Lost Records: Bloom & Rage - Tape 2is a tough game to review because I sort of already reviewed it. Back in February, I wrote about why Iloved the first episodeof the new game fromLife is Strangedeveloper Don’t Nod. After finishing Tape 2: Rage, not much has changed.
I was instantly fond of Lost Records’ cast of characters, especially Swann, the shy high school girl at the story’s center. I loved getting to know her new friends, Autumn, Nora, and Kat, over several blissful summer months that end with a tagedy. And I was taken in by the (literal) mystery box set-up that brings the girls together in their hometown again after 27 years.
A Long Bloom, A Short Rage
To my relief, most of the things Bloom did well, Rage does well, too. The second chapter picks up where the first left off, with the group in the 1995 timeline reeling from a revelation about one of the girls, while their 2022 selves work through their memories to figure out the source of a mysterious package addressed to them. It continues to be the best-looking game Don’t Nod has ever made. The writing is still human and specific in this more downbeat entry, and I still find Swann to be a wonderful,sometimes heartbreakingly realcharacter, especially as the story reaches its emotional conclusion. The use of both third-person and first-person perspectives, and the way the camcorder mechanic blurs the line between them, still feels unique and special.
There just isn’t as much here to love compared to Tape 1. Long before Lost Records came out, Iwondered how it would handle its two-episode split. Episodic games have historically been five parts, or at minimum three, which gives you at least one episode for each act of a traditional story structure. With just two, Lost Records had the potential to be all killer, no filler. But it also had the potential to misstep in its move to an untested structure.
And that’s the biggest problem with Tape 2. It’s significantly shorter than the first — four or five hours to the first episode’s seven or eight — which makes it feel a bit anticlimactic. Though Bloom’s stopping point made a lot of thematic sense, Rage would have benefited from a more even split. That likely will matter less for players who experience Lost Records: Bloom & Rage all at once. But evaluated on its own, this episode is getting the short end of the story stick, delivering the third act while Tape 1 had both Act 1 and Act 2 to work with.
Tape 2 Keeps The Quality High
The quality is still high, and there are some new things to get excited about this time around. It ends on a sequel tease that I found really intriguing. It has a satisfying conclusion, but it left me with the feeling that there are still more stories left to tell in this world. And most importantly, it had me on the edge of tears for much of its final 30 minutes. The first episode really made me care about these characters, and Tape 2 successfully pays off that investment.
There are issues that weren’t present in the first tape though. Lost Records really didn’t need a stealth section, but the one introduced here is mercifully short. And while Bloom ended on the note that Corey — the boyfriend of Kat’s older sister, who works for her family — might not actually bethatbad after all, Rage makes him almost mustache-twirlingly evil. There are some specific answers given here that won’t satisfy players looking for a great mystery box. If that’s the main thing you’re looking for, you might be disappointed.
But that wasn’t what I was here for, and given Don’t Nod’s history, I doubt that most players who give Lost Records a try are looking for a J.J. Abrams-style yarn. They’re here for the characters, just like I was. I ultimately have to give it up for Tape 2 and Lost Records as a whole, for delivering an evocative experience that manages to capture what it feels like to be a teenager, even if you weren’t born in the ‘90s. Lost Records: Bloom & Rage’s second and final episode is a mostly satisfying conclusion. I just wish it could have had space to do more than just wrap things up.
