Square Enix showed off an extended gameplay trailer of Life is Strange: True Colors that details how players can manipulate nonplayable characters’ emotions. The trailer showed main character Alex using a psychic power known as Empathy to learn details about characters’ lives, make judgement calls and dialogue decisions, and witness the consequences of her actions. The game releases to PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series X/S, PC, and Stadia on September 10, 2021.
Much like previous games in the series, True Colors focuses on dialogue choices that affect the story. The player must deal with the consequences of whatever they choose to say or do — and the choices are never easy. True Colors allows players a little more insight into their choices by showing nonplayable characters’ emotions in the form of colorful auras that surround them. A blue aura denotes sadness, a red aura shows anger, and a purple aura stands for fear.
Alex can interact with these auras using her power of Empathy. She can witness what caused these feelings in a character, potentially unveiling secrets along the way. In the trailer, Alex uses Empathy to reveal a secret that the nonplayable character Mack wants to hide. During a later confrontation between Mack and his girlfriend, the player can choose whether to reveal the secret, which could cost Mack his relationship, or keep it hidden.
The goal of Alex’s sleuthing is to uncover what really happened during her brother’s death. Players will be able to use the Empathy power on a variety of characters and their auras, learning more secrets and even changing characters’ emotions to suit Alex’s goals — or simply to make them feel better.
