Lost Records: Bloom and Rage Review
This week I finished Tapes 1 and 2 of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, and honestly, I’m equal parts blown away, shook, and confused in the best ways. I’ve been hyped about a new Don’t Nod IP ever since I saw the first trailers for this drop, and I was not disappointed. It took all my expectations of, “Oh, it looks supernatural retro, kind of like the first Life is Strange” and, aside from a few hiccups that I’ll get into later, absolutely smashed them. In only two episodes, too! I’m still digesting what the heck I saw and felt throughout this whirlwind of a game, so I’m gonna get to gushing!
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What is Lost Records: Bloom & Rage?
Released in 2025, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is a two-part episodic adventure game developed by Don’t Nod Montreal. The game features a split narrative where part of the story takes place in the present day, and part takes place in the summer of 1995. Mostly the game focuses on the present day, with these portions serving as a nice framing device to pump up the atmosphere and connect the universe to our world with nods to the characters having gone through the Covid-19 pandemic.
Is Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Like Life is Strange?
Lost Records feels like a spiritual successor to Life is Strange and certainly has the potential to continue Life is Strange’s legacy as Don’t Nod’s story-rich, paranormal IP following the latter’s transfer over to Deck Nine. Though there’s no relation between the two universes, fans of the first Life is Strange game are sure to appreciate Bloom & Rage’s intricate and emotional female bonds, story elements navigating tough topics like discrimination, death, domestic abuse, the stagnation and loss of youth in rural society, and the struggle of growing up as a minority or alternative individual in these close-knit communities.
Don’t Nod weaves a bittersweet tale of four young women existing on the fringes of society coming together to live by their own rules. Add in a heaping helping of supernatural themes, cultural references to the Riot grrrl movement, punk rock, and classic media like The Craft, Twin Peaks, and 80s/90s Stephen King, and you’ve got one hell of a concept. Given the strength of its writing, complex characters, emotional highs, and sprawling multiple choice outcomes, I’d be willing to say Lost Records could even outshine contemporary Life is Strange titles, especially given the fanbase’s disappointment in Double Exposure earlier this year. However, there are some teething pains I feel the franchise needs to overcome before it can really flourish.
What I Liked About Lost Records: Bloom & Rage
First though, I want to look at everything Lost Records: Bloom & Rage did right, as its positives far outshone its (in my opinion) failings:
Bloom & Rage: Our Riot Grrrls
Let’s start right at the heart of the game: Bloom & Rage. This unlikely meeting of kindred spirits feels almost fated and happens as a result of the resident dickbag, Corey (the boyfriend of Kat’s sister, Dylan, and all-around bigoted redneck bully) giving Swann a hard time within earshot of Autumn, Nora, and Kat. The band had started as a joint hobby of Autumn and Nora, but soon takes the other two ladies in, and is officially christened Bloom & Rage by Kat. What starts as a very scary encounter with Corey quickly becomes this wonderful, powerful, girl-power punk movement with all four girls embracing their rebellious sides, and results in one summer that changes them all forever, for better or for worse.
I want to point out that the girls felt real from the moment I saw them. I’m a fan of Final Fantasy, Persona, and the like, so clearly I have a soft spot in my heart for a highly-designed video game heroine, but Don’t Nod went crazy with the character design in a different, truly refreshing way. Like with Life is Strange, Don’t Nod leaned into the fashions of the moment and considered what kids from that time would want to be wearing while purposefully ensuring that each character’s fashion conveyed something about them on sight. The girls all feel like distinct individuals with their own personal style–Swann dresses in gentle colours and corduroy, Kat is rough and tumble with her denim overalls, Autumn’s ripped leggings and oversized tee give the cool, skater vibe, and Nora embraces edge, rock and punk with piercings and dark clothing.
What I felt took the character models one step further than Life is Strange in places, though, is that mo-cap! I found each girls’ facial expressions and mannerisms totally immersive–they felt like they could have been real people, especially when you add in perhaps the most important choice Lost Records made in their design: the representation. Swann is plus-size and has freckles, Nora has acne, Autumn has this gorgeous curly hair that stands out in Velvet Cove since everyone else’s is basically straight, Kat is shorter than the other girls and leans well into the tomboy aesthetic, which I saw as a nod to her wild side, her tough heart, and her connection with Peter Pan. That is to say, Don’t Nod didn’t stick to showing “conventional” standards of beauty in the main cast; they instead embraced different body types, skin tones and types, lifestyles, hair textures and lengths, and what we got was a cast I feel like I knew. These were the kids who were bullied and ostracised at school simply for looking different, or being who they were. We either knew these kids, or we were them. I connected with them right away, from the moment I stepped into Swann’s bedroom and found the balled-up swim team flyer. She had my heart from then, and kept it once I saw the rest of her room.
