Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1 – life is irritating (Don’t Nod)
The creators of Life Is Strange return with a brand new franchise that shares an awful lot in common with the stories of Max and Chloe.
Life Is Strange has had a peculiar history. It celebrated its 10th anniversary in January, with the first game becoming a surprise hit that managed to offer a much more nuanced style of interactive storytelling than Telltale Games, in terms of both its characterisation and its branching narrative. But despite main characters Max Caulfield and Chloe Price becoming instant fan favourites, French developer Don’t Nod made the daring choice to not feature them in the sequel.
Instead, Life Is Strange 2 told a completely separate story, with an entirely new cast of characters. It was nowhere near as successful though and so Don’t Nod parted ways with publisher Square Enix and all the other games have been made by American studio Deck Nine – which was going fine until last year’s hugely disappointing Life Is Strange: Double Exposure, which brought back Max but, inexplicably, not Chloe.
We’ll never find out whether Don’t Nod would’ve returned to either character, given the choice, but what we have now is Lost Record: Bloom & Rage, which can be seen as very much a spiritual successor to the series and is made by one of the original co-directors and several others that were involved in the original two games. Nobody has superpowers in this one but there’s still plenty of teenage angst and vague supernatural mysteries, but what there isn’t, at the moment, is much sense of purpose.
Technically, Bloom & Rage is episodic, although it comes in only two parts, with the second one due for release on April 15 as a free download if you buy part one (or Tape 1, as the game has it). That means we don’t know how the story is going to end, and it is possible that it could take an unexpected swerve at the halfway point, but it starts off with four former friends – Nora, Kat, Autumn, and Swann – meeting up again for the first time in 27 years, in the rural US town they used to call home.
Although they know they purposefully agreed never to see each other again, none of them can apparently remember why, although whether this is because of repressed memories or, as it seems, plot convenience is frustratingly unclear. Combine this with the general lack of forward momentum in the story and the game becomes very aggravating, very quickly, as it simply refuses to tell you things your character should already know.
You play as Swann, who shares a lot of qualities with Max, except more exaggerated. She’s very shy, with no real friends, and prefers to view the world through a camcorder – creating a literal barrier between her and other people. Her situation improves when she’s saved from a bully by the other three girls but unfortunately she’s due to move to Canada soon, so they can only spend the one summer together.
Whatever calamity is at the heart of the game’s story causes them to vow never to see each other again, until Autumn receives a mysterious package addressed to the old punk band they were in (the sub-titular Bloom & Rage). Maddeningly though, nobody actually opens the parcel, which given the already glacially thin plot development is just perversely irritating.
The game is set in both 1995 and 2022 but almost everything in the present-ish day (which, unlike the 90s is viewed from a first person view) is deadly dull, with the four estranged friends mostly just sitting around talking – except never about the things you want them to.
The 90s is more interesting though, not least because of how well the camcorder is integrated into the game. In the absence of any traditional gameplay, it’s an effective way to make the game feel more interactive without resorting to QTEs, especially as you can use motion controls with it on the DualSense controller.
Tape 2 is going to have to be a real banger (Don’t Nod)
The grainy, low resolution view looks great, although having to record scenes and objects, to get clues and advance the plot, feels less organic than Don’t Nod probably think. The same could be said for the dialogue and voice-acting, which is rarely bad but often feels inauthentic and clunky, and without the saving grace of trying to make ‘hella’ sound cool.
What is good about the dialogue though is the clever way it overlaps and how you’re able to make choices during a conversation, rather than just when someone has finished talking. It’s very obviously inspired by Oxenfree and, frankly, we wish more games would have borrowed from that game, considering how old it is now.
In terms of the characters themselves, it’s hard to imagine them becoming as popular as Life Is Strange’s dynamic duo. Not only is Swann just Max 2.0 but the others are disappointingly one dimensional. Nora is the older girl who wants to be famous, Nora is the sensible one, and Kat is the one most into the supernatural aspects of the story – although her backstory and voice-acting make her the most compelling of the group.
In terms of branching narrative, it’s hard to say how complicated the full game is going to get but so far everything seems to be limited to your relationships with the other women, with decisions and responses affecting your friendships throughout the game. That’s good but we’ve yet to see anything as impressive as Life Is Strange’s dramatically different plot strands.
Bloom & Rage is a well made game, that has clearly had a lot of thought and love poured into it, but the slow pacing and opaque storytelling are hard to engage with. Perhaps its meandering approach will make more sense once the second part is out but at the moment we have no idea where it’s going or whether the journey is going to be worth the effort.
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1 review summary
In Short: A disappointing follow-up to Life Is Strange, that tells its story in the most frustrating way possible, but there’s some signs it could turn things around in the second half.
Pros: The dialogue system is very impressive and the camcorder is used well. Fun 90s feel in the flashbacks.
Cons: Very slow and awkward pacing, with the 2022 sections really dragging and frustratingly little plot. The script and voice-acting rarely excel.
Score: 5/10
Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £32.99
Publisher: Don’t Nod
Developer: Don’t Nod Montréal
Release Date: 18th February 2025
Age Rating: 18
Does nobody remember what happened? (Don’t Nod)
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Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1 review – Life Is Strange part 3