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And if you decide to go off the beaten path, you will be rewarded with an additional backstory for certain characters that Alex will write in her journal. In one instance after exploring the flower shop, I found a t-shirt memory that explained how Riley Lethe met her on-and-off-again boyfriend Mac Louden at a bot-fighting competition she participated in. I found this to be a nice add-on to Alex’s already robust empathic powers not only can it help with dialogue choices big and small, it helps to add more perspective to Haven Springs’ residents. In some cases, both scripted and unscripted, Alex can interact with items that contain memories (basically audio logs) that share a bit more about certain characters. It’s almost like an out-of-body experience where she walks a mile in their shoes. It may not be as spectacular as turning back time, but it does go beyond just “reading” people: if a person’s feelings are strong enough, Alex will also begin to actually feel those emotions herself. Like Max Caufield in the original Life is Strange, Alex has an unexplained superpower: she can perceive strong emotions through colorful auras that outline people around her. But in True Colors, I can’t name anybody who felt underserved.Ī lot of that comes from the excellent way in which you interact with them, which is enhanced by a supernatural phenomenon. Alyssa Anderson in the original Life is Strange, Evan Harris in Before the Storm, Hank Stamper in the first episode of Life is Strange 2 all had a lack of depth that made them come off as stereotypes. Previous Life is Strange games have struggled with consistently giving NPCs compelling backstories and many of them were failed by poor writing. The people of Haven Springs also have a lot of life to them, which made me feel more emotionally invested in the community. There’s even a light RPG element in that particular chapter that helps make the entire section a lot more fun to engage in. Seeing the townsfolk dress up in costumes in areas like the town’s bar was by far my favorite moment of the entire story. There’s even a moment in which the entire town partakes in a LARP to cheer up a grieving kid. Alex can also check out MyBlock, a Nextdoor-like social media platform where the townsfolk share local updates, Easter eggs, and local banter some of which are pay-offs as a result of the choices Alex made around those characters. Some of this insight comes from Alex’s phone, which shares details of her relationships with her friends with some text messages (the content of which varies depending on your in-game choices). It comes across loud and clear that the residents genuinely care about each other. This is a small mountain town, and in typical small-town fashion, everyone knows their neighbors and their community is tight-knit.
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