I appreciate how Don’t Nod made these girls feel different without falling into the trap of “I’m not like other girls”, which is a frustration I would sometimes (and think I was to some extent supposed to) have with Max from the first Life is Strange. The girls liked punk, they liked rock, they liked skateboarding and video games, but they didn’t gatekeep them or present them as their only personality trait–they didn’t bag on Dylan for not liking those things; they bagged on Dylan for being a jerk when she was being a jerk. However, they also stood up for Dylan once they realised her situation. Bloom & Rage are girl power personified, though their methods could perhaps be a little extreme. They’re just trying to live their summer to the fullest, and I wish I could’ve helped them hang on to it a little longer. Where the game also cleverly shows us Autumn, Swann, and Nora as scared adults, I wanted so badly to make sure they lived their best lives in the past, even though I had the future context from the pub sequences to know their days weren’t going to stay carefree.
Aaaand Action! Preserving the Past
Swann’s camera plays a large role in Lost Records: Bloom and Rage, and much like Max from Life is Strange, she uses it to understand and preserve the world around her. This can lead to her seeming kind of out of it though, as living through the lens can sometimes prevent her from taking notice of her surroundings, like when she gets into trouble for accidentally catching Dylan on tape because she was so concerned with the balloon right in front of her. This tunnel-vision actually helped to create a very intense atmosphere further into the game, especially during the sections in the woods, as I was always bracing for something (or someone) to come up behind me or jump out at me. I was always on edge when gathering my collectibles, too–I didn’t want to catch something moving in the shadows that I wouldn’t have seen without my camera’s light and zoom functions!
Getting away from the Blair Witch inspired eeriness though, I want to circle back to that idea of preservation. Once she’s met Nora, Autumn, and Kat, Swann’s instinct is to get their summer on tape and create a music video for Bloom & Rage. That brings us to a new fear with the collectibles: getting so wrapped up in capturing them all that you missed out on something else that was happening. Lost Records: Bloom & Rage inspired a sense of FOMO in me, where I wanted to gather everything on tape so I could watch all of Swann’s memoirs. However, as it is in real life, this is very difficult, if it’s even possible! The game carries on while you’re adjusting your viewfinder, creating the feeling that life is actively passing you by–an important ingredient in the game’s overall bittersweet story. Swann isn’t just creating a music video and memoirs, she’s creating a time capsule that she can revisit any time she wants to, where she and her friends are young forever, and are totally innocent to the events that their adult selves have had to endure.
[spoiler warning]
Most striking for me was when Corey steals Swann’s camera. I felt the twist in my heart, as it felt like such a violation on multiple levels. First of all, it’s theft. Second, we know that the camera is sentimentally important to Swann as a sweet 16 gift, but it’s also her way of expressing herself. Corey robs her of it, and of those precious memories she’s been collecting of the friends she never thought she’d have, taking both her innocence (and that of her friends) and her voice. He holds them hostage, just as he casts a shadow over the girls throughout the game until the resolution at the end. Anyone else get tense when they heard the sound of his motorbike?
[end of spoiler]
I noticed that despite each of the girls’ tough and cool exteriors, they all had their cute things and toys that they clung to, like Kat’s pocket toy and bright CD player, Nora’s love of pretty gems, the teddy bear ice cream, and her toy squirrel in her corner of the shack, Autumn’s adorable keychain that she keeps into adulthood, and Swann’s love of Mothgirl, Fluffbutt, and troll dolls. Swann is probably the most open about her love of cute things, though her severe lack of self-love and confidence means she’s also quick to rubbish her perceived unconventional tastes and traits. Each of the girls had these layers that pointed to them being on the cusp of adulthood, though they hadn’t entirely left childhood behind. I half wondered if they thought of the events of that summer as just a game until they weren’t anymore. Once that boundary is crossed, once Kat’s ringleading brings them to the concert, and once others (like Corey) intervene in their lives, we see each girl’s innocence lost either by their own actions or by the actions of those around them. In helping them perform actions that aren’t “them” or aren’t even legal, we contribute to the loss of that innocence and feel both their upset in times when their actions surprised them and caused them guilt, and a sense of responsibility for playing such an active role.
