Dontnod's Life is Strange series is one of the most beloved franchises to come out of the last generation of gaming. After the success of the first two titles, as well as Deck Nine's prequel series Life is Strange: Before the Storm, it's no surprise that Square Enix wants to continue the success of both titles with another entry, which is rumored to be coming this year, as well as a Nintendo Switch port of the original game.
The Life is Strange franchise has been praised tackling prominent social and political topics with maturity, to the point where the developer has won numerous awards for its work even outside of the series such as with 2020's Tell Me Why, which featured one of gaming's first openly transgender protagonists. Last year, Dontnod announced that it is working on six new games. In January 2021, Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent announced that it had acquired a €30 million minority stake in the developer, while rumors started to circle that Dontnod had separated from Square Enix, leaving the Life is Strange franchise to Before the Storm developer Deck Nine.
While these rumors have not been confirmed by Dontnod or Square Enix, a new rumor has appeared on gaming forum ResetEra claiming that Deck Nine is currently developing two new Life is Strange games. One of these titles is claimed to be in development under the title Life is Strange: True Colors and is a five-part episodic series starring an Asian-American woman living in a small American town who discovers that she has the ability to read minds.
The other title, which is said to be in pre-production, is rumored to be a direct sequel to the original Life is Strange starring Max and Chloe, following the events of one of the game's two drastically different endings, perhaps even tying into the ongoing comic book series. This will also be supported by a port of the original Life is Strange to Nintendo Switch, which is said to be coming very soon.
It is worth mentioning that the original poster of this thread has claimed that they do not have a source directly at Deck Nine or Square Enix, but had been told by an external source themselves. They even requested that the thread be closed shortly after disclosing the information, despite presenting evidence of their claims to the ResetEra moderators which led them to allow the thread to be made in the first place.
As usual, take this information with a grain of salt. Multiple rumors have appeared claiming that Life is Strange 3 is coming soon, however, none have provided evidence to support these claims. Neither Dontnod nor Square Enix has even confirmed a split from the series. The rumor also claimed that the new titles will utilize Unreal Engine 4, which it claims is new for the series. This is false, however, as Life is Strange 2 and its prequel The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit also used Epic's engine. This rumor claims that Life is Strange 3 was intended to be announced in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic has considerably delayed the announcement of the episodic adventure game.
Source: GamesRadar