The first official gameplay trailer for Life is Strange: True Colors has just been uploaded to YouTube, and it shows our nervous newcomer hero Alex Chen exploring the record store in the town she's just moved to. It's already looking miles more impressive graphically than the original Life is Strange, with subtle facial expressions and matching lip-sync.
In the trailer, Alex is waiting for her brother, Gabe, in a record store — but instead she meets Steph and Ryan, her two potential romantic candidates. Both love music, as Steph runs the radio station and Ryan… is a "tree cop" who listens to bird noises on CD. The chemistry, thankfully, is there for both from the get-go, as Alex playfully flirts with them both.
Alex seems like a much more confident and, well, cool teen compared to Life is Strange's Max and Chloe, who are loveable, sure — but awkward and try-hard respectively, bless their hearts. In contrast, Alex seems just kinda effortlessly hip, and someone we'd probably want to be friends with. Or someone we'd want to just be.
Sadly, there's very little of Alex's empathy powers in here, although there are a lot of musical references, including Smashmouth and Celine Dion, who are both very cool. We should know. At the end, though, we see Steph getting an angry call, appearing as if she's on fire to Alex — who seems to be struggling with it.
The dialogue is naturalistic and low-key, which was something we were worried about — getting writing right in a narrative game is of peak importance — but so far, it's looking like they nailed it. Even just in this scene, we see Alex evolving from a shy new kid on the block to affectionately making fun of her new friends. It's cute!
Unfortunately, True Colors' September 10th release date was just pushed back, although we don't know when the new date is beyond "this year". Likewise, the Remastered Collection, which includes the first game and its prequel, was delayed from September to "early 2022". Both delays were due to the studio wanting to take the pressure off the development team after pandemic-related difficulties.
What are your thoughts on the trailer? Does it answer any questions you had about True Colors' writing or characters? Let us know in the comments!
[source youtu.be]