This week marks the release of Life Is Strange: True Colors, the latest installment in the Life Is Strange franchise. Like other entries in the series, True Colors is a narrative adventure game that follows a protagonist with special powers as they try to solve a central mystery and control their new abilities. True Colors is developed by Deck Nine Games, which previously worked on the spin-off game Life Is Strange: Before The Storm.
However, before Deck Nine took over development, the Life Is Strange franchise was in the hands of Dontnod Entertainment. Dontnod developed the first two entries in the series, as well as Life Is Strange 2's demo, The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit. After Life Is Strange 2 released its final episode in December 2019, Dontnod moved on from the franchise and released two new games in 2020.
Tell Me Why
Dontnod's first post-Life Is Strange game was Tell Me Why. The game follows twin siblings Alyson and Tyler Ronan as they move back to their Alaskan hometown to sell their childhood home. Tyler spent a decade in jail after confessing to killing his and Alyson's mother, and the twins have different memories of the night when the incident occurred. Both twins have the ability to communicate with each other telepathically, and ability they use to piece together their memories of that fateful night and learn their mother's secrets.
Tell Me Why shares a lot of similarities with the original Life Is Strange. Both are episodic adventure games that revolve around players interacting with the environment to find clues and solve the central mystery. Both take place in a small town where the death of a central character occurred, and it is here that the protagonists' supernatural abilities aid them on their journeys. Finally, both have different endings depending on the player's actions throughout the game.
Overall, Dontnod's first game after stepping away from Life Is Strange was well-received, particularly for featuring a transgender protagonist in Tyler Ronan. Tyler's identity -- and how his mother potentially came to terms with it -- is an important element of the story and a crucial point in transgender representation in gaming.
Twin Mirror
Dontnod's second post-Life Is Strange release was Twin Mirror, which follows investigative journalist Samuel Higgs as he returns to his West Virginia hometown to attend a friend's funeral. Samuel gets roped into investigating his friend's death while also dealing with his own personal demons. Again, Twin Mirror's story setup is similar to that of Tell Me Why and Life Is Strange. The gameplay of investigating the environment for clues and making choices that led to different story endings is also the same.
However, Twin Mirror has some major differences from Dontnod's previous work. For starters, the game ditches the episodic structure and was released as a single installment in December 2020. Second, the game's protagonist doesn't have any special powers to help him along his journey. Instead, Sam has internal discussions with a darker version of himself, retreating into a "Mind Palace" to help him reconstruct memories and solve the game's mysteries. While it seems magical, it's simply a reflection of Sam's mind.
Unfortunately, Twin Mirror wasn't as well-received as either Tell Me Why or Life Is Strange, with major criticism being directed at the game's story and characters.