Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape One: Bloom Review - A Summer to Remember
We all remember what it was like to be a teenager. It’s a difficult time, no matter who you are. We crave to belong somewhere. We hope that we’ll fit in, but we also want to stand out. We want to be free from rules, judgement, pain - and yet it can feel like you’re dealing with all of those things each and every day. Lost Records: Bloom & Rage from Developer Don’t Nod, the team behind Life is Strange, is back with a brand new story about finding out where you belong and holding on to it for as long as you can.
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is a story-driven adventure game that takes place over two episodes. This review will cover only the content and performance of Episode 1: Bloom. The game swaps between two different years - 1995 and 2022. In 1995, you play as Swann, a 16-year-old girl who is getting ready to move to Vancouver with her parents. While dropping off her VHS rental at the local movie shop in her town Velvet Cove, she gets into an argument with a couple of other teen bullies from the area and is eventually defended by three girls her age - Autumn, Nora and Kat. The trauma of the fight with the bullies bonds the girls together and they spend some of the summer getting to know each other and becoming good friends.
Twenty seven years later, you play as Swann as well who is visiting Velvet Cove, a place she swore she would never return to - not after what happened that summer with the rest of the girls. After Swann receives an ominous text message from Autumn, someone she hasn’t spoken to since 1995, she decides that she has to go to find out what could possibly be bringing them together after so long.
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage swaps between a first-person and third-person perspective pretty seamlessly. In 1995, you play as Swann in third-person. Swann is a budding filmmaker who carries her camcorder with her wherever she goes. During scenes where the characters are able to freely walk around, you can pull out your camera at any time to take short clips for Swann to add to the memoir she’s creating. These clips act as collectibles throughout the game. For example, if you take clips of five different birds you’ll complete that section of the memoir. The game makes it easy to tell what areas you can capture for the memoir and what collection those clips are for. It doesn’t add a lot in terms of exciting gameplay, especially when you put the clips together in the menu and it’s just 30 seconds of the camera pointed at five birds, but it’s a fun thing to keep you entertained while the characters are talking during scenes. You can also reorder clips in your memoir making it feel like you’re really creating a movie about Swann’s awesome summer.
You’ll play the game in the first person perspective where, in 2022, Swann has just arrived in Velvet Cove after a long flight in from Canada. She enters a bar in Velvet Cove and begins to reminisce about the good old days. Swann seems nervous about revisiting the past and seeing her old friends again. You can look around the bar and you’ll hear a voice over as Swann connects certain items with moments from the past. Later, when she meets back up with Autumn, both girls will reminisce together and you can hear their voice over while you play through the 1995 scenes as well. What I loved about the times when you can reminisce is that the game indicates which option will progress the story, that way you know not to choose that option until you’re ready to move on.
The story and characters of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is clearly where the game shines though it did feel like it took way too long to actually get to the point of Tape One’s story. Some scenes dragged on longer than they should have and some scenes that were actually interesting and fun, weren’t long enough. There were definitely times I realized I wasn’t really paying attention to what was being said because it simply didn’t feel important or useful to the plot. The underlying mystery, especially the conversations happening in the 2022 timeline, is what keeps you going, but the pacing in certain places feels painfully slow.
But the nostalgic vibes are really on point. I was only one-year-old in 1995, but I still felt the nostalgia oozing in each 90s scene. Whether it’s the clothes that the girls wear, the books on the shelves or the music they listen to, you’ll really feel like you’re back in the era of the Tamagotchi. Each girl is unique and so different from one another that you’ll want to push them for more details about their lives so you can get to know them better. That being said, some of the dialogue is a little weird at times and feels like more than just “teenager dialogue.” These girls continuously feel incredibly awkward around each other and phrases like “geez-o” made me roll my eyes a few times.
Apart from Swann’s camcorder, you’ll spend the majority of your time in the game choosing dialogue options. Some dialogue options are only unlocked based on choices you made previously, so you could probably play the game three or four times and still find dialogue options you’ve never seen before. Each choice you make will impact how the story moves forward and how your three best friends interact with you. I chose to be a little closer with Nora than the other two girls and, because of this, I was able to have extra moments and conversations with her that I wouldn’t have if I’d made different choices. It makes your choices actually feel like they matter which is rare for story-driven games like this one.
In terms of technical issues, the game has a handful of them though none were game breaking during my playthrough. Occasionally, the game suffers from lip sync issues, where the characters mouths don’t match the dialogue or don’t move all, some subtitles don’t match what the characters say, once or twice I had a character blip out of a scene and teleport elsewhere and all throughout the episode there are some weird moments where a character’s dialogue will overlap with another’s. After a few patches, many of these issues will likely be ironed out, but if you’re planning to play the game day one, you may notice a few of these minor issues.
What players will likely notice most about Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is that it looks fantastic. Don’t Nod has made huge strides in terms of how their setting and characters look. Velvet Cove in 1995 is bright and colorful to reflect the teens’ exciting summer while 2022 Velvet Cove is a little darker and run down. The character’s themselves are designed wonderfully, each girl unique and a clear reflection of their personalities with little details like acne, or a band-aid on the knee that really bring them to life. The animations for their faces can feel stiff which can be off-putting during certain scenes, but overall, Lost Records knocks it out of the park in terms of visuals.
If you’re a fan of the Life is Strange series, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage will be a welcome home. Swann, Autumn, Nora and Kat are all so relatable that you’ll find something to love about each of them. And, if you’re my age, you’ll find something to relate to in their older selves as well. While the beginning of episode one drags on a little, by the halfway point you’ll be rushing through the story to find out what happens to them. With a few patches to fix its technical issues, it’s a good addition to Don’t Nod’s repertoire.
Breakdown
Game: Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape One: Bloom
Developer: Don’t Nod
Publisher: Don’t Nod
Availability: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
Game Length: 7-8 hours
Accessibility Options:
Toggle off/on head bobbing in first person perspective and camcorder view
Adjust sensitivity of camcorder view
Control the intensity of secondary movement, noise and sway in camcorder view
Interface text size adjustments
Reviewed on PC
Final Thoughts
Lost Records: Boom & Rage Tape One is a great story overall with relatable, fun characters to connect with. It has more than a few technical issues that don't take away from the enjoyment of the game majorly, but still make certain scenes awkward. The setting is absolutely stunning, voice acting is wonderful, but some of the characters' facial expressions, or lack thereof, and long drawn-out conversations cause even more awkwardness. Don’t Nod have created another story that will keep players interested from start to finish, but it could do with a little refinement in part two to bring it all together.
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape Two: Rage is set to release April 15th, 2025. Come back then to check out our thoughts on Tape Two!