I remember the first time I played through that third chapter where Ayana receives the warning about sparing humans. It struck me how brilliantly the game developers had woven morality into the very fabric of the gameplay. The way Ayana's design shifts between shining white and sinister purple based on your choices creates this fascinating psychological dynamic that most players don't fully appreciate. Having played through the game multiple times with different approaches, I've discovered that the color mechanics actually extend far beyond the narrative implications—they're deeply connected to scoring systems and gameplay optimization.

That moment when I first noticed Ayana's costume shifting colors was genuinely eye-opening. I'd been playing aggressively, leaving a trail of defeated enemies in my wake, when suddenly her purple hue became noticeably darker. It made me pause and reconsider my entire approach. What's fascinating is that while the game only explicitly acknowledges this morality system in one small moment during the final level, the implications for your overall score are actually much more significant than most players realize. Through my own experimentation and tracking scores across fifteen different playthroughs, I found that maintaining the white coloration consistently resulted in scores approximately 23% higher on average. The game rewards restraint and strategic thinking in ways that aren't immediately obvious.

The connection between color dynamics and scoring became particularly clear during my seventh playthrough. I was deliberately maintaining Ayana's white coloration by using non-lethal takedowns whenever possible, and I noticed something interesting—the game's environment seemed to respond to this approach. Background elements would shift toward warmer hues during platforming sections, and I'm convinced this visual feedback actually made timing jumps and color-based puzzles easier to navigate. It's these subtle environmental cues that many players miss when they're focused solely on combat efficiency. I recorded my completion times across different moral alignments and found that white-aligned playthroughs averaged 18 minutes faster, despite the more cautious approach to enemies.

What really surprised me during my testing was discovering how the color system interacts with combo multipliers. When I played aggressively with purple alignment, my combos would break more frequently, rarely sustaining beyond 12-15 hits. But during white-aligned runs, I consistently maintained combos of 25-30 hits, particularly during the chromatic puzzle sequences in chapters 4 through 7. The game seems to reward patience and precision over raw aggression, though this isn't explicitly stated anywhere in the tutorials or loading screen tips. It's almost as if the developers hid these scoring mechanics within the moral choice system, waiting for observant players to discover them.

I've developed what I call the "chromatic rhythm" technique that leverages these insights. Instead of rushing through levels, I now pause at specific checkpoints to assess Ayana's current coloration and adjust my playstyle accordingly. If I notice her shifting toward purple, I'll intentionally slow down and use more defensive maneuvers for the next few encounters. This approach has helped me achieve scores in the top 3% of players globally, though it requires being hyper-aware of visual feedback that most people overlook. The game's scoring system appears to track not just your final moral alignment, but how consistently you maintain it throughout each chapter.

Another aspect that took me multiple playthroughs to appreciate is how the color system affects enemy behavior. During my white-aligned runs, I noticed enemies would sometimes hesitate before attacking, creating brief windows for perfect dodges that significantly boost your score multiplier. This subtle behavioral difference isn't documented in any official guides, but I've confirmed it across 8 separate testing sessions. Enemies in purple-aligned runs appear more aggressive and coordinated, making high-score runs considerably more challenging despite the faster pace of combat.

The most counterintuitive discovery I made relates to boss encounters. Conventional wisdom suggests that dealing maximum damage quickly is the key to high scores, but my data suggests otherwise. Against the chromatic guardians in chapters 5 and 8, I achieved significantly higher scores by using defensive maneuvers and waiting for specific color-coded vulnerability windows. My highest score against the chapter 8 guardian came from a fight that took nearly 4 minutes longer than my speed-run attempt, but netted 15,000 more points due to perfect timing bonuses that only appear when you maintain white alignment.

What fascinates me about these discoveries is how they reflect the game's underlying philosophy about conflict resolution. The scoring system quietly encourages players to embody the resistance's ideals rather than simply overpowering opponents. It's a brilliant design choice that elevates the game beyond typical action-platformers, though I do wish the developers had made these mechanics more transparent. After spending over 80 hours with the game across multiple playstyles, I'm convinced that understanding the relationship between color dynamics and scoring is the single most important factor for players looking to maximize their performance.

My advice for new players would be to ignore conventional gaming instincts about efficiency and speed. The most rewarding approach, both narratively and in terms of scoring, involves embracing the moral complexity the game presents. Pay attention to those subtle color shifts in Ayana's design—they're not just cosmetic changes but vital feedback about your current scoring potential. The game remembers every choice, every spared enemy, every moment of restraint or aggression, and it rewards consistency in ways that fundamentally transform the experience. Once I stopped treating it as a typical action game and started engaging with its unique color-based morality system, my scores improved dramatically, and more importantly, I discovered a much richer, more thoughtful gaming experience.