True Colours Reviews

Disclaimer: This review contains heavy spoilers for the game. Do not read if you want to keep the plot a surprise. Intro: I first played this wonderful and original visual novel back when it was first released. Due to personal reasons, I waited until now to review it. I feel that now is the right time to write about how this masterpiece that explores marginalized groups and how a terrible person can redeem themselves affected me and what I loved about it. And don’t worry, this won’t be nearly as long as my previous Venus: Improbable Dream review! So, now let’s get into my overall thoughts and conclude after that. Overall Thoughts: What I think that True Colours excels at compared to most other games like it is how masterfully its characters’ struggles and themes are intertwined and complete each other so well. Each of the three routes and their corresponding characters have their own struggles that the protagonist has to work with in order to redeem themself and rekindle their broken romantic relationships. I like how all of them, despite each route having a similar structure, manage to portray different things and feel tonally separate while showing different aspects of the protagonist that the other routes don’t. Such as Brianna’s route, which shows why the protagonist acts the way they do by going into their past and getting the professional help they need. Or Malik’s route, which shows how societal pressure can cause someone to go too far and that a lack of support can cause people to do terrible things, and gaining more confidence with that support can change people for the better. Or Ash’s route, which shows the importance of boundaries and how society can exclude marginalized identities, which leads to the lesson of learning to rely on others and reduce impulsive thoughts. This also effectively gives us a look at all the main characters. Brianna is a wonderful character that has a lot of depth and reveals the most about the protagonist and arguably makes them change the most out of anyone. Malik is a cool guy that has a really dark past and doesn’t want the protagonist to repeat his mistakes. This is the only game I’ve ever seen that uses the term “incel” correctly and it’s not cringe at all. And Ash might be the best character to me, who is marginalized just from them existing and really emphasizes how important there needs to be boundaries in a relationship. As a genderqueer person myself, their struggles really spoke to me. The three side characters are also nice as well. With Sean and Lydia providing some good comic relief and the Boss being the voice of reason that ties everyone together. And then there’s the protagonist themself. I think it’s a stroke of brilliance to have them appear to be nothing more than a typical blank slate person before being revealed as an abusive, manipulative stalker. The disconnect that a first time player sees at realizing this character was not just a self-insert, but an established character that you’re forced to reconcile their horrible actions with is so effective. And while I have mixed feelings about the rebranding of the game revealing this from the get go, the more impressive part is still so amazing and preserved for new players to discover. The most unexpected thing about this game is that you can actually redeem the main character’s actions and it doesn’t feel forced or lazy. It genuinely feels realistic and worthwhile while stressing that their past actions’ consequences won't go away and everybody deserves a second chance. This really makes it special and worth experiencing it for this alone, along with everything else like the diverse representation and well-written narrative. The game’s art and visuals are a step up from the developer’s previous game, with the sprites and CGs looking particularly nice. And the music is so good as well. A wide range of funky to cheerful to horrifying sound effects/ambiance are present and makes me wish that I could find the music by itself somewhere… And I like how there are so many endings, too. Each bad ending felt well thought out and I enjoyed seeing all of them, despite how violent and dark they are. I appreciate how the deaths and violence didn’t feel gratuitous or there just for shock value, they were all trying to say something or make you care about the characters’ fates. Every good ending was also completely satisfying, too. And all the choices felt important and like your decisions mattered, as it stung when you figured out that what you chose hurt the love interest. And the length was perfect, not too long and not too short. Also, all the romances felt well done to me. I’m not typically interested in romance, but the excellent writing and themes made me engaged from start to finish. In addition, the voice acting, while partial, was quite good and brought the characters to life even more! There are also many little things I loved quite a lot. The puppies in Brianna’s route made me happy! The representation of borderline personality disorder felt real while not feeling ableist, which was nice to see something that isn’t discussed enough. I really loved the Venus: Improbable Dream reference! It was nice to see online friend groups emphasized, as more modern support methods are really rare to see in fictional media. It’s also nice to see transphobia be fought back against so genuinely in a game, as many don’t truly commit to it. And it was nice to see that once again, Borealis kept this game firmly rooted in reality, which helped the situations feel more scary and real. Plus, this game is so unbelievably well-made, you wouldn't guess that this was only their second game! Conclusion: To end all this, I think you should absolutely play it! The price is good, there’s a lot of replay value, it’s so engaging and soulful, and there’s plenty of content warnings and even an extended demo if you’re unsure. Sadly, some people seem really put off by the protagonist’s actions, but I’d say if you’re playing it, get to the good end of a route before you judge it fully. The villainous actions don’t last long and if you pay attention enough, you can definitely redeem them. I feel like this protagonist and their redemption, along with the themes and other characters around them, is what makes the game so special and worth experiencing. And I’d say it’s absolutely worth it to experience all the routes and endings, they’re so fun and you learn much more about the main character through them. As for what I thought of it, I loved it so, so, SO much! I have literally no criticisms with it, and it’s also one of my favorite visual novels of all time, along with the developer’s previous game. I cried a couple of times and I felt horrified, surprised, and I laughed at the same time. Its themes of redemption and encouragement of support really stick with me. And once again, it’s a shame that this game has so few reviews... It’s so well put together and has so many appealing aspects that does something new with the dating sim genre. Regardless, I really liked playing it and I feel good getting my thoughts out. I could write A LOT more about True Colours, but I don’t want to make this too long and have to go through the trouble of posting it as a guide later. So, to close this out, it’s never too late to rely on others, and make sure you get the help you need!