Lost Records: Bloom & Rage

I've personally never played Life is Strange so this is sort of an introduction to that kind of gaming style. Yet however this game feels somewhat nostalgic, with Spooky elements. The characters are full of depth which makes this game stand out to me. The devs really put hard effort into this game. It feels like a special baby they've produced here.

The main characters comes off as a shy girl who eventually blossoms once she becomes friends with a group of girls which feels relatable because there are such people out there who have too much social anxiety to blend with other people. I used to be like that so I could immediately relate to her. This game is like a puzzle as the characters are trying to Piece their faded memories together, creating enough suspense to grip you to the story. You the player have a choice of how the story very much progresses much like until dawn. Unlike until dawn which can be stressful this game feels comforting as no choice feels like a "right" choice. You can lay back and let the story flow however you choose.

The character interactions feel realistic enough to make you feel comforted as if you're actually part of their group rather than the person with a controller, commanding them how to interact. You feel almost like the big brother chief seeing how they interact and learning about them without them being aware you're watching them. Feels creepy the way I stated that🤨. To my surprise there were puzzles in this game and you'd get occasional interactions just by finding stuff around you. Although the puzzles weren't difficult or didn't bring anything new to the table, it didn't really make me hate the game or make me want it to end.

You can take pictures with the main girl's camera and record stuff for her diary but also discover secrets which kinda brought me back to Infamous Second son. When you'd film stuff. And I like that sometimes the filming aspect was important for a certain part of the story. It makes me feel nostalgic for older games like Fatal Frame because when you play it back whatever you filmed it shows up in poor quality as if you're like in the older decades. The camera itself even has a flash which again FEELS LIKE A CALL BACK TO FATAL FRAME speaking of which where are the Fatal Frame remakes? Deadass🙄

The graphics are great, the game and character designs look pretty real can even be mistaken for a CGI movie. Sometimes you can look at the flaws in graphics however if there is fast movement but that is rare. The facial expressions tho remain unaffected. Overall decent game and I'm looking forward to the free update in April.


Version: Digital
Price: £36
Next Game: Assassin's Creed Shadows

🇬🇧 Review in english at the bottom

🇪🇸
Este es uno de los juegos de los que más me voy a arrepentir de haber jugado jamás.

Bloom and Rage es la nueva ip de Dont Nod (los de life is strange) pero esta vez es la vida de 4 adolescentes normales, ningún superpoder ni ninguna parafernalia (a priori)

Las cuatro protagonistas de la historia son Swann, Summer, Nora y Kat

Swann (literalmente yo):
Es una chica tímida, acomplejada y rara, tanto en forma de ser como en gustos, esta se va a marchar del pueblo donde sucede la historia porque sus padres se mudan, quitando esta última parte no puedo evitar reflejarme en ella, nunca hemos tenido muchos amigos, nos dejamos llevar por el ambiente para hacer cosas que normalmente no hariamos además de apegarnos muy rápido a las personas que nos dan un mínimo de atención. Además de todo esto a ámbos siempre nos han gustado los animales "exóticos", a ella solo los bichos y a mi siempre me han gustado los reptiles y bichos

Autumn:
La odio, chocamos en todo, en forma de ser, pensar y funcionar, tiene la cabeza en el sitio, muy seria, obviamente es la cabeza fría del grupo y la líder aunque realmente no haya ninguna.

Nora:
La más "libre" del grupo, sus padres están divorciados y esconde toda esa carencia de atención detrás de beber y fumar como una carreta, de las cuatro del grupo es la más abierta a hablar sobre sí misma, tanto respecto a relaciones como a lo que piensa.

Kat:
Es mi personaje favorito del juego, tiene en mi opinión el mejor diseño de las cuatro y siempre ha sido el tipo de amigo que me hubiera gustado tener en mi vida creciendo, gustos raros, le da igual todo (con un motivo el cual no puedo decir por ser un spoiler), cada vez que la veía en pantalla no podía evitar sonreir, en serio, es un ser de luz y se ha transformado en uno de mis personajes favoritos de toda la historia respecto a ficción.


La historia sucede en Velvet Cove, un pueblo rural (recordemos que el juego sucede ambientado en el verano de 1995 y con saltos a 2022) donde Swann (en teoría la protagonista pero quiero pensar que todas son igual de importantes, el juego lo ves desde el POV de Swann) volviendo de dejar una cinta al videoclub ya que se van a mudar pronto se encuentra a Autumn y Nora, que estaban esperando a que Summer terminara su turno en el puesto de helados para ir al cine.

