Life is Strange - True Colors in the test: an emotional and gripping trip!

Test Conclusion

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1.5

Well

In the past, many games have proven that an interactive medium can at least as emotionally captivate such as films or books. Life is Strange - True Colors with his touching history around Alex Chen no less than a top place in this category. This is not least because it succeeds in unique to developers in a unique way to almost completely dissolve the distance between players and the characterwork and other actors. In the consequential decisions with which they influence the course of the action and relationships with the other characters, deck Nine Games never raises the moral index finger to teach them, which is right or wrong. Added to this is an appealing presentation with chic graphics and (for the first time) German voice output and an excellent soundtrack, which skilfully intensified the consistently dense atmosphere. In short: Life is strange - true colors is a gripping adventure trip that you will never forget!

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Per

Emotional-captivating, maneuvering history Sympathetic main character to which you lose almost any distance Fantastic soundtrack, which perfectly accompanies the intense atmosphere High playback value thanks to consequential decisions and six ends Numerous side tasks and secrets expand and reward the environmental exploration Very good voice output, for the first time in a Life Is Strange also completely in German Several decisions without moral index finger

Contra

Technically picks up too little out of the next-gene consoles A passage is quite short (about ten hours) Individual inappropriate German speakers Playfully largely undemand

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In 2015, the then threatened by the bankruptcy, Paris Developer Studio Dontnod with Life IS Strange succeeded in a phenomenal comeback. The episode adventure tells the emotional history of the young Max Caulfield, whose meaning crisis is superimposed only by its everyday problems. Thus, the game was very close to real life and met a special nerve at the audience. But not every central game component was so up to earth, because the heroine has a supernatural ability.

Superficially considered, all this also applies to Alex Chen, the protagonist of the latest series Life Is Strange - True Colors - with the difference that they can not manipulate the time as their predecessor max. Instead, it is the US-American-made American possible to see the emotions of their fellow human beings and hear their linked thoughts. And not only that, she is even capable of taking the burden of her bad feelings. This extraordinary talent is at the same time for Alex blessing and curse - and forms only one of the cornerstones for one of the previously captivating and most emotional interactive adventure games. Unlike the previous Life IS Strange titles, Publisher Square Enix does not publish the game this time in episode format, so you experience Alex 'adventure in a piece.

New beginning in Colorado

Alex Chen had not easy in her previous life: her family broke apart in her childhood - she landed in state care, her brother gave in youth beast. Now she is of age and follows the invitation of her brother in the picturesque-looking Haven Springs, a small (fictitious) miner settlement in the US state of Colorado. The reception is warm, Alex has the feeling of being at home for the first time in her life.

But fate does not stop even before the backdrop of the small town idyll. Alex 'abusing to perceive the feelings of others, she presents her above great difficulties with human proximity. And to all abundance your brother comes to life, which all inhabitants of Haven Springs crashes into a deep hole. Alex recognizes that she can help her fellow human beings - but also that the supposedly tragic accident of her brother possibly no one was ...

Track search with narrative depth

Your job while playing is not only to get to know the residents closer and for example, quasi-stepson Ethan or his mother to donate Charlotte in the grief comfort. You also need to reveal the true background of gift death, which may be related to the ruling in the city of Bergheinergesellschaft Typhon.

However, Alex is still confronted with completely different things, such as the dementia disease of flower shop owner Eleanor or her personal emotions over Radiomoderatorin Steph and Waldhüter Ryan. As usual in the series, they make primarily in the very authentically written and first-class sets dialogues with the characters decisions that influence the progress of the action as well as the relationship status of the persons persisting with each other.

Developer Deck Nine Games, who already implemented the first-class spin-off Before the Storm to the first part, consistently on the moral index finger. You are responsible for how you act and you never have to fear to be punished later for a supposedly wrong decision or to be rewarded for a supposedly correct decision. The consequences are simply comprehensible in all cases.

However, the decision system is so clever ramified that the plot is foreseeable at any time and remains exciting until the end. What makes the makers on top of top: they literally solve the distance between players and game. Anyway, Alex and the residents of Haven Springs felt an extent as in hardly any other game before.

Exposed freedoms without Quick-Time action

The game principle of True Colors is basically very similar to that of its predecessors, so the complex decision system is clear in the center. Here is as good as no rapid action as in a Detroit - Become Human or sometimes hectic reaction plays as in the episode games of Telltale Games. On tricky puzzles they also refrain from. Even from a delicate timer in the dialogue decisions, the developers only make use of exceptional cases. However, the dramaturgy does not suffer from it - here is the emotional mountain and descent through narrative peaks, not by effective hair!

Nevertheless, Alex 'adventure also places play-mechanical in comparison with the predecessors: Instead of limiting predominantly on a small part of the world, they move relatively free by Haven Springs, interact with passers-by on the main road or lead to optional dialogues in the shops The owners. However, these additional actions are not detached from the Kernstory, but often also influence the gameplay or determine which of the six ends.

In addition, a large number of investigated objects expands the exploration possibilities through which they experience exciting details about the village and their residents who remain hidden otherwise. They also bring up several information about what gift has made everything to find Alex. In this way, among other things, you will find more about the past of heroine and her parents. As a result, True Colors feel more authentic and lets the playful construct not seem so obvious in the background.

More freedom awaits you also with the compulsory tasks. Thus, Alex later participates in a live roleplay with the deadly stringing ethane, must find treasures and combat monsters. The live roleplay does not run strictly linear: For example, find paths that defeat the monsters without a fight or to draw one of the searched crystals by means of a list. That's great and promotes the proximity to the action.

Strong staging

The fact that Life is Strange - True Colors works so well is also due to the heavily written characters and dialogues also owe the audiovisual implementation and the cineastic staging. You may not have to love the serial-typical mix of realistic graphics and cartoon optics. But only the degree of detail, the high-quality animated characters and even the probably partly the game name owed, only in parts of natural coloring fit stylistically simply like the proverbial fist on the eye.

A special status of the fantastic soundtrack of the feather of well-known artists such as Radiohead, Dido, Phoebe Bridgers and the Kings of Leon: He underrides any situation almost perfectly - whether Alex just opposes the charlotte in its art stole in its art scenic, or even In the given apartment a plate restores and meanwhile sensed over its current situation. Tip: Interested parties listen to Spotify in the playlist.

Disappointing Next-Gen versions

However, a small drawback can not be denied: The implementations for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X / S bring significantly less from the new console generation would be out as possible. Although the owners of the platforms benefit from a higher resolution and a significantly better color fastness through HDR support. Despite the fast SSDs, however, the loading times remain visible with each scene change, and even with the refresh rate, the game on the new consoles does not reach the 60 frames per second, which should be standard.

Although there are no rough losses for the atmosphere, the developers do not use the possible benefits in this area. You must generally need to focus on a manageable scope: a passage deals with gross ten hours. However, thanks to the quite high resort value, this drawback weighs only hardly difficult.

Release: Life IS Strange - True Colors has been available since September 10, 2021 for PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X / S and Nintendo Switch. The game is released from 12 years and costs around 60 euros in the trade for all platforms.