Best Video Game Storytelling & Writing of 2021
Second Runner-Up: Life Is Strange True Colors
Guides Editor Chris Jecks: After a somewhat meandering narrative in Life Is Strange 2, Deck Nine returned to deliver another outstanding, intimate story, focusing on Alex Chen and the citizens of Haven Springs, Colorado in Life Is Strange True Colors.
Following her brother’s death shortly after her arrival under mysterious circumstances, Alex gets to work uncovering the secrets of this sleepy mountainside town and gets to grips with her empathy-based abilities. Alex can see and ‘take on’ the emotions of those she’s near to, granting her the ability to see when someone’s putting on a false front and learn more about them and the shady goings-on in Haven Springs. It’s the first ability that feels like it truly adds to the narrative in more than just the obvious “there’s this supernatural thing going on.”
This is a Life Is Strange game, so there’s plenty of twists and turns in the narrative, a love interest or two for you to choose between, and some really beautiful, intimate, and heartfelt cutscenes that’ll have you caring more for the characters in the game’s short duration than you’d probably like to admit.
Add into this the fact that Life Is Strange True Colors features branching narrative paths, and you’ve got a highly replayable experience and a high benchmark for future Life Is Strange games to meet with their narratives.
