Watch Life is Strange: True Colors demonstrate the magical power of empathy

In the ultimate realisation of the series' themes, Life is Strange: True Colors is a game where fraught teen feelings are literally the superpower. But how does a heightened sense of empathy work in practice?

Deck Nine Games gave us a demonstration during Square Enix' E3 showcase. At times, during your sleuthing through Haven Springs, locals feeling particularly heightened emotions will glow with a bright aura—resulting in a "nova" of feelings. In this state, the world is utterly transformed, leaving Alex hints at what may be causing the flare up of emotions.

In a particularly charged moment, however, Alex can also remove an emotion from a person outright. We see a scene where an artist is so filled with rage that she expresses suicidal ideation, as Alex weighs up the risks of bringing this anger into herself to save this stranger the trouble.

Life is Strange: True Colours is coming to Steam and Stadia on September 10th. As a tidy bonus, the Ultimate edition of True Colors arrives with a full remaster of the first Life Is Strange and LIS: Before the Storm, with Square's stream giving us our first look at the visual upgrades coming to those games.

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.