Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Tape 1) review
It’s been five years since the end of Life is Strange 2, Don’t Nod’s impassioned but sometimes meandering roadtrip tale. Ditching the small town trappings and blue-haired fan-favourite from the series’ original story was a bold move for the developer, and a deliberate push for a different-feeling sequel. But while Life is Strange 2’s episodic study of American social issues and the changing relationship between two young brothers had some impressive moments, it also felt like too much of a curveball for some fans, who had expected a more familiar follow-up. It was at this point that Don’t Nod and its Life is Strange series permanently parted ways, leaving future franchise entries to be developed by other hands.
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Tape 1) reviewDeveloper: Don’t NodPublisher: Don’t NodPlatform: Played on PS5Availability: Out on 18th February on PC (Steam), PS5 (launches via PS Plus), Xbox Series X/S
Enter Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, the Life is Strange creators’ next project that has been in the works ever since (with its first half available today, while its concluding portion drops as a free update on 18th April). Its arrival has taken some time, not least because its team moved continents, setting down new roots in Montreal and separating itself off from the other bits and pieces Don’t Nod’s Parisian headquarters has put out in the meantime. There was a pandemic, of course, and the game was further delayed last year, rather incredibly, to avoid a clash with Square Enix’s latest new Life is Strange entry.
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage | Lo-fi Summer Trailer Watch on YouTube
Impressively, though, it’s clear Lost Records feels like the product of those five years in the oven – with several new ideas that freshen up the now-familiar narrative adventure formula. The most obvious of these is the game’s camcorder wielded by protagonist Swann, a painfully awkward 16-year-old who uses videography as a tool to engage with the world. It’s the summer of 1995, and Swann is set to leave her sleepy Michigan hometown in just two months’ time. Before then, she begins a project to capture her surroundings on film, something which allows her to finally find a true friendship group – and allows the player to interact with and document the game’s three other main characters.
