Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1 Review

Since Don't Nod's debut game Remember Me (do you?) in 2013 I've been a huge fan of their games. While storytelling in gaming has come a long ways, it's still not quite at the level of other entertainment mediums. However Don't Nod has always told great stories above all else, and I appreciate that. Does Lost Records: Bloom & Rage add to that legacy? Let's find out.

I will openly admit off the top here that Lost Records: Bloom & Rage had me a bit intimidated to review, but not for reasons you may think. For starters, this is essentially a review of half a game. Tape 1, Bloom, is what I'm reviewing while Tape 2, Rage, comes out in April. Together they make the full game and without it I feel like I'm writing an unfinished review.

Secondly, Lost Records is 99% about the story. Being an adventure game with very minimal game play it's tough to write a spoiler free review for a game entirely about its story. With this out of the way I've still got a lot to say and we will see how spoiler free I can make it.

A Throwback To My Childhood

The initial premise of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is a fairly simple one. You play as Swann, a super shy, awkward teenager in the summer of 1995 who for the lack of a better word, is a loner. Her best friend is her cat and her hobby is watching movies and recording things on her camcorder. If you don't know what a camcorder is, look it up so I don't have to feel old explaining it. Swann is moving away with her parents to Canada and is packing up.

Swann has to go out on one day to return a movie to a rental place (again look it up!). While out returning it she records things she sees to make videos, or memoirs as she calls them. Whether it's the nature, buildings, graffiti or anything else she finds interesting. During this walk however she accidentally runs into some trouble. Before things escalate too much 3 other teenage girls, Kat, Autumn and Nora jump in to help her out.

While Autumn and Nora are best friends already, the 4 collectively don't know each other at all despite being students at the same school. Over the course of Bloom's 25 scenes they quickly form a bond and become a group of best friends.

What Lost Records really does is nail the 90s. While I was only 7 during the timeframe of when this all took place I definitely got flashbacks of my childhood and even early teen years, though not from a female perspective. There was a sense of freedom as a kid back then that simply doesn't exist anymore. I used to go to the woods for hours and my parents wouldn't care. While I'm not as strict as some parents now I definitely know where my daughter is at all times. The times have certainly changed.

Everything from the fashion, the cars and even how everyone talks, all of it felt like a throwback to my childhood. I even at one point had to dial a phone number with a phone plugged into the wall. Crazy times indeed. The world itself is also gorgeous, especially when you get into the nature scenes.

Speaking of the 4 main characters, they really are the star of the show in Lost Records. The voice actors are top notch and Don't Nods attention to detail is quite impressive. From the girls teenage acne to the facial animations and eyes, it is clear how much passion Don't Nod had for the project

A Modern Touch

While the game is mostly played as Swann the teenager you are doing all of this through the lens of a now 40 something year old Swann. The game actually starts off as the older Swann as you are returning to your hometown to meet the other girls.

Autumn was sent a strange package meant for Bloom & Rage which was the name of their little group as teenagers and she wants to open it together. The girls haven't seen each other or been in touch since 1995 and it's implied something bad happened and they agreed to never talk again.

The entirety of the modern portion of Tape 1 takes place in a local bar and is more so meant for a change of pace and adding backstory to the game. They likely could have given the modern portion of the game a bit more runtime, but the focus is on the 90s. Though it wouldn't surprise me if Tape 2 involved the modern times a bit more.

Your Choices Matter?

As is the case with many games in this genre, your choices matter in terms of how the story goes. I didn't experience all the different ways the story could go depending on choices but I experienced a few. The ones I did didn't really change things in a major way though. The choices mostly dictated how close Swann was to each of the other girls. Constantly choose to be closer to Nora, and well you will be.

Your choices will even affect what type of cat Swann has

The only real major thing that changes is who you are with during certain scenes depending on your choices. In the grand scheme of things it didn't seem to affect things, at least in tape 1. Again the payoff of these decisions will likely play out in Tape 2.

I feel like ultimately this is the one area where going episodic really hurts a game and where I have the hardest time scoring something like this. As of right now there's no payoff at all to my decisions which in a story based game where choices are supposed to matter is a problem. However with the payoff likely coming later I'm not sure how I properly deal with this.

Growing Up To Be A Director

Outside of the story and decisions the main game play feature in Lost Records revolves around the camcorder. As I said earlier Swann is constantly recording things to make memoirs. There are 2 types of memoirs, story based ones and collectible based ones.

While there isn't too much to this mechanic, players who want to get creative with this will very much enjoy it. Essentially you film bits and pieces of things, 10 different shots of Nora for example and then you edit them together into a memoir. You can change the order of the clips and even change them later if you find a better spot to record. I personally didn't dabble with this too much but I can see the appeal for many and it is a unique thing to make Lost Records stand out in the genre.

There is also a photo mode, which if you are into virtual photography is a mode you will get lost in. As I said earlier the world of Lost Records is quite stunning to look at, especially the scenes that are out in the wilderness. Expect to see a lot of photos of this game on social media the more people play this one.

This Flower Takes Awhile To Bloom

The one real negative I have with Lost Records is just how long it takes to get into the thick of the plot and hook you. The first handful of scenes are some very light character building and all quite short. I feel like I didn't get too emotionally invested until about halfway through Tape 1 and didn't get really hooked until it was almost done.

Again this is part of the problem with an episodic release. Tape 1 took about 6 hours to complete and that was with doing a fair bit of wandering and doing optional conversations. I probably didn't get too engaged until hour 3. Taking that long to get into a 6 hour game is rough. However if this was Tape 1 and 2 that wouldn't feel as bad. Still a slow start of course but no longer half the game.

I think that's what most of my gripes about this game are, the fact that it's split up in two parts that release months apart.

Summary

As I started this review I said it would be a tough one to do. Sitting here at the end it's still tough. At its core Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1 is a great game. The characters are easy to fall in love with, the world is gorgeous and the story is beginning to click. The problem is the payoff to all of this has to wait until April.

If I had to predict it, my overall score for Lost Records will be higher once it's complete and we do get all the payoffs. But for now, Tape 1s slow start keeps Bloom in the good category with Rage expected to tie it all together. The fact that I can't wait for Rage though should at least tell you Bloom is worth a play, but maybe wait til April and play it all at once?