The plot focuses on Alex Chen, a young woman who can experience the emotions of others, as she tries to solve the mystery behind a tragedy that happened in her life.

The player controls the protagonist, Alex Chen, to explore various locations in the fictional setting of Haven Springs and communicate with non-playable characters through the conversation system based on dialogue trees.

Subsequently, Alex meets park ranger Ryan Lucan (Eric Emery), radio DJ Stephanie "Steph" Gingrich (Katy Bentz, reprising her role from Before the Storm), local bar owner and Ryan's father Jedediah "Jed" Lucan, flower shop owner Eleanor Lethe, her granddaughter Riley, Gabe's girlfriend Charlotte Harmon and her son Ethan, the town's sheriff deputy Jason Pike, taxidermist Reginald "Duckie" McCalister III, Typhon Mining's mine safety manager Mac Loudon, and Typhon's operations director Diane Jacobs.

Jed takes Alex to an abandoned mineshaft and confesses that twelve years ago, he was at fault for the deaths of several miners he oversaw as a foreman, which caused him to make a deal with Typhon to cover up the tragedy to protect himself and his family.

Searching for a way out, she finds the site where the miners died and discovers her childhood necklace, realizing her father was one of the men killed in the accident.

Following these events, Alex visualizes a conversation with a vision of Gabe and ultimately decides whether to remain in Haven Springs or leave to seek adventure as a musician, either alone or alongside Ryan or Steph.

In March 2018, Steph gets a job as the DJ host of Haven Springs' KRCT radio station after having lied about her work experience and manages the record store that contains the broadcasting room.

When Mikey professes how he needs her in his life as his best friend, Steph then apologizes and admits that she stops people from getting close because she is too traumatized from all the past pain.

On New Year's Eve, she searches for a new job as a DJ back in Seattle, follows her friends' scavenger hunt, and is asked by Gabe about contacting his sister Alex.

[8][9][10] With the announcement of True Colors, Eurogamer observed that Dontnod's time with the franchise was over and that the Life Is Strange series have been passed to Deck Nine.

[11] On 11 August, the downloadable content (DLC) prequel story Wavelengths was announced to be released on 30 September, alongside a delay of the Remastered Collection to early 2022.

A common theme of the Life Is Strange series has been based on characters with a type of super-human ability, though not like superheroes, that the developers can then provide "meditations on real experiences that regular people go through", according to Felice Kuan, senior writer at Deck Nine.

[7] This led to creating the story around Alex losing her brother early in the game as a driver for her to explore her empathy powers and reveal more about her past as she uses them.

According to Alex's actress Erika Mori, the technology was "instrumental in successfully creating this game about empathy because it allowed us to get really high-fidelity facial expressions that were organically connected to whatever was going on with my voice and body in a particular scene.

[18] On 29 September, Square Enix started a fundraiser for LGBT organisation OutRight Action International, with anyone donating at least $2 being entered into a draw to win a jacket designed by mxmtoon.

[20] In addition to the soundtrack by Angus & Julia Stone, Novo Amor composed the song "Haven", used as a theme in the game and the official trailer.

[21][22] The game contains covers of Radiohead's "Creep" and Violent Femmes' "Blister in the Sun" by mxmtoon, who provided Alex's singing voice.

GamesRadar+'s Heather Wald felt "the empathy power opens up a little door into the everyday lives of the small community, which makes it feel so alive".

[54] PLAY magazine gave a positive review, describing Steph as a "fan-favourite character", and the story of Wavelengths as an emotionally challenging one which contrasts with its soundtrack’s relaxing tone.