History VideoGame / LifeIsStrangeTrueColors

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Alex's beatdown of Mac is excessive because she can't control the anger she feels from him, but everyone agrees Mac had it coming.

* CuttingOffTheBranches: A minor example. ''Wavelengths'' treats Chloe and Rachel as a [[OfficialCouple known romantic couple]] in Steph's memories, with no option for the player to feedback on whether they actually played them that way in ''Before the Storm''. {{Justified}} in that a romantic relationship between the two is implied to have happened between the prequel and the original game regardless of your choices; this is just the first time it's been outright stated in canon.

** Also invoked by Steph, during the foosball game.

* DistinctionWithoutADifference: When Alex asks Riley if she would be lying to Mac, the latter denies saying that she would rather go for "strategic half-truthing".

* OrphanedPunchline: During Gabe's wake the scene cuts to the end of Reginald's speech where everyone is laughing about his final line "And then he said: I know - that's why the K is silent".

* YouShouldHaveDiedInstead: When Alex reads Riley's mind she can hear the latter think that Alex should have died in place of Gabe.

* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: A staple of the ''Life is Strange'' series: ''True Colors'' was released in September 2021 and takes place in April/May 2019. The "Wavelengths" bonus chapter takes it back further still, taking place between March of 2018 and New Year's Eve of the same year.

* BottleEpisode: ''Wavelengths'' focuses entirely on Steph working in the record store, and is the only character to appear in the flesh throughout the episode [[spoiler:until the ending, where the plot moves to the exact moment Alex walked into the store.]]

* ADayInTheLimelight: ''Wavelengths'' puts the player in Steph's shoes as she manages Haven Springs' local record store and runs the radio station in the year before Alex arrives.

* MelancholyMusicalNumber: Steph can produce a song and can choose to make it a sad song with appropriately melancholic lyrics that allude to [[spoiler:her trauma and grief over the destruction of Arcadia Bay or the murders of Rachel and Chloe, depending on the player's Season One ending]].
* SeasonalBaggage: The Wavelengths DLC chapter shows off the seasons changing throughout the episode as Steph works at the record store. Though, we only see glimpses of the outside weather as the whole episode takes place in the record store.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: In ''Wavelengths'', Steph gets a call on the radio station's phone where a guy makes orders on the record store for some songs for his girlfriend. Steph, realizing that all of these are {{breakup song}}s, mentions to the poor guy that she suspects his girlfriend wants to leave him. Later said girlfriend calls back, saying that while it wasn't her intention, Steph telling that realized that she really wants to break up. Even after Steph telling her how she got to the conclusion[[note]]in reality, the girl just wanted the songs for her guitar lessons[[/note]], the girlfriend considers Steph a psychic. As these telephone calls are all made on air, the whole town now regards Steph a psychic, who plays along. She becomes popular even as a self-admitted "fake psychic".

* BottleEpisode: The DLC chapter Wavelengths focuses entirely on Steph working in the record store, and is the only character to appear in the flesh throughout the episode [[spoiler:until the ending, where the plot moves to the exact moment Alex walked into the store.]]

!!Tropes found in this game and the DLC chapter ''Wavelengths'':

* AmbiguousSituation: In ''Wavelengths'', [[spoiler:Steph will reminisce fondly about Rachel but will only show distress over her murder if the "Sacrifice Chloe" ending was chosen in Season One. This makes it unclear whether Chloe and Max ever brought Rachel's murder to light after the "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay" ending, or if she's still considered a missing person in this continuity.[[note]]''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2'' had previously hinted that Jefferson was still prosecuted for his crimes after the storm — at the very least the abduction of Victoria and probably the murder of Nathan — but it's highly likely that Rachel's body would never be found after the storm destroyed the town even if Max and Chloe came forward, which they may not have done.[[/note]]]]

* BottleEpisode: The DLC chapter Wavelengths focuses entirely on Steph working in the record store, and is the only character to appear in the flesh throughout the episode [[spoiler:until the ending, where the plot moves to the exact moment Alex walked into the store.]]

