Life is Strange: True Colors is out now to good reviews, with many players enjoying the story, characters, and overall small town of Haven. Abandoning the episodic structure helps a lot in terms of story flow, and the ending is quite the emotional rollercoaster. PLEASE NOTE: MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD for Life is Strange: True Colors.
One thing many have taken note of is that the ending is slightly weaker than in past games. It’s not that it isn’t emotional or that it undercuts the story—it’s nothing like that—but for a choice-based game, those choices suddenly feel railroaded by the time credits roll in Life is Strange: True Colors. This results in the game having no real “bad” ending, as some choice-based games do, but there is one exception of sorts: one character gets the severely short end of the stick in two endings.
Life is Strange: True Colors Endings
There are roughly six endings in Life is Strange: True Colors, which depend on a few factors – who Alex romances, whether she stays in Haven or leaves, and how many people supported her at the vote. Now, the latter has a very small impact, as it just shows how many people interact with Alex in the ending. It would seem that this should matter more, as basically everyone can stand against Alex in the vote, but she can still forgive or condemn Jed to end the game regardless.
Essentially, the endings come down to Alex leaving or staying in Haven on her own, with Steph, or with Ryan. In general, the tone of each ending makes sense for how players can choose to play Life is Strange: True Colors, but the choice of Alex leaving Haven with Steph is a bad ending for Ryan.
Life is Strange Has No Bad Endings, Except for Ryan
As seen above around the 9:15 mark, leaving Haven with Steph results in Ryan ending up all alone in Life is Strange: True Colors. A scene will play with him looking at the mountains, looking lost and alone. They were all best friends, but he stays behind in Haven when they leave. He loses them just after losing his father (in a way). He’s clearly upset in the ending, so leaving Haven with Steph is a bad ending if only for Ryan. While the same happens if Alex chooses to romance no one, the other four choices more or less see everyone happy.
If Alex pursues any of Ryan’s endings, the two characters are happy. Staying in Haven sees Ryan take over the Black Lantern and Alex take over the record store. IF Alex and Ryan leave Haven, Steph joins them. Alex staying in Haven with no romance has a similar, if not emotional, impact; in truth, the only character who gets a “bad” ending of sorts is Ryan.
Of course, there are characters like Charlotte or Duckie who can end the game with no trust for Alex, but that’s more on the neutral line than a negative one. There are no clear long-lasting effects from it, just texted apologies. One could even argue that Jed gets a bad ending, but that’s not true either—it’s justice. No, Ryan is the only character who gets the short end of the stick in certain Life is Strange: True Colors’ endings.
Life is Strange: True Colors is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.