Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is the latest game from Don’t Nod, the studio behind Life Is Strange, Life Is Strange 2, Tell Me Why, and more. While I’ve personally never been seriously invested in narrative adventure titles, there’s no denying the impact that Don’t Nod has made within the industry. The studio’s previous titles are enjoyed by all kinds of gamers, even those with no prior experience in the genre.
This title follows protagonist Swann in the Summer of 1995, where she adventures and hangs out with her group of friends. The game switches between the present, which takes place 20 years into the future, and 1995, offering a unique perspective as the story unfolds. My hands-on demo lasted around one hour, splicing up a few segments to give a taste of the narrative and gameplay. While there’s still time left to go before Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is out, I’m confident the game is set to be a hit for fans of Don’t Nod’s prior titles.
Immediately upon launching the game, I was impressed with the overall use of colors and atmosphere. The demo starts in Swann’s room, which is quite cozy. There’s a vast amount of detail everywhere, which is something that carried through each of the environments I was able to explore as Swann. An incredible amount of items are interactable, allowing you to examine various details you would not be able to see otherwise. Additionally, I was really impressed with how many objects were seemingly scanned in. All sorts of hand-written notes and drawings are scattered throughout environments, giving a personal touch to the game.
Quickly, you learn that Swann is a big fan of recording videos. You can interact with a camcorder in her room, where she shares that her Dad gifted it to her. Tapes are scattered across the area, as she spends quite a lot of time recording different things in the world and piecing together footage. This important object plays a very important role in Lost Records: Bloom & Rage: the core gameplay focuses on Swann using her recorder to capture moments that occur in her daily life. Each environment has a few objects that are outlined in pink boxes, which you can record with the recorder to capture videos for Swann’s collection.
The controls took a little getting used to, but I quickly became intrigued by the idea of recording different objects and animals, like cats, birds, and even walking sticks. There’s a really neat filter overlaid onto the footage after it’s taken, giving a serious 90s vibe. The demo confirmed that numerous collectible items can be filmed, which I expect will keep you busy as you explore each area.
As the demo progresses, Swann ends up in her friend’s garage, where the group is jamming and playing instruments. You can record the get-together, preserving the memory as something to look back on. This section was particularly enjoyable, as I was able to interact with Swann’s friends and begin to understand the friendship dynamics at play.
Conversations with friends are not all sunshine and rainbows – in fact, it was sort of awkward. Swann is clearly shy, and the responses available reflected that. But that’s what made the interactions feel genuine. The game reflects on these moments in the future, with Swann speaking to Autumn about the garage in a future segment during my preview. Moreover, these choices you make during the Summer can actually change the dialogue found in the future. As a teenager, it’s easy to be shy and nervous when speaking with others. Lost Records: Bloom & Rage did a great job of showcasing that, and I think many will be able to relate to Swann.
By far, character animations were the biggest area in which I was disappointed. The voice acting is fantastic, with all kinds of emotion conveyed even through the hour I played. However, it’s hard to connect with the characters, even with such great acting, when the animations are stiff. This was an area that was specifically stated to be in progress for the team, so I do hope Don’t Nod can implement more realistic and detailed animations for characters.
With Bloom & Rage set to be the first title within this universe, I’m quite excited to see how things pan out when the game releases early next year. It feels like a story that might take a while to really settle in, but once it does, it’s impossible not to become deeply invested. I’m curious how the narrative will unfold, and just how much past choices can change the future. This is certainly one to keep an eye on as we head closer to 2025.
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage will release in two waves: Volume 1 on February 18 & Volume 2 on March 18. The game will be available across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.
