I can safely say that I'm a fan of the LIS series; I've played all of the games, and loved every one of them. When the announcement for True Colors went up in March, I was immediatly excited. I couldn't wait to jump into another story.

Set in 2019, Alex Chen has just moved to Haven Springs, CO, after spending most of her life in the foster system. She's reuniting with her brother, Gabe, where she'll try to start a new life. However, he dies in a supposed "accident", which leaves Alex to find out what really happened to her brother.

I can safely say I was immediately sucked in by the story. The town of Haven Springs is strikingly beautiful, and immediately inviting. The inhabitants of Haven are all believable and distinct, with realistic motives, and emotional reasoning behind their actions, many of which can be directly influenced by Alex's decisions. The story starts off slow, with the early hours serving mostly as an introduction to all of the characters. After the inevitable happens, the story picks up quite quickly; a pace it doesn't drop for the rest of the game. While most of the game, you'll be chasing the mystery of your late brother, thankfully there's some time on the side for other events in the story, which keep things fresh. While the ending was surprising to me, I think it could've been written a bit better, with a couple of questions left unanswered. But don't let those couple of missteps spoil a great story, with a satisfying conclusion.

The gameplay is very similar to the rest of the LIS games, with which I mean that the gameplay is mostly based on conversation, with some puzzle aspects. This entry introduces Alex's power; the ability to feel anyone's emotions in an aura, if they are strong enough. This adds a bit of variety to the game, with Alex being able to basically read peoples' minds. Furthermore, she can recall other people's memories from objects strewn around the locations, from which you can learn more about the characters around you.The ability to read emotions was a great choice for this game, as the Life is Strange series already focuses so heavily on characters and interaction. However, the focus remains on conversation. And this is of course done well, with impactful choices, and dialogue options that are usually spot-on with what you'd want to say.

The visual fidelity of True Colors is leaps and bounds ahead of all of the past installments of the series, with some of the most beautiful landscapes ever put on a screen. The game does an excellent job of upgrading the visuals without losing the trademark art style of the series. The watercolor-esque textures are brought to light very well with modern rendering techniques such as sub-surface scattering, which is very noticeable on foliage and skin. Raytracing is also a feature, however I've not had the pleasure of experiencing it. It's the blending of technologically advanced techniques with the matte, almost clay-like look of the textures, which gives the game it's soft look and aesthetic.

The animation of the characters is an enormous focus in a game as character-driven as this one, and it's safe to say you won't be left disappointed. With facial motion capture as well as body motion capture, all of the characters move and emote in an amazingly natural way. The upgraded animation enables the characters to more easily convey and express emotion, immersing the player even further.

The town of Haven Springs is full of interesting characters for Alex to interact with, all of which feel real and are played amazingly by the very talented cast. Some standout characters include Steph and Ryan, the former an eccentric local radio host and record store sensei, and the latter being a charming park ranger. Both are great characters, with memorable lines, and some great scenes. Another great character is Gabe, and while we don't get to spend a lot of time with him, he's almost the secondary protagonist of the story, with him being the person who connects Alex to Haven, and Haven to Alex.

Other townsfolk include Jed, Ryan's father and owner of the local bar, Eleanor, the owner of a local flower shop, Duckie, an eccentric retiree, Charlotte, Gabe's girlfriend and dispensary owner/artist, Ethan, her son, along with many others. All of the townsfolk are profoundly realistic and likeable.

The game features an amazing soundtrack, comprised of songs by Angus & Julia Stone, mxmtoon, Novo Amor and Kings of Leon, to name a few. The soundtrack is one of the qualities of the series, and True Colors continues that with an amazing score, with dreamy indie/folk tunes, but also some other songs to mix things up a bit. The music really helps with the atmosphere of Haven, and somehow makes everything even more beautiful.

I really enjoyed Life is Strange: True Colors. I was really sad when it ended. One of the things I enjoy most about this franchise is how it motivates me personally to make choices. It somehow makes me feel like I can choose my own destiny, just by making one small choice at a time. Also, ever since I've played True Colors, I've been looking at random objects around my house, and just thinking about the memories I have associated with that object, and it's interesting how playing this game made me do that. I love how this game makes you think differently about stuff. I felt like I could relate to the characters, I felt like I could empathize with them. There's a lot of feeling stuff, just in general. Would recommend.