It’s brilliant.
Is Lost Records: Bloom & Rage a Horror Game?
You’d be amazed how many times I Googled this exact phrase, because there were multiple instances where the tension mounted too much and I had to pause because of things I thought I saw, or events I thought were about to happen. Again, especially out in the woods at night.
The answer from this chicken is, “not strictly.” It really depends on your definition of horror. It’s a masterclass in atmosphere, especially with the groundwork it lays in newspaper clippings and books you can find around the town. I also had this really weird glitch happen where the silhouette of a character model would appear in random places where I played, so there’d be a tense moment playing out and this shadow figure would just appear from time to time. As far as big scares go, though, I’d say it’s about on par with the first Life is Strange game; there’s a stealth section and high-stakes sections where your friends are yelling at you to find an item/do an action NOW NOW NOW HURRY!!!, and there’s the night chase sequence that we saw in the trailer and early in Tape 1, but there’s nothing more intense than that. This is both a good and bad thing, in my opinion.
So much of the story pointed to there being a cryptid of some kind, so I went through Tape 1 and part of Tape 2 anticipating the introduction of some horrible forest creature. Why else would the game keep having us wander around in this heavily wooded area and make such a big deal of how safe it seemed? The trailers even focused on eerily-lit close ups of the wolf mask, which I took to be a monster’s face until I reached the section it was showing. As a horror game coward I was a bit relieved by the outcome, but with the hard work done by the game’s scary atmosphere, I was almost disappointed that it wasn’t so bad.
[spoiler warning]
Can I just say, I don’t see why Corey loves his bike so much if it’s too useless to even catch four girls navigating uneven forest terrain in the dark, who also keep stopping and turning around, giving him ample time to catch up. In my playthrough, he was also the one possessed by the Abyss, which feels like it came out of nowhere too. I don’t need everything explained, but some context would be good. How does his possession making him more aggressive line up with Kat’s wish for revenge? It just makes him an even bigger danger to us and to Dylan.
The Abyss felt better as a concept, but once the game started actually incorporating it, things got really muddled and lost me along the way. Like, what was that incredibly long dance scene doing except showing off the track? That was all we get for magic? I get it was probably a nod to Twin Peaks’ red room, but it felt wholly unclear and overstayed its welcome, especially since the girls were being actively chased for the crime they’d committed, and then they just… went to sleep? It was like the game didn’t know what to do now that it had the Abyss in play, and I don’t feel its impact on the girls via their wishes and sacrifices was ever fully utilised or even planned. Why not lean into its clear inspiration from The Craft and have the girls demonstrate their connection with it in a way that impacts their society? Have them abuse their power and then understand via direct consequences that they shouldn’t have messed around with it. Not just holding the concert and smashing up the lodge with bats and paint, but something supernatural–something only someone who’d made a sacrifice could do. This would’ve helped it make more sense when Autumn felt left out, as the others would be exhibiting gifts and powers she did not have, and would likely have a tighter bond from their magical mayhem that left her by the wayside in a more obvious way. All of their rioting is done with tools anyone could’ve used, like lighters and spraypaint and baseball bats, so what was the point of the Abyss? The deer moment during the chase was so awesome, but felt like too little too late; we pushed Corey in, the Abyss disappeared, then Kat did as well. That was it.
In the end, it didn’t feel like the Abyss was worth all the present-day build-up and stress that the girls were feeling; I had expected they’d accidentally murdered Corey directly by abusing their powers and that the box was going to somehow be from him. As soon as I knew it was from Kat, I figured it was probably going to be a time capsule that was like ‘wow, you guys, we were such good friends and I had a great summer.’ And it was. There was never any indication that it could be anything more malicious based on my choices, because despite all the crimes they committed together, there was never a conflict with Kat that pointed to her heel-turning and holding anything negatively over their heads. Kat was intense, but she was never Nancy from The Craft. Especially where she wasn’t possessed in my playthrough, I never felt a reason to fear her; all the narrative effort was spent making me afraid of Corey. Once he was dealt with, so was the threat.