* CuttingOffTheBranches: A minor example. "Wavelengths" treats Chloe and Rachel as a [[OfficialCouple known romantic couple]] in Steph's memories, with no option for the player to feedback on whether they actually played them that way in ''Before the Storm''. {{Justified}} in that a romantic relationship between the two is implied to have happened between the prequel and the original game regardless of your choices; this is just the first time it's been outright stated in canon.

* ADayInTheLimelight: The DLC story ''Wavelengths'' puts the player in Steph's shoes as she manages Haven Springs' local record store and runs the radio station in the year before Alex arrives.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Steph is completely alone on-screen throughout ''Wavelengths'' (at least until the brief epilogue scene), communicating with other characters via Zoom, phone calls, and mail. While in-story it's simply the case that she happens to be on her own during the periods of time shown on-screen, it resonates with the fact that the game was released 18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic. Most players — but especially people like Steph, who were single and living far away from family — could identify with her rattling around in an otherwise empty building and seemingly never leaving.
** Taken to even more meta heights when you learn that sections where Steph left the record store and interacted with other Haven Springs residents were reportedly cut due to production constraints caused by the pandemic.

* HolidayEpisode: The ''Wavelengths'' DLC has four sections, each corresponding to a season and referencing a celebration therein. Steph starts her new job around the time of the 2018 Spring Festival in Haven Springs. She's then shown doing themed shows for Pride Month in the summer, Halloween in the autumn, and New Year's Eve in the winter.

* MelancholyMusicalNumber: In the Wavelengths DLC Steph can produce a song. She can choose to make a sad song with appropriately melancholic lyrics that allude to [[spoiler:her trauma and grief over the destruction of Arcadia Bay or the murders of Rachel and Chloe, depending on the player's Season One ending]].

* SeasonalBaggage: The Wavelengths DLC chapter shows off the seasons changing throughout the episode as Steph works at the record store. Though, we only see glimpses of the outside weather as the whole episode takes place in the record store.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: In ''Wavelengths'', Steph gets a call on the radio station's phone where a guy makes orders on the record store for some songs for his girlfriend. Steph, realizing that all of these are {{breakup song}}s, mentions to the poor guy that she suspects his girlfriend wants to leave him. Later said girlfriend calls back, saying that while it wasn't her intention, Steph telling that realized that she really wants to break up. Even after Steph telling her how she got to the conclusion[[note]]in reality, the girl just wanted the songs for her guitar lessons[[/note]], the girlfriend considers Steph a psychic. As these telephone calls are all made on air, the whole town now regards Steph a psychic, who plays along. She becomes popular even as a self-admitted "fake psychic".

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Steph is completely alone on-screen throughout ''Wavelengths'' (at least until the brief epilogue scene), communicating with other characters via Zoom, phone calls, and mail. While in-story it's simply the case that she happens to be on her own during the periods of time shown on-screen, it resonates with the fact that the game was released 18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic. Many players — especially people like Steph, who were single and living far away from family — could easily identify with her rattling around in an otherwise empty building and seemingly never leaving.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Steph is completely alone on-screen throughout ''Wavelengths'' (at least until the brief epilogue scene), communicating with other characters via Zoom, phone calls, and mail. While in-story it's simply the case that she happens to be on her own during the periods of time shown on-screen, it resonates with the fact that the game was released 18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic. Many players — especially people like Steph, who were single and living far away from family — could identify with her rattling around in an otherwise empty building and seemingly never leaving.
** Taken to even more meta heights when you learn that sections where Steph left the record store and interacted with other Haven Springs residents was reportedly cut due to production constraints caused by the pandemic.

