Lost Records Bloom & Rage Review, Gameplay Impressions, Videos and Top Features

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage from developer Don't Nod Montréal is one of the boldest releases of 2025. 

An episodic release similar to other games in the niche over the years, Lost Records is a narrative-driven game from those behind the popular Life is Strange series. 

This time, the dialogue and exploration-heavy showing features a strong cast of characters, dual timelines, and mature themes in a way that really positions itself to be a spiritual successor to Life is Strange. 

With both episodes now out in the wild and the story told, we can begin to piece together where the game stands amongst its peers this year and, more importantly, how it stacks up to what is a quality and stellar, if not niche, genre. 

Graphics and Gameplay

The marriage of visuals and gameplay is super impressive in Lost Records. 

Though it’s a little cliche to say at this point, the fictional Velvet Cove itself in Michigan is a character in its own right. It’s gloomy, colorful and engaging in its various presentations, complete with overall stunning visuals thanks to impressive modern detailing in areas like shadows, fabric, and hair physics.

As a whole, the art style permits characters to convey an incredible amount of emotion during scenes. It strikes an unmistakable flair easily picked out amongst a crowd of screenshots from various games. 

A big part of it is the impressive amount of interactability in the handcrafted environments players get to explore. Something as simple as a small room offers droves of things for players to pick up and analyze, complete with commentary from characters that boast fantastic voice acting. 

Sound is a big part of it, too, beyond the voice acting. The soundtrack is sublime in many ways and the ambient noise of environments sells the experience, all fitting the nostalgic vibe. 

A big chunk of early gameplay is using a camcorder to record, then splicing up footage in a surprisingly strong footage editing system. Popping into the first-person recording gameplay to simply explore quickly becomes the best part of the game, so it's unfortunate when the narrative then dials that back as the story progresses. 

But that’s not the only gameplay highlight. An interesting conversation system puts many important choices in the hands of players and it’s made clear very early that said player choice will have a big impact on what they get to see and how the tale unfolds. 

There’s not much beyond the camcorder and general exploration per se, but what’s here is engrossing in the best type of way, especially when complemented so nicely with a memorable setting and likeable characters that players will quickly come to care about.

Story and More

Protagonists Swann, Nora, Autumn and Kat are friends in a smallish town where things eventually get creepy. Think, Twin Peaks with perhaps some Stephen King “It” sort of vibes. 

It helps that this isn’t any typical romp in that sort of style, though, as Lost Records uses a  concurrent structure that also features the girls reuniting nearly 30 years later. Sprinkle in player choice impacting what actually happens and it feels unique.

Players won’t love every character and their mileage may vary on the predictability of some story beats. But the bold focus on friendship, self-expression in all its forms and aging, to paint with a broad brush, is incredibly refreshing. 

There is plenty of in-world storytelling too through the sheer shifts environments take between the parallel timelines. It’s meta, too, with mentions of things like “Blair Witch” while filming in the woods. For actual '90s kids, it’s a heavy dose of nostalgia—for those who missed out, it really finds the sweet spot. 

The second episode features a pretty big tonal shift, but it’s mostly earned because it isn’t hard to see where things are going. It feels quick, though that’s intended after the first part’s efforts to get players invested in the world and characters.

At the end of it all, it’s really fun to look at the numbers behind a player’s decision and see the choices that were available to them over the course of the game. Seeing other possibilities revamps a player’s thoughts about the choices they made along the way. 

Lost Records includes little extras like a photo mode with plenty of filters and options that can quickly become a fun timesink, too. 

While performance isn’t always flawless, the game does come equipped with a large suite of options. 

Conclusion

Lost Records is admirable for the way it leaves itself vulnerable via risks like tackling such mature themes worth exploring and simply slowing down the pace while focusing on mundane aspects of characters’ lives. 

At its most basic, Lost Records is a good example of what the best possible modern evolution of old-school point-and-click story games, complete with player choice, can be. It’s also a fantastic example of how slowing down and offering fleshed-out characters and deeply immersive environments can create unforgettable experiences. 

Opinions will vary by the player on how Lost Records stacks up compared to heavyweights like Life is Strange. But the fact that it’s even in the conversation makes it worth a look.