Welcome to Haven Springs, a town brimming with secrets and emotional currents. In Life is Strange: True Colors, you play as Alex Chen, a young woman with the power of empathy, allowing her to experience others' emotions and even see their auras. You’ll navigate a story-rich, third-person adventure, making choices that shape Alex's relationships and uncover the mystery surrounding her brother’s death. It’s a game for anyone who loves a deep narrative, atmospheric exploration, and meaningful player agency.
This guide is your companion to mastering Alex's empathic abilities and uncovering every secret Haven Springs holds. We'll help you track down all the collectibles, understand the consequences of your choices, and explore all the different outcomes the story can take. Get ready to dive deep into the heart of the story and ensure you don't miss a single detail on your journey.
Walkthrough (XBSX) by Road\_to\_Dawn
Life is Strange: True Colors Chapter 1: A-Side walkthrough covers Welcome Home, Record Store, and more. Navigate all objectives in order.
- 1Welcome Home
- 2Waiting at the Record Store
- 3Cooler Than a Real Dad
- 4Just Like Old Times
- 5I'm Okay
- 6First Day on the Job
- 7Rooftop Reconciliation
- 8Searching
- 9Don't Look Down
Next Chapter: Chapter 2: Lanterns
Chapter 1: A-Side
Detailed walkthrough for Chapter 1: A-Side in Life is Strange: True Colors, guiding you through Alex Chen's return to Haven Springs and the initial events of the story.
- 1Welcome Home: Follow Alex as she arrives in Haven Springs and makes her way to the apartment.
- 2Reunion with Gabe: Interact with Gabe and begin to explore the apartment and its surroundings.
- 3First Encounters: Meet some of the key characters and get introduced to the town's atmosphere.
- 4The Incident: Experience the pivotal event that kicks off the main mystery of the chapter.
- Pay attention to dialogue choices, as they can influence relationships and story progression.
- Explore the environment thoroughly to find optional interactions and clues.
- Use Alex's empathic abilities to understand characters' emotions and uncover hidden information.
Welcome Home
Navigate the initial moments of Life is Strange: True Colors. This guide covers Alex's arrival in Haven Springs, early interactions with Gabe and Riley, and key minor decisions.
When you first gain control of Alex, you'll have the opportunity to check her text messages and journal. There's loads of text messages you can read through that give us some insight into Alex's history with some events that have happened to her over the last few years. There are two entries in her journal already (Tessa and Isabelle) that might give some idea of what experience Alex has had with other people through her powers of empathy. More on that later.
To progress, just lead Alex straight forward onto the bridge. A little over halfway across the bridge, a short cutscene will play, in which Alex will lean onto the railing and take in the view of her new home, Haven Springs. Enjoy the music and visuals for as long as you'd like. When you're ready, press B (Circle) to move on and meet someone Alex hasn't seen in a long, long time. This will also lead us to our first...
Minor Decision
Gabe isn't too sure how comfortable Alex is with his presence after so many years apart. Hug him or merely shake his hand, the choice is yours. Either way, it doesn't change things much so don't sweat over this decision. If you want my input though, to quote Chris Farley: "Brothers don't shake hands -- brothers gotta hug!" Or, well, I suppose "siblings" in this case.
Gabe will ask if Alex is ready to see the town. Respond however you wish.
Eventually, Gabe will lead you to the flower shop. You'll have a short cutscene, during which you'll have the opportunity to make another Minor Decision for Riley.
Minor Decision
- Be Honest - In Chapter 3, Riley will be shown to have gotten accepted into her college.
- Be Clever-
As a reminder, highlight the redacted text to read it.
After offering Riley some advice, Gabe will ask Alex to choose which flowers he should take to Char in order to apologize.
- What did you do? - This one just gets you a bit more dialogue with Gabe. You'll still have to choose one of the other two responses.
- Sunflowers. - As Gabe mentioned, these are his girlfriend's favorite flowers.
- Lily-of-the-valley. - And these are for saying you're sorry!
One flower choice will work out just as well as the other with only cosmetic differences, so once again, pick what you want!
As was teased before with Gabe on the bridge, Alex has the ability to see peoples' emotions as auras of various respective colors, and to feel those emotions as if they were her own. Sometimes, particularly strong emotions and memories can become attached to different objects, and Alex can focus on those memories and relive them for herself.
If you want, you can use the left trigger (L2) and hold A (X) to focus on Riley and hear some of her thoughts towards her college admission and leaving Haven Springs, colored purple for anxiety.
While you're here, go ahead and look around. There are several different objects you can check out. For example...
Minor Decision
In the opposite front corner of the store from the door is a particularly notable garden gnome. Feel free to spiff him up a bit with the "Sunglasses" option, especially for some really bad jokes and really funny banter. If you do, the little guy will still be sporting those classy yellow shades throughout the game.
When you're all done, head to the door and hit A (X) to leave Riley to it and carry on with the tour. Follow Gabe as he makes his way to the town's dispensary (legal weed shop), The Silver Dragon. (Unfortunately, no, Char doesn't sell fantasy books here.) Check out the sights along the road. You can use the left trigger + A (L2 + X) to focus Alex's powers on Gabe to hear his nerves at work. Speak to Gabe to move on, and he'll step inside to deliver the flowers you picked out to Charlotte.
Speaking of Charlotte, her son, Ethan, drops by to introduce himself, and he and Alex quickly bond over comics. He's really a sweet kid, and he's shockingly talented to boot. Pick whichever dialogue choices you think would be best (it really doesn't matter much here), and Alex will eventually excuse herself to check out the nearby record store.
Waiting at the Record Store
Walkthrough for Life is Strange: True Colors' "Waiting at the Record Store" chapter. Includes choices, dialogue options, and finding the hold list.
When you step inside the record store, you'll witness a cutscene introducing a familiar character from a previous Life is Strange game. The store also functions as an indie rock radio station. You'll be prompted to choose between two records to play; your selection does not affect the outcome.
Alex then meets Ryan, Gabe's best friend. After choosing your dialogue options, you'll be tasked with finding the store's hold list to help select a present for Gabe.
Minor Decision: Near the entrance, you can find a listening station. This is a "Zen moment," where Alex can sample music and reflect on events. After you're done, press B (Circle).
Trivia: A banner for Firewalk, the band from Life is Strange: Before the Storm, is displayed high on the wall near the back room.
Browse the store and find Valkyrie, an adorable black cat, in the back-right corner. She is lying on the hold list. You can either "Move" her or "scare" her, but neither action retrieves the list. Ryan suggests finding one of her toys to lure her away.
Go to the front desk and help Ryan. You'll have four options: the shelf, the drawer, the metal box, and the cash register. Choosing any of these leads to further dialogue and unlocks a fifth option, the junk box, which contains the toy. After acquiring the toy (a stuffed reindeer-mouse), you can lure Valkyrie away from the list. Taking the list triggers a lengthy cutscene.
Minor Decision: During this cutscene, you can choose to reveal information about Gabe. Your choice does not significantly impact the story.
Following this, more events will unfold, concluding the scene.
PSA: During this scene, you will receive MyBlock posts and text messages. Check them using the "View" button (Xbox) or the touchpad (PlayStation). New messages are indicated by white text in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
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