Review – Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 2 – Rage

The debut tape of The Lost Records: Bloom & Rage already made it clear the interactive story had a strong focus on the supernatural and mystery — and the second one dives even deeper into that. Way deeper, to the point where I caught myself wondering what was supposed to be metaphor, reality, or just the girls’ hallucinations. With tons of symbolism and little explanation, I felt like I got less out of the plot than I should have — or at least hoped to — and the ending comes off a bit messy.

On the technical side, there’s not much to complain about in B&R: the game shows off gorgeous natural landscapes and detailed interiors, packed with interactive bits that reflect the characters. The contrast between the gloomy present at the bar and the colorful, nostalgic 1995 flashbacks works nicely, and the ambient sound design is top-notch. But, as I mentioned in the Tape 1 review, it’s hard to nail period atmosphere without the right music.

And that’s the frustrating part: in a story that name-drops Bikini Kill so often, not having a single track from Kathleen Hanna’s band is a real letdown. I couldn’t figure out why — especially since another major Riot Grrrl band, Bratmobile, does show up with Love Thing in a cool scene. So money probably wasn’t the issue.

Melodrama

There are a few technical hiccups. More than once, I spotted character models popping up in a flash where they clearly weren’t supposed to be (still not sure if that was just a bug or some weird narrative trick). Near the end, Kat ran into a nasty glitch and spent several cutscenes and playable sections stuck sitting down. Overall, the animation isn’t terrible — there are plenty of cute little smiles between the girls — but animals take the biggest hit. They move awkwardly, like they were animated by hand instead of motion capture.

Music and story integration also stumble here and there. Riot grrrl was never really that close to Madonna, who — while considered a forerunner of the movement by some — also represented a lot of what the scene was rebelling against: polished commercial productions and the rejection of DIY culture. Yet the in-game girls seem to admire the pop queen, and it comes off kind of random. There were definitely better choices for that role.

The biggest issue with B&R, though, is the writing. Tape 2 fleshes out the four main characters more, with almost all of them dealing with controlling, abusive, or absent parents. That shared trauma does help tie them together, but the story leans way too hard on sappy dialogue that feels over the top even for sixteen-year-olds. More than once, I skipped steering Swann toward a romance with the funny Nora, just because the exchanges felt either too desperate or totally out of place with the scene. Like I mentioned in the Tape 1 review, even when I first tried to keep Swann away from romance, some of the dialogue still came across as borderline desperate.

At one point, for example, the girls are grieving over something tragic — and suddenly the game lets you choose to kiss Nora. The whole scene is beautifully set up, but the mood just wasn’t there, and it felt completely out of place.

Lots of Symbolism, Little Sense

The story jumps from one objective to the next, strung together by dialogue that doesn’t always feel believable — and packed with so much forced cuteness that I actually rolled my eyes more than once. Like I said earlier, symbolism is where B&R gets the weirdest. You can tell it’s leaning heavily on that whole “Sacred Feminine” mysticism — girls in the woods making pacts, curses, nature witchcraft, all that. It fits the theme, okay, we got it.

But then the four of them gather to lock up a padlock, and out of nowhere they break into some kind of witchy ritual. You’re left wondering, “Wait, where did this even come from?” Things turn downright laughable and nonsensical when, right after, they launch into a half-ritualistic dance and start FLOATING AROUND THE CABIN. At that point I was just sitting there thinking, “WHAT THE FOOCK IS EVEN HAPPENING RIGHT NOW?” And to make it worse, this isn’t some quiet scene — it’s supposed to be a high-stakes, tense moment that suddenly swerves into a Bollywood-style dance number.

By the end, stuff happens that flat-out shouldn’t — like objects showing up in places they logically couldn’t be, with zero explanation or even a hint of how they got there. Maybe it’s supposed to be magic, but by that point, you’ve stopped caring. There are multiple endings, but none of them seem to change the girls’ ultimate fate much, and the story leaves way too many questions hanging — even for a single episode. Structurally, each tape should really have its own complete arc, and B&R barely resolves anything it starts.

Irregular

Since this is an interactive story, the gameplay really needs to carry the narrative. But just like everything else, it’s hit or miss. Compared to other games in the genre — as I also pointed out in the Tape 1 review — it’s cool how new dialogue options open up when you look around the environment. And even though Swann’s almost-always-on camera is pretty basic, it gets the job done. Bonus detail: every recording you make is actually saved on your PC as a .webm file. You can find them in your AppData\Local\Bloom&Rage\Saved\SaveGames folder.

Too bad the game doesn’t let you edit the girls’ music video yourself — it just happens automatically, which kills some of the immersion and sense of control. A proper video editor would’ve been a great addition. They even threw in a super bare-bones stealth section, and a few puzzles tied to dialogue and item checks that really demand you pay close attention to the girls’ belongings. Swann gets quizzed on which items belong to which character, and if you mess it up, it can have a big impact on that friend’s behavior later on.

Despite all this, the characters do grow on you after a few hours, which makes me think the story could have been way more engaging with less melodrama weighing it down. But by the end of Tape 2, we’re back to the same pile of clichés, like Corey — revealed to be a villain with no backstory, no personal motivation, nothing. His entire purpose is just to be an absolute jerk and evolve into a criminal caricature, the kind of one-note toxic male figure the girls’ story “needs.”

An open ending was expected from B&R, since Don’t Nod hasn’t been shy about wanting to turn this into a new franchise. The start shows promise, but the heavy-handed mystical symbolism and writing that swings between sappy and cryptic leave some doubts about the series’ maturity. I hope it finds its footing, though, because the characters are engaging, the 1990s setting feels authentic, and there’s a real sense that this could grow into something better.

Games mentioned

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Lost Records: Bloom & Rage

WIN, PS5, XBS

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage é um jogo de aventura gráfica produzido pela Don't Nod Montréal. Narra a história de quatro amigas no estado americano do Michigan, que 27 anos após um pacto para manter um segredo, são confrontadas com o recebimento de um pacote misterioso.