“Life is Strange: True Colors”
An emotional adventure full of great feelings
The young Alex Chen is the main character in “Life is Strange: True Colors”.
© Square Enix
“Life is Strange: True Colors” is about empathy and superpowers, among other things. This is what actress Lisa Vicari has to say about it.
“Life is Strange: True Colors” is the latest part of a well-known video game series that has always dealt with topics such as feelings, inclusion and diversity. A lot happens in the often emotional stories of the series, decisions and actions of the players sometimes have severe consequences. In the latest offshoot, empathy and grief play a special role.
What happened?
This time the trip goes to the tranquil town of Haven Springs in Colorado. But of course not everything is by far as idyllic as it seems at first. The young Alex Chen meets her brother Gabe again for the first time in eight years. However, he dies shortly afterwards in an accident – and it is up to Alex to uncover the truth behind the death of her brother.
To do this, the protagonist has to trust an ability that she has considered a curse for years. Alex feels strong feelings from other people – be it fear, sadness or anger. If the other person has a particularly emotional aura, they can empathize with the person’s psyche and thus gain access to fragments of memories or thoughts of their fellow human beings. Now Alex has to use this power to find out what exactly happened.
What does the community think?
“True Colors” sets itself apart from its predecessors not only with this new superpower and a fresh story, but also with some special features. For the first time in the history of the series, the game does not appear in episodes. Fans can experience the full story of Alex and her brother right away. Twitch also supports the “Crowd Choice” feature. Streamers can use the platform to let their community decide what should happen. There are two options: Either the decision of the majority of viewers is automatically adopted or the streamer sees the result of the vote and can then choose how to proceed.
A special feature of “True Colors” is that it is the first game in the “Life is Strange” series that has a German language version. For their cast, Deck Nine Games and Square Enix were able to win, among others, the actress Lisa Vicari (24) and Germany’s most famous gamer Gronkh (44). Vicari, featured in the Netflix hit “Dark” and the end-of-time thriller “Hell”, speaks to Riley, the granddaughter of a local flower seller. Meanwhile, Gronkh lends his voice to the small town policeman Pike.
“An Emotional Journey”
Because the player “is in control of the course of the story, identification with the characters is of course extremely high,” explains Vicari when asked by the news agency spot on news. “You can completely immerse yourself in a new world and become part of the story.” Especially with “Life is Strange” she had the feeling that one was going “on an emotional journey”, which made the game “so special in my eyes”.
So is it possible that video games can more easily pick people up emotionally, like films or series? “I think it’s a different way of connecting with the characters. In a video game, you’re part of the story, you see everything through the eyes of the characters you’re playing,” says Vicari. “With films or series you can enjoy the journey more passively – which is not necessarily less emotional. I think it’s difficult to compare them.”
As in the previous parts of the series, the current protagonist also has a superpower. Would the ability to feel other people’s emotions in such a way as Alex be a blessing or a curse for Vicari? “As an emphatic person you can only imagine how exhausting it must be to feel the emotions of others as intensely as she does,” the actress is sure. “On the other hand, she can also use it to help people who are important to her. In reality, this gift would probably be both a curse and a blessing.”
“To be honest, I don’t miss any of the three skills,” explains Vicari when asked whether she would rather feel other people’s emotions, stop time or have telekinesis skills. However, if she had to decide, “it would be likely to be able to stop time – for special moments that you want to enjoy a little longer”.
Life is Strange: True Colors is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S and Google Stadia. A version for Nintendo Switch will also be released later.