When the first entry released back in 2015,Life is Strangebroke some ground on narrative adventure games, following in the footsteps ofThe Walking Dead’s success. Melding a coming-of-age drama alongside a supernatural twist, Max Caulfield’s intense journey of self-discovery told a gripping and emotional story. A powerful narrative that impacted many, paired with a niche but unique art style,Life is Strangeclung on to a lot of players when it initially released. However, it was clear the game was very much indie-adjacent, despite being published by Square Enix. Even at the time, the animations and visual fidelity wasn’t as impressive as the series has become today.
Over time, Dontnod’s TellMe WhyandTwin Mirrorprovided the first glimpses of what higher visual fidelity might look like for its unique brand of narrative games. However, Deck Nine’s upcoming iteration on theLife is Strangeseries emphasizes what a huge facelift the series is receiving with next-gen technology and higher production value. WhereLife is Strange’s initially clunky animations was largely part of its charm,Life is Strange: True Colorsbenefits immensely from a major overhaul in art style, engine, and animation. The visuals inTrue Colors, so far, emphasize how farLife is Strangehas come since its humble beginnings in 2015.
Life is Strange’s Gradual Evolution In Visuals
What’s interesting aboutLife is Strange, visually-speaking, is how the visual quality has subtly improved and been refined in the last few years. While the storytelling has iterated and changed in formative ways, the franchise has also made steady improvement in graphics and animation with each subsequent entry. Startingas early as Deck Nine’sBefore the Stormprequel, already there was a significant difference in character and environmental details, thanks to higher resolution assets. Animation quality also had a noticeable difference, but those changes were even more refined inThe Awesome Adventures of Captain Spiritalongside the rest of theLife is Strange 2saga.
Adjacent efforts by Dontnod Entertainment, outside of theLife is Strangeuniverse, also provided hints at how the art style was evolving. With growing production values and better console hardware, Dontnod’s signature water color art style had refined into something much more detail-oriented and visually stunning.Standalone adventure gamesTell Me WhyandTwin Mirrorhad shown the developer’s iconic art direction was flexible enough to accommodate higher levels of detail, without sacrificing its charm.
Obviously the legacy visuals ofLife is Strangestill hold up surprisingly well, but the detail and animation work in comparison to later entries hasn’t aged very well. That’s largelypart of the reason why aLife is Strange Remastered Collectionis so important, but the next entry shows an even more drastic improvement in visual fidelity.
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Next-Gen Art Design In Life is Strange: True Colors
Almost immediately,Life is Strange: True Colorsmakes it very clearthat this entry is a huge step up in visual fidelity for the franchise. Putting aside the enticing narrative hints provided by the next entry’s trailer, Deck Nine’s development has presumably ramped up the production quality immensely. Actors and facial motion capture is excellent, with micro-movements and actions in-engine happening with the highest level of detail the series has seen to date. Realism is clearly the focus withTrue Colors, now more than ever, with detailed animations and emotions captured. Compared to previousLife is Strangeentries, it’s clear there’s a huge step up in graphical quality.
Environment detail is also a pretty clear improvement in the trailer, an aspect of previousLife is Strangegames that was noticeably weaker than character detail. Even as recently asLife is Strange 2, background details and items that weren’t in focus were noticeably simplified in design and graphical detail. InLife is Strange: True Colors, there’s tons of different micro-details in the game’s backgrounds: various knick-knacks on the walls of a bar, all sorts of different colored flowers in a garden, books and decorations on shelves, among various other minute details.Next-gen hardware is clearly influencingLife is Strange: True Colors' innovations in graphical design.
Of course, paired withthe usual narrative strength ofLife is Strange,True Colorscould be a really huge step forward for the franchise.True Colorsemphasizes a distinct maturity in its narrative this time around, aside from eschewing a teenage protagonist in favor of the adult main character Alex. Even asLife is Strange: True Colorsmaintains the franchise’s usual vibrant sepia-tone art style, the noticeable shift in visual fidelity emphasizes what a true next-genLife is Strangeis capable of.
Life is Strange: True Colorsreleases on July 17, 2025, for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
