Chinese players are review bombing Life is Strange: True Colors over a Tibetan flag on its Steam page, due to its symbolism with the Tibetan independence movement.

While Chinese players are review bombing Life is Strange: True Colors, the Tibetan flag is seen in-game flying above the Treasures of Tibet store and isn’t really connected to any pro-Tibetan independence message. It’s simply the flag of Tibet flown over a Tibetan store.

“As a player, the game is barely passable. As a Chinese, I support the independence of California,” writes one negative Steam review. Another review threatens with “Don’t challenge the bottom line of Chinese players, China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and infringement and division are not allowed.”

“In short: We will never tolerate any act of splitting China’s national sovereignty! Any attempt to split China’s sovereignty will smash its head and kill itself!” says another negative Steam review.

To be clear, the Peoples Republic of China government officially claims Tibet as part of national mainland China. Coming from this, the Tibetan flag is banned in mainland China and in any media offered there, as are many other things that question the hegemony of mainland China.

A similar phenomenon happened when Chinese users over the Taiwan-developed game Devotion, once the in-game message was discovered that purportedly mocked Chinese president Xi Jinping as “Winnie the Pooh” (a common insult used against Xi) as well as a “moron” in Taiwanese script.

Our review for the Life is Strange: True Colors found it was pretty devoid of any pointed writing whatsoever – with the writers essentially writing themselves into a corner and failing to deliver a memorable story overall, and an unsatisfying ending.

Life is Strange: True Colors is now available for Windows PC (via Steam), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Google Stadia.