* ClosetKey: If Alex chooses Steph to hit on Diane [[spoiler: so that she can use the distraction to steal the USB drive with the evidence of Typhon's wrongdoing, Diane will act genuinely shocked by Steph's flirting, mainly because of how much she is open to it, even asking Alex if she is blushing. Alex tells Steph afterward that she revealed something in Diane she might not have been aware of.]]

* ClosetKey: If Alex chooses Steph to hit on Diane [[spoiler: so that she can use the distraction to steal the USB drive with the evidence of Typhon's wrongdoing, Diane will act genuinely shocked by Steph's flirting, mainly because of how much she is open to it, even asking Alex if she is blushing. Alex tells Steph afterwards that she revealed something in Diane she might not have been aware of.]]

* ColorCodedEmotions: Alex can see the emotions somebody is feeling, as represented as an aura around them or their head, and the color indicates what emotion. Red is anger, blue is sadness, yellow is joy, and purple is fear.

* CuttingOffTheBranches: A minor example. "Wavelengths" treats Chloe and Rachel as a [[OfficialCouple known romantic couple]] in Steph's memories, with no option for the player to feedback whether they actually played them that way in ''Before the Storm''. {{Justified}} in that a romantic relationship between the two is implied to have happened between the prequel and the original game regardless of your choices; this is just the first time it's been outright stated in canon.

* EverytownAmerica: Haven Springs, Colorado, is another example in true ''Life Is Strange'' tradition. Older-styled buildings with hanging flags and signs sit along a brick road main street, everyone is cheerful and welcoming to Alex, and the close-knit nature of the community is emphasized.

** Both Ryan and Ethan feel this way in regards to Gabe's death.

** Alex Chen perceives people's emotions as different colors depending on the emotion, hence the subtitle of "True Colors". This power helps her find out the reason behind her brother's death.

* MistakenForDog: One of the [[BlandNameProduct MyBook]]-thread you can read was from a poster that posted a picture of a large cat they had found in their garbage can and asked if someone had lost it. The poster was quickly informed that it was actually a mountain lion cub that should absolutely not be interacted with. The poster then sheepishly asked what one should do if it "happened" to be on their bed.

* OrphanageOfFear: Alex had a pretty bad time at child care. She was continuously bullied by her peers and was refused multiple times by potential foster parents for being "special".

** Ethan can serve as this to Alex and Steph, most blatantly during the LARP game if Alex chooses to flirt with Steph, with him commenting that, "This just got real."

* SliceOfLife: True to other games in the series, most of the game time is spent doing mundane things: doing your job, socializing, running errands, participating in various events such as LARP and the Spring Festival. There are even optional tasks such as cleaning up your room or weeding the plants on the rooftop that gets tracked by the game. ''Wavelengths'' takes it up to eleven: the whole DLC is literally about Steph running the radio station / record shop.