[end of spoiler]
How Much Do Choices Matter in Lost Records: Bloom & Rage?
Speaking of different vibes in different playthroughs, wow! What an incredible number of possibilities! There are really significant scenes you can just miss by not playing them right or not picking certain dialogues. It’s not little things either; in my playthrough, I only watched the meteor shower with Nora, but the outcome of that night could’ve been different if I’d stayed with Kat, or (I think) if I’d had a better relationship with Autumn–e.g. Giving her all of her correct items while she packs. As well, both present-day Nora and Autumn left Swann by herself in the bar, but either or both can stay and see the night through. That’s not even getting into how the endings in the past can differ wildly.
This, I think, is where my issues with Bloom & Rage stem from: Don’t Nod’s valiant efforts to incorporate so many branching paths into the story mean much was left by the wayside, as you can’t fulfil a story’s entire potential if it has so many moving parts. Would it have been better if X thing had happened? Yes, but we can’t have that because Y must happen, as well as sub-choices 1, 2, and 3 in order for Y to make sense. I think it’s just a symptom of the multiple choice medium, especially when a game works so hard to make sure your choices truly matter, but it creates some frustration when the story is left feeling somewhat incomplete because I missed something without realizing.
More than anything, though, I feel what Lost Records: Bloom & Rage needed most was more time in the oven. Just a little–enough to iron out some remaining moments of awkwardness. Character responses don’t feel proportionate to events at times, e.g. the group’s reason for going their separate ways fell flat, in my opinion. Some muddled reasoning to force tension is also a factor.
[spoiler warning]
I found the box in Kat’s room, where Kat mentioned she was making something for the girls. She wrapped it like an unhinged goblin but didn’t sound malicious when she explained to Swann, who is content to never mention this and lets Autumn and Nora stay freaked out. On the flipside, Swann doesn’t say a word about items that should not be there (besides her camera, which is also only mentioned in passing) like the items thrown into the Abyss.
As well, why would Kat on one hand say ‘we have to promise never to see one another again, for the Abyss’ and then manufacture a situation where the girls are forced to break that promise if she wants them to see what’s in the box and read the letter? Pick one. jeez.
I actually liked my ending though, even though both Nora and Autumn left (and like, rude Autumn; you’re the whole reason I came out here and we’d been cool until now). Swann seeing the ghosts of the past in the woods felt truly heartwrenching and poignant for me at this point in my life. Now in my 30s, I return to my hometown every so often and feel the spirit of who I used to be, know the places my friends and I went, and the visual representation was moving, especially when paired with a more mature rendition of See You in Hell that gives us a glimpse at how those girls still live within their adult counterparts, at least in part. We see the girls so full of hope with no idea what their futures hold. They thought they would be together forever, and threw themselves into that summer with such joy. Though I wish Nora and Autumn stayed, there was something significant about Swann still holding on to the past, just as she was the one to preserve it. You can’t go home again, but we’ll always have the memories to keep us company when we look back.
[end of spoiler]
Is Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Worth It?
I recommend it, warts and all, especially for fans of the Life is Strange series. It’s gothy, it’s retro, the soundtrack BANGS, and the mystery is engaging for the most part. Tape 1 does feel like the stronger entry than Tape 2, as I feel Tape 2 just got too ambitious for how little space it had. If this game had more parts to help it shine, and more space to flesh out all the concepts it introduced, then I’d likely rate it even higher. I’ve heard rumblings that Lost Records is a new series with more installments planned though, so hopefully those won’t only be standalone. Velvet Cove and the Abyss don’t feel finished quite yet, and neither am I.
Lost Records: Bloom and Rage Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lost Records: Bloom and Rage episodic?
Yes, Lost Records: Bloom and Rage takes place across two parts (or ‘Tapes’).
Is Lost Records: Bloom and Rage a horror game?
While Lost Records: Bloom and Rage takes inspiration from classic horror titles and features some tense moments that some might find scary, it’s classed as a narrative adventure game.
What is Lost Records: Bloom and Rage about?
Lost Records: Bloom and Rage follows Swann Holloway as she recalls the summer of 1995, which she spent in the fictional town of Velvet Cove alongside her new friends Kat, Autumn, and Nora. Supernatural happenings forced the girls to go their separate ways, and at the start of the game, are what call present-day Swann and her friends to break the vow they made never to meet again.
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