Life is Strange: True Colors - Wavelengths

Despite the soundtrack’s chill vibes, you’ll want to keep the tissues close for this one. A year well spent getting to know a fan-favourite character better. [Issue#8, p.95]

Life is Strange: Wavelenghts is another intimate and delightfully queer chapter of the universe created by Deck Nine Games. Warm and sweet, Steph coming-of-age story, made of records and dies is a welcome missing link between the first Life is Strange and True Colors.

Taken for what it is, meaning a purely narrative additional content that still manages to introduce small gameplay elements, Life is Strange: Wavelengths proves to be an excellent DLC.

In the end, players will leave with two things: some great music recommendations and the craving to play Life is Strange: True Colors once again, especially if they wooed Steph while in the shoes of Alex Chen, if nothing else but to see her finally get the wholesome romance she deserves. Overall, it's only a short piece of Steph's life, to connect the dots between Before the Storm and Alex's story in True Colors, but it adds some context to her grounded attitude towards trauma and the decision she eventually makes to leave Haven Springs. Steph feels a bit out of place as a lesbian in a rural town, and she still desires the thrilling life of an indie band. Wavelengths provides the middle to Before the Storm's beginning and True Colors' end of the Steph Gingrich saga.

Deck Nine knows how to make the most of its characters, and in that sense the Life is Strange: True Colors DLC doesn't disappoint. Steph's story is quite emotionally intense and will appeal to fans of the first chapter of the series especially, but it stumbles on the playful front. In about two and a half hours of duration, in fact, the expansion reiterates some game mechanics too much, making them monotonous and not very varied. An additional content that remains a welcome and exciting tribute to the protagonists of the first LIS, and that at the same time is effectively linked to the incipit of True Colors, from which however we also expected something more.

Life is Strange: True Colors remains one of my favorite titles of 2021. Wavelengths isn’t everything I wanted when it comes to DLC. Being able to explore Haven Springs further, or at least bringing more of Haven Springs into the record store, would have provided a more satisfying experience. Still, Steph’s story is moving and does an excellent job exploring her character. If you’re a fan of hers, you’ll absolutely want to check out Wavelengths.