* WritersCannotDoMath: [[spoiler:Twelve years ago, Alex and Gabe's father died in the mining accident. However, he didn't leave the family until Alex was 11 years old, and she's 21 years old during the events of the game. He left two years ''after'' dying...??]]
** Potentially somewhat explained by the evidence suggesting that the current year in-story was changed from 2020 to 2019 at some point during development. (See TwentyMinutesIntoThePast, above.) It still doesn't really make total sense but it just ''might'' be possible to squeeze all the key events into the timeline that way, since [[spoiler:Gabe clarifies that their dad left when he was "nearly fifteen" and Gabe himself dies at aged twenty-six, potentially closing the gap to a little over eleven years rather than twelve-plus (presumably Alex is just close to her twenty-second birthday when the game takes place[[note]]Supplementary materials reveal her birthday to be in July, a couple of months after the events of the game, so this does indeed kind of work.[[/note]]).]] However, elsewhere in the game it's implied that [[spoiler:John]] was WanderingTheEarth for at least a couple of ''years'' before reaching Haven Springs, whereas this explanation would require him to beeline directly there with unerring foresight; so even this solution doesn't really cover all the facts.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** [[spoiler: If specific actions aren't taken, every one of the council members will refuse to help Alex. Even a romanced or highly befriended Ryan can side with Jed over Alex.]]
** Trying to help Charlotte by taking her anger away results in [[spoiler:her becoming detached from everyone around her and refusing to stand up for Alex in the council meeting.]]
** [[spoiler:The lantern Alex finds in the mines will go out not long after she lights it. A lantern left in a mine for over a decade isn't going to be in the best working order, as evidenced by the large crack it has in the side.]]
** While not a popular playstyle, the game gives Alex the chance to be distant towards Gabe. Being separated for over a decade doesn't exactly do wonders for someone's psyche or attitude towards someone. Alex can potentially acknowledge this by explaining her foster past to Gabe on the roof of the Black Lantern.
** [[spoiler: Stealing Diane's USB drive with information on Typhon]] eventually results in Alex [[spoiler: being arrested by Deputy Pike]]. Furthermore, Pike will initially refuse to use [[spoiler: Diane's USB drive]] as evidence in the investigation of [[spoiler: Gabe's death]] because it was stolen.
** ''Wavelengths'' has Steph being unlucky with her time at a dating site — not, as you might expect, due to a shortage of sapphic women in the Haven Springs area, but because either her own emotional baggage or that of her date ends up stalling the relationship every time. She actually gets plenty of matches initially, but finds repeatedly that two people both being [=WLW=] isn't itself a stable basis for a relationship.

* SliceOfLife: True to other games in the series, most of the game time is spent doing mundane things: doing your job, socializing, running errands, participating in various events such as LARP and the Spring Festival. There are even optional tasks such as cleaning up your room or weeding the plants on the rooftop that gets tracked by the game. ''Wavelengths'' takes it UpToEleven: the whole DLC is literally about Steph running the radio station / record shop.

** [[spoiler: If specific actions aren't taken, every one of the council members will refuse to help Alex. Even a romanced or highly befriended Ryan can side with Jed over Alex. No matter how nice you've been to them, you're still someone they haven't known that long accusing one of their most trusted friends of murder. It takes some serious proof to convince someone in that situation.]]
** Trying to help Charlotte by taking her anger away results in [[spoiler:her becoming detached from everyone around her and refusing to stand up for Alex in the council meeting.]] Regardless of Alex's good intentions, trying to fast-forward the grieving process can only result in more negative effects.

* AdultFear:
** Ethan, no older than thirteen, is stuck on a small platform in a ravine in the vicinity of a mining operation.
** Eleanor Lethe is terrified by the fact that she's losing her memory to Alzheimer's and feels like she's become a burden to her granddaughter Riley.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: The DLC features Steph as a playable character, focusing on her managing the record store in Haven Springs a full year before Alex arrives.

* HeadbuttOfLove: Alex can have this with [[spoiler:Stepth after they kiss on the roof of the Black Lantern.]]

* CatsAreMean: A downplayed example. In the first chapter, Alex can try to get Valkyrie the cat to move by scaring or trying to move her, in order to get the hold list Valkyrie is laying on. Either option results in Valkyrie responding by hissing and swiping angrily at her, forcing Alex to find another solution.

* CuteKitten: Valkyrie, a recurring character, is a black cat Steph cares for at the record store. Alex's first encounter with her ends with Valkyrie pouncing onto a little squeaky toy.

* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: A staple of the ''Life is Strange'' series: ''True Colors'' was released in September 2021 and takes place in April/May 2019.
** Although the current year is erroneously referred to as 2020 a couple of times — and the timeline doesn't really make sense unless you take 2020 as the current year (see WritersCannotDoMath, below) — suggesting the possibility that ''True Colors'' was originally meant to take place a ''little'' closer to the present day, though with this trope still in force. (If this is the case, it was likely rewritten to avoid the necessity of referring to the UsefulNotes/COVID19 pandemic.)