Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 2 Review – Against The Machine

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 2 is a more focused experience compared to its first half. The conclusion to Swann Holloway's transformative Summer is an ultimately impactful tale about the shared bonds through adversity. But some narrative swings weaken the final pivotal moments.

Note: This review will contain spoilers for Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1. Read at your own discretion.

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

Near the end of Tape 1, Swann and friends' newly formed band, Bloom & Rage, debuted outside a bar. The performance took a tragic turn when the bar's patrons berated the teens for disrupting the peace...and Kat collapsed with a nosebleed. Turns out Kat has late-stage leukemia and has little time left. Worse still, her family refuses to let Swann and company visit her.

 The emotional landscape of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 2 is, understandably, darker and more contemplative than the last. It is more linear and faster-paced than Tape 1, paying off what was set up. Swann moving away, Kat's limited time, and the melancholy of a momentous summer winding down.

Dontnod commits to this change in tone. The color palette is darker, highlighted in the episode's haunting dream sequence prologue. There's less focus on Swann's camera; gameplay mostly amounts to dialogue choices and time-sensitive moral choices. Even the musical score pivots from angry rock to quieter vocal tracks.

Thematically, it allows characters to reveal new sides of themselves, building upon the game's strong themes of female companionship and community through a shared love of music. Tonally, it makes the stakes, breaking Kat out of her house to attend a concert, feel important.

Notably, the writers and narrative designers deserve credit for presenting the game's four leads both in their youth and as changed adults. Each of their performances is full of small touches that speak multitudes of the life they live like Nora's relationship with substances and Autumn's scattered, anxious personality.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 2 Review – Playing The Hits

Unfortunately, because of its narrower focus, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 2  falls into some of Dontnod's most played-out tropes and cliches, which hold it back.

On paper, the stakes of Tape 2 are grounded and human. There are some heightened elements at play with The Abyss and some potential magic happening, but when the focus is on the characters' maturing relationships, it works.

The downside is that some gameplay sections completely stop the pacing dead. There is a mandatory stealth section when reaching Kat's house, and it might just be the most awkwardly presented stealth I have played this year. The kind where a single arbitrary pixel of movement will instantly fail you. 

Also, if you fail enough times, the game skips the sequence entirely and negatively affects your game's ending. Also, there are some key-hunting sections near the end that, during my playthrough, didn't load in properly, leading to a lot of lost momentum.

Lastly, the ultimate antagonist of Lost Records is Bloom & Rage is a huge letdown. Personally, Dontnod's narrative-centric experiences work best when the finale isn't against villain or nebulous force, but emotional catharsis brought on by unraveling a mystery or the punctuation of a difficult choice. 

The twins' coming to terms with the complex life of their mother in Tell Me Why. Sean deciding the future of his brother Daniel in Life is Strange 2. All of these games emphasize the difficulties of the human experience that make for compelling drama. Drama that complements the supernatural or fantastical elements.

Sadly, Lost Records tries to raise the stakes with a more direct human threat that veers into pure caricature. No spoilers, but the sudden shift in the villain's behavior and attitude is so forced that it makes the serial killer plot in Life is Strange seem quaint by comparison.

This lurch in tone doesn't completely ruin the ending. Tape 2 does pay off most of the mysteries set up in Tape 1. But it's an ending that ends up sharing space with a confrontation that feels trite and contrived.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 2 Review | Final Thoughts

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 2 is a messy conclusion to an otherwise earnest punk rock story. It has a lot of heart and plenty of well-observed character drama and personality. But it clashes with some hackneyed gameplay sections and an incongruous final confrontation that sours an otherwise moving experience.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 2 was reviewed on PlayStation 5 with a copy provided by the developer over the course of five hours of gameplay - all screenshots were taken during the process of review.