Life is Strange: True Colors centers around Alex Chen and her unique empathic abilities. Alex's powers are much deeper than they appear, however. When Alex reads the emotions of other people, she can hear their thoughts explaining why they're feeling that way. Not all emotions are that simple, though, so she can also immerse herself in someone else's emotions to truly understand what's affecting them. Finally, Alex has the ability to take potentially harmful emotions from others.
Just like anyone with a superpower, Alex has to use hers wisely. There are a ton of moral gray areas to explore, too. For example, some big questions are whether reading the emotions of others is an invasion of privacy, or if it is right to take someone's emotions away from them. Life is Strange: True Colors somewhat explores these issues through the story, but as with any Life is Strange game, most of the decision-making is left up to the player. SPOILERS for Life is Strange: True Colors ahead, so proceed with caution.
How Does Alex Use Her Powers?
In theory, Alex could use her powers for good or for evil. Being able to manipulate other people's emotions is a pretty big deal and it could cause a ton of damage in the wrong hands. For better or for worse, however, Life is Strange: True Colors doesn't really let the player use Alex's powers in a malicious way, as that's not who Alex is. She's kindhearted and genuinely empathetic in a way that goes beyond her powers. She can use her abilities to understand and help people in a way that no one else could.
One of the best examples of this happens in Chapter 1 when Alex saves Ethan. By experiencing Ethan's fear with him, Alex was able to understand that Ethan wasn't afraid of falling: he was afraid of an imaginary monster lurking below. If anyone else had gone after Ethan, they might not have been able to calm him down the way Alex did. Ethan wasn't sharing, so how would anyone else know what he was really afraid of?
Alex uses her powers to help people in similar ways throughout most of the game, so there's not a huge moral question there. But Alex isn't helping every time she reads someone's emotions; sometimes, she just does it to satisfy her own curiosity. It could be argued that doing that is an invasion of privacy or a betrayal of confidence if the information is used inappropriately.
When Alex finds out about Eleanor's early onset of Alzheimer's, she can choose to keep her secret or tell Riley. Many people would argue that Eleanor's secret isn't Alex's to share, even if Riley does deserve to know. True Colors doesn't tell the player how to feel about things like this and doesn't go in-depth into what's right or wrong. Alex always tries to do the right thing and doesn't want to hurt anybody, but sometimes the choices blur the line between right and wrong.
Stealing Emotions in True Colors
Possibly the biggest moral question regarding Alex's powers in Life is Strange: True Colors involves her ability to take emotions from other people. It's actually a bit disappointing how the narrative doesn't dive deeper into this question. Alex only has the opportunity to do this twice in the entire game, and the inconsistent consequences don't really explore the morality of it in a satisfying way.
The first time Alex has the option to take someone's emotions is with Charlotte. Fans saw this scene in one of the game trailers, so it wasn't a huge surprise. Charlotte is harboring intense anger that could cause harm to herself and others. Without going too deep into the consequences, the results of this choice imply that taking someone's emotions is wrong and can harm them in a different way. It's better to let them experience pain authentically than feel nothing.
The second opportunity happens when Alex has the chance to take Deputy Pike's fear away, empowering him with the courage to fight Typhon. The consequences of this choice imply that taking someone else's emotions is okay and can be helpful when the alternative is giving in, but Charlotte and Pike themselves are not impacted the same way. While one consequence makes it feel wrong, another consequence makes it feel right.
Life is Strange: True Colors stumbled upon a very interesting moral dilemma in what it means to steal people's emotions, but it fails to fully examine it in the story. Perhaps that was intentional, though, as at the end of the day, the choice falls to the player.
Life is Strange: True Colors is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.