In recent years, the series Life is Strange going through hard times. The second part, which was unsuccessful in every sense, which turned from an interesting story into a political manifesto against Trump, undermined the credibility of the franchise. Another hot product from the creators of the original adventure, Tell me why, caused mixed emotions in the loyal core of the audience. It began to seem that the authors, instead of interesting stories, are trying to go on a fashionable agenda, putting the political manifesto above the elaboration of the heroes and the gameplay.
In the spring Square enix announced that Life is Strange: True Colors created by the development team Life is Strange: Before the Storm, but we were still waiting for another ode to body positivity, radical feminism and other fashionable twitter trends. But judging by the first chapter, which takes three hours, we will return to ordinary human stories, where life situations resonate with supernatural activities. In the center of the plot of the new game – Alex Chen and Gabe Chen, brother and sister, who after the death of their parents were separated for a long time by the guardianship authorities. Alex was abandoned by her foster family and had to go through a period of stress and personal anxiety before seeing her beloved brother again.
A family reunion takes place in the small mining town of Haven Springs. As in most small American cities, there is an atmosphere of warmth and brotherhood – neighbors help each other and support in difficult situations. During a short excursion in the area, Alex meets Gabe’s girlfriend, Charlotte, his best friend Ryan, the owner of the local bar Jed and the host of the local radio station Steph. Haven Springs teens, in addition to their passion for music, prefer to read comics and have fun with role-playing games in reality. Such a leisurely life in the American hinterland. And although 2019 is outside the window, music from the 2000s reigns in the world of True Colors. Instead of the little-known indie scene, which has already become a trademark of the series, the writers pay tribute to early-century rock music. Brother and Sister are a fan of Kings of leon, and in one of the emotional scenes Alex performs a guitar cover of Radiohead…
The slowness of the storytelling with visiting the flower shop, sorting things out and volunteering at the bar is interspersed with unnecessary but so engaging activities. You can play the arcade machine at Arkanoid or analog Donkey kong about miners, try to guess the name of the album on a bet, or take part in a quest to find the missing booze. Other opportunities include poignant dialogues about music, exploring the history of the village from newspaper clippings and photographs, and traveling through your own memories. Alex can change several outfits while remaining in the image of a teenage Pridge.
The rather relaxed story is interrupted by a series of sudden and very emotional events that reveal the in-game subtitle and tell about Alex’s secret superpower. The main character can not only see strong emotions of people, but also experience them with them. It is this skill that becomes a very important part of the game storytelling.
In addition to returning to the roots of the series, the authors have significantly worked on the graphic part of the project. True Colors seems to use ray tracing, which gives the picture more realism. The environment is reflected and refracted in Alex’s glasses, and the water and light look as realistic as possible. The animations of the characters’ faces with the movement of the facial muscles and the play of the eyes make the dialogues as emotional as possible. Of course, some objects, like doors and walls, lack the necessary detail, the game twitches a little on PS5but this should be fixed with the first patches for the release.
After the first of five chapters, it seems like Life is Strange: True Colors should be the kind of game that fans of the original will love. You can read our final impressions a couple of days before the release, when the embargo on the publication of reviews falls.
Life is Strange: True Colors Released September 10, 2023…
Author: Alexander Loginov (XTR)
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