, don't play it like an RPG where you're trying to "win." You can't win at therapy.
- Use the "Read Thoughts" feature constantly. Every NPC has a surface-level emotion you can tap into. It adds massive amounts of context to otherwise boring conversations.
- Don't skip the "Zen Moments." There are spots where Alex can just sit and think while the camera pans around and music plays. These are the soul of the game. Use them to actually reflect on the choices you just made.
- Check the social media feed. The in-game "MyAction" feed updates constantly. It’s a great way to see how the town is reacting to the events of the story in real-time.
- Be careful with the "Nova" moments. When an emotion is so strong it changes the environment, pay attention to the objects you interact with. They tell the story of why the person is feeling that way.
- Play the Wavelengths DLC. If you finish the main game and want more, the Steph-centric DLC is a fantastic look at life in Haven before Alex arrived. It’s basically a radio DJ simulator with a lot of heart.
Life is Strange: True Colors proves that this series doesn't need Max and Chloe to be relevant. It just needs a protagonist who feels deeply and a world that reacts to those feelings. It’s a messy, colorful, beautiful disaster of a story, and that’s exactly why it works.
To get the most out of your time in Haven Springs, pay attention to the minor characters like Duckie and Eleanor; their subplots often mirror Alex's own internal struggles more closely than the main mystery does. Prioritize character interactions over the main quest markers to see the full breadth of the performance capture. Once the credits roll, go back and try a "no-interference" run to see how different the town feels when you don't use your powers to fix everyone's problems.