Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1 – Review

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is Don’t Nod’s latest game. It’s intriguing, but it may not be for everyone. Let’s dive deep into Tape 1 and see what this new world has to offer.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1 takes us to the world of Swann. An awkward young teenager who does not make a lot of friends easily but then in some twist of fate finds herself making new friends. The game is split into two timelines: Year 1995 Swann and Present Day Swann.

The game starts us off in the present day, we get introduced to Swann the main protagonist of the game. She’s now in her forties and is about to reconnect with her childhood friends. All throughout the game, Swann will reminisce about her times with her childhood friends in the summer of 1995. For anyone who grew up in 1995, this feels like a callback to our childhood. It feels so relatable and just nostalgic having to be presented with all these things that make up what 1995 is.

Before we go further, let’s talk about the game mechanics. Just like in previous Don’t Nod games like Life is Strange, the main game mechanic of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is making choices that could impact how the game unfolds. In some key moments in the game, certain choices can impact or change the course of the game while other choices impact the relationship you have with the other characters in the game. The game still does offer you the choice of not making a choice, which I felt like sometimes the only way to handle some of the situations I was thrust into.

Another key element to the game is Swann’s camcorder. If Max had a camera to capture things that captured her eye. Swann’s camcorder is used to record everything around her. It is also how you capture the collectibles in the game. Like a true camcorder enthusiast, you can record, capture, edit, delete, or rearrange any footage that you have done. I think it’s a really cool feature and adds more to the nostalgia of being able to do so.

The characters in the game are actually very interesting. They have their personalities, their own background history, their own styles, and their uniqueness. I do believe they did well in terms of fleshing out these characters and giving them memorable personalities. You can distinguish each character from each other and they’re not just some random copy of an NPC.

However, because you have multiple characters to interact with. You get locked out in getting to know a character all too well because of how they are gated in the choices you make. What’s more is that some of the choices you make affect each character in a different way. For example, one answer you have can make one character dislike you and make another character like you. This will also determine how much each character will share their information with you. But reflecting on it a bit more, this could open up a lot of possibilities, which means the replayability of the game is infinite because there are so many choices and so many conversations to be had. It’s a genius way to ensure you can get hours and hours of content.

When talking about the audio and the music, the game captured the era of 1995. The punk rock, the emo days. They nailed it when it came to the music of that era. The beautiful music just adds more to the nostalgia of the game. In terms of sound effects, they are very spot on. Even with how the audio comes out from the recording. It perfectly captured what a camcorder audio would sound like. It almost felt like you have footage from a camcorder.

This also links to the visual effects of the game. You can believe that the recorded videos came from a camcorder. The real world itself is beautifully generated. The world feels so alive with all that’s going on. The rustling of the leaves, the movement of a ceiling fan. The bustling business of an ant colony as they feast on an ice cream. All these minor details come alive in the game.

In terms of the overall delivery of the game. I do feel like it was a bit dragging. For 15 hours of gameplay, I felt like most of it was done to explore and build the world around you. Which I think is fine but also the fact that this is only one of two episodes. I felt like we didn’t get to the good stuff until really later into the game. And when we did get to that part, it just felt like we should have been provided more of that rather than all the world-building. It felt like all you need to know about the game happened at the very end. But getting there was tough because you had to go through all of the stuff that felt like filler moments.

Overall, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1 is interesting but I wish that the momentum could have been a bit more quicker. It starts slow and ends quickly. While it may reward players for sticking with the game right until the very end, it may turn off people who could not be bothered going through mundane filler moments. I would not recommend this game if it’s your first foray into visual novel games. However, if you’re a long-time fan of Anything Don’t Nod, then this game might be something that you could add to your list of games.