Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Review (Xbox Series X)

STAFF REVIEW of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Xbox Series X)

Wednesday, March 19, 2025.
by Peggy Doyle

Life is Strange will always occupy a place in my heart, and I often think of the first time I played it and how it left me feeling. I have played every game of the series, the spinoffs, and those not created by Don’t Nod since the first one, so you could say I am definitely a fan of the series and the genre as a whole.

Lost Records: Bloom and Rage is the newest game in the genre, and Tape 1 (the first part of the 2-part release) is the first game in the Lost Records universe from the minds behind Life is Strange. Don’t Nod has tapped into, and evolved, their tried-and-true formula and given us a heartfelt game that encompasses a sincere portrait of a teenage girl's life. It pulled on my heart in a way games rarely do. This is a supernatural coming-of-age story that spirited my heart away.

During Tape 1 you navigate between two different times in the lives of our protagonist, Swann, and her friends Nora, Autumn and Kat. First when they meet in 1995, and then 27 years in their future, 2022. You are starting the game in 2022, and after receiving a cryptic text from Autumn you are meeting back up with your ‘best friends forever’. Autumn explains that she received a mysterious package wrapped in newspaper, with “To Bloom & Rage” written on the top with a Sharpie. You then begin flashing back in time to the summer of ’95 when ‘something’ happened. Throughout Tape 1 you will discover exactly what that ‘something’ was. Since you are working through story flashbacks, you will have a lot of narrative from the present as well. It’s tough to talk a lot about the plot without spoiling things, but it is full of Stephen King-like horror elements.

During the summer of 1995 you are 16-year-old Swann, packing everything you own into cardboard boxes as you prepare for a move to Canada with your family. Swann’s room is full of details you’d find in any teenage girls’ bedroom. Look at her pages and notes scattered around, full of doodles and notes in the margins. As a budding filmmaker, you always have your camcorder handy, and during a moment wandering and recording, you find yourself interacting with some local mean kids. During this altercation, you also meet three girls who will eventually become your best friends as you start to come out of your shell and embrace rebellion while you get to know your new friends over the summer. All of your choices and actions will shape the relationships that grow with each of them as you thrash along to music and create fun videos on your camcorder in the past. You know all to well that eventually things must all come apart while playing. Each twist, turn, and discovery keeps you guessing as to what eventually brings you to the bar in 2022 and the mystery box.

Throughout Tape 1, you not only meet your three best friends, but you also truly get to know them. Don’t Nod managed to create four girls who each have distinct personalities, hopes, dreams and morals. You get to know each of their personalities, likes and dislikes, and you will use this as you choose your dialogue options and actions. The bonds between Swann and each of the girls feels real, so much so that when making decisions I took my time to think about them more than I might have in other games. I chose to be honest about knowing certain bands with Nora because I knew she wouldn’t judge me, and I picked purple for the banner because I knew it was Autumn's favourite colour for example. Don’t Nod managed to make each relationship arc unique, all with there being no wrong or bad choices, simply just choices. This in-depth character development had me thinking about what would happen if I picked different choices, meaning I chose to play the game more than once to see what changes would happen. While the ending is still the same, your choices do give you different dialogue options and arcs within the game.

Each explorable area is small but detailed and Don’t Nod encourages you to look around and examine the spaces. Autumn asks to borrow a book, so you need to search through your bookcase and Nora asks you to find a guitar pick, giving you permission to snoop through her shelves.

Don’t Nod’s protagonists always have their own ways of recording the world around them. Max had her Polaroid camera in the first Life is Strange game, Sean had a sketchbook in Life is Strange 2, and Swann has her camcorder. You will record snippets while looking for clues and you can go into the editor and create mini films with the clips you collect in each section. Often these things are just extra work in games, but they are pivotal in Lost Records. Details are important to storytelling, not just finding clues around you, but also part of you forming your relationships with the girls. They encourage you to take clips of them doing things like blowing smoke rings or doing cartwheels, etc.

The game takes place in the picturesque town of Velvet Cove, Michigan, full of dense woodlands and serene lakes. The woodland segments when you are just wandering and recording are so beautiful and serene. The animals look and act natural, and the nature sounds are relaxing. A photo mode also exists, and you can find lots of frames and, stickers to enhance the photos you take.

A carefully crafted dream pop soundtrack blends nostalgia from 1995 as well as ethereal vibes and brings together the mystery and haunting nature of the game really well. The punk anthems you perform with the band in game were really good too. There is also a steamer mode, but this needs to be activated at the beginning of the game from the main menu. Sound effects in game are well done too. Pill bottles rattle if you shake them, snack wrappers crinkle in your hand, footsteps in the forest, birds in the trees, all well done. Wear a headset for the best experience.

I will admit, although I am a bit older than the characters in Lost Records, I am close enough to their ages that the friendships, environment, feelings and music all resonated with me. When the credits rolled on Tape 1, I didn’t just like Lost Records, I loved it. It was a tale of friendship, adventure and testing the depths of ‘best friends forever’. If Don’t Nod can follow this up equally with Tape 2 on April 15th, this might take first place for me in the series and give me the same feeling I first had when I first played Life is Strange back in 2015.

**Lost Records: Bloom and Rage (Tape 1) was provided by the publisher and reviewed on an Xbox Series X**

Overall: 9.0 / 10
Gameplay: 8.5 / 10
Visuals: 9.0 / 10
Sound: 9.0 / 10

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STAFF REVIEW of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Xbox Series X)

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