Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Volume 1) Evaluation

It was five years ago since the end of life was strange. The selection of the small town and the blue-haired fan favorites from the original story of the series was a brave step for the developer and a conscious advance for a continuation of other feeling. But while the life of life 2 of Strange 2s is an episodic degree in American social issues and the changing relationship between two young brothers had some impressive moments, it also felt too much curve ball for some fans who expected a more well-known follow-up had. At that time do not nod and his life is a strange series permanent and had future franchisees developed by other hands.

Static video tape, flash forward to present.

Enter Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, life is the next project of the strange creator, which has been in progress since then (with his first half today, while its final part falls as a free update on April 18). His arrival took some time, not least because his team moved continents, set new roots in Montreal and has not separated from the other parts of nod in Paris headquarters in the meantime. Of course there was a pandemic, and the game was rather incredibly delayed last year to avoid a collision with Square Enix’s latest new life.

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However, it is impressive that Lost Records feel like the product of these five years in the oven – with several new ideas that refresh the now famous narrative adventure formula. The most obvious of these is the game of the game, which is used by protagonist Swann, a painfully cumbersome 16-year-old who uses video as a tool to deal with the world. It is the summer of 1995 and Swann will leave her sleepy hometown in Michigan in just two months. Before that, she begins a project to capture her surroundings in the film, which enables her to finally find a real friendship group – and enables the player to interact and document with the three other main characters of the game.

Swann’s camcorder is the most important gameplay device from Bloom & Rage, a way to collect evidence or interview other people, and there is an intelligent system in which the game can intuitively can be intuitive through its camera lens. Finding and recording objects is necessary to advance the plot and complete countless collectible side quests, and add another layer to Swann’s environment that you can examine. Do you think you have uncovered any hint or story thread around you? Look through your camcorder and you will often have something else that you can record. Here, too, there is an element to encourage the player expression, whereby the film material for this perfect recording can be resumed, which is then available for new observation and grouping in collections, for which SWANN then offers a voice-over.

A similarly intuitive system comes into play in conversations that are another step of the past work of Donn Nod. Much of the game offers the headquartet from Bloom & Rage on the screen, whereby the dialogue reacts in a natural way or overlaps that they feel in the center of the whole – and part of the jokes within a circle of friends. It is the most similar to the discussions in Oxenfree, except here in a 3D room, and the game draws the fine balance between the feeling that things feel impressively interactively without ever being too fiddling.

If you continue the chatter around you, Swann’s dialog options can multiply a time connection or multiple if the conversation develops, with additional answers that are sometimes available if something else is said that your reaction could change. In several circumstances, further answers can be activated by watching a scene while talking (on site to choose a favorite music star, for example Swann can throw the next band posters on the wall). As expected, some dialogue options will help to build stronger bonds with the core cast of the game, while other Swanns are undermined. Other options will at the same time strengthen your bond with a friend and at the same time frustrate another. Finally, later in the game, additional dialogues are unlocked on the basis of their relationship with each of the core occupations, depending on how close they have become.

Because life are strange fans who try to delete a similarly strong connection between the characters of Bloom & Rage like Max and Chloe. It is another strength of the game because it creates more options and additional complexity within the group, since their members are and closer together. One of the friends of Swann is Nora, a punk and somewhat older teenager who hates the man, but wants to be nothing more than famous. Autumn is now Nora’s more rational counterpart that has to balance a part -time job to get through. And then there is Kat, a wild girl with a complex family background, which is driven especially towards the mysterious supernatural forces of the game.

A further addition to Bloom & Rage’s story is the double timeline aspect, in which his characters are back together 27 years later – for the first time since this summer. The teenage bar of the game begins as slowly burning and takes some time to build its character relationships or actually introduce something extraordinary. But this modern framing helps to drive tension – because it quickly becomes clear that Swann and the time together of her friends suddenly ended with something very bad. An ominous package was addressed to the group as adults who have Tropey Shades of I know what they did last summer and involved in a JJ Abrams-like, literal mystery box. But I was also reminded of the more nuanced moments from the penetration of Hill House here, in which the understanding of the audience is reinforced for these characters by seeing the effects of past events, years later. I can’t remember the last time I was engaged that this fiancee game played a game with a group of 40 hunting goods that simply sit at a table, and there are some moving moments when former friends about their youth ponder.

The technical side of the fast scenes of the game is impressive, and a quick scene changes between teenagers and adults in various environments, which are statically masked by video tape for only one or two seconds. However, I was less sold because I was the lack of clear explanation of the game for the question of why the adult characters were unable to remember events – including some great revelations – until they had played through them in the past. If you end the episode, you can sit back and think: ‘Well, why didn’t you talk about X from the start?! Play with the effects of the supernatural elements of Lost Records.

Since it is a non -nickly narrative adventure game, there are numerous familiar stories. Of course you can spend time exploring your bedroom. There are antagonists and finally they are nuanced. And yes, there is science fiction/magic realism in the game. In contrast to life, however, there is strange, but there are no gameplay superpowers, and the existing supernatural forces are mostly treated with a slight touch. Things may change through the final half of Bloom & Rage, but there is already a lot going on in the middle of the point without having to lean too much (something that is a strange game after the end of the last life make a refreshing other approach). Indeed, the question that I answered most after the rather shocking climax of Tape 1 is nothing to do with magic.

It is enough to say that it will take a few long months for volume 2 to arrive to end the history of Bloom & Rage. The split launch of the game is something like a compromise. Wait for the audience that is now used to Netflix Binges. However, what is already here is a fascinating mix of familiar and new – not an unsuccessful road trip and not just another adventure of the high school. After such a long wait, it is great to see such a confident return.

A copy of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage was not nodding for the review by developers.