Al principio la ignoran un poco pero tras un rato, cuando Swann iba a irse saca su cámara que lleva a todos lados y graba un globo que se queda atascado en una verja, con la mala suerte de que Dylan (la hermana de Kat) estaba ahí y se piensa que la estaba grabando a ella, tras esto su novio aparece el cuál trabaja en la granja de Kat y tras este la propia Kat que defiende a Swann de estos que estaban acosandola, al poco Nora y Autumn se suman y acaban espantandolos tras Kat hacerle blackmail a Dylan.

voy a evitar contar mucho más de la historia ya que de verdad, merece la pena 100% jugarlo todo por tu cuenta, el resumen es que poco a poco vas conociendo más y mejor a las chicas hasta que llegas al final de la cinta 1 y hasta aquí es donde voy a llegar ya que no quiero desvelar nada.

Paralelamente a todo esto, en 2022, Swann se reune con Autumn y Nora ya que a Autumn le ha llegado un paquete que dice "Para Bloom and Rage" (el nombre de la "banda" de las chicas) rompiendo un pacto que hicieron al final de ese verano de 1995 de no volver a encontrarse nunca más.


Lo bueno:

✅ Un estilo artístico muy acertado, Dont Knod suele darnos maravillas visualmente hablando, pero pongo la mana en el fuego afirmando que este es mi favorito hasta el día de hoy

✅ Tanto si eres joven como si ya estás entrado en años todos los personajes son relatables aún si no has vivido la época, son adolescentes normales con problemas de adolescentes que solo quieren vivir el ahora y no pensar en el futuro, al menos, así lo siento yo habiendo nacido en el 2004.

✅ Independientemente del tipo de adolescente que fueras te vas a sentir identificado con alguna de las cuatro chicas.

✅ El juego se centra mucho en la música y en dar una muy buena ambientación, siendo impecable sin nada que reprocharles a ninguno de estos dos ámbitos.

❌ Me hubiera gustado que el juego fuera un poquito más largo, son unas 9 horas que se disfrutan todas y cada una de estas, pero no se yo si justifican los retrasos que ha habido y el precio para una novela visual vitaminada.

En resumen, me atrevo a decir que es si no mi novela visual favorita, mi segunda favorita ya que está ahí peleando con until then, el motivo de arrepentirme de jugar esto es que me ha hecho desenterrar muchísimos sentimientos que tenía apagados ya que como puedes adivinar, no tuve la mejor de las adolescencias creciendo, la relación que he formado con Swann y sobre todo con Kat me ha quitado años de vida de manera no irónica, además me gustaría haberme reservado un día para jugarlo todo de carrera pero por cosas de la vida me ha tocado jugarlo en 4 días.

Como siempre, gracias por leerme, ten un buen día.

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🇬🇧
This is one of those games I’m going to regret playing the most in my life.

Bloom and Rage is the new IP from Dont Nod (the Life is Strange developers), but this time it’s about the lives of four regular teenage girls, no superpowers or gimmicks (at least, not at first glance).

The four protagonists are Swann, Summer, Nora, and Kat.

Swann (literally me):
She’s a shy, self-conscious, and quirky girl—both in personality and tastes. She’s moving away from the town where the story takes place because her parents are relocating. Aside from that final part, I can’t help but see myself in her. We’ve never had many friends, we let the environment influence us into doing things we normally wouldn’t, and we get attached quickly to anyone who gives us even the slightest attention. Also, both of us have always loved “exotic” animals, she's into bugs, and I’ve always liked reptiles and insects.

Autumn:
I hate her, we clash on everything: personality, way of thinking, and how we operate. She’s got her head on straight, very serious. Obviously, she’s the cool-headed one of the group and sort of the leader, even though there’s not an official one.

Nora:
The most “free-spirited” of the group. Her parents are divorced and she hides that lack of attention behind drinking and smoking like there’s no tomorrow. Out of the four, she’s the most open about herself, whether it’s her relationships or what she’s thinking.

Kat:
My favorite character in the game. In my opinion, she has the best design out of the four, and she’s always been the kind of friend I would’ve liked to have growing up. She’s got weird tastes, doesn’t care about much (for reasons I can’t spoil), and every time she showed up on screen, I couldn’t help but smile. Seriously, she’s a ray of light and has become one of my all-time favorite fictional characters.

The story takes place in Velvet Cove, a rural town (the game is set in the summer of 1995 with some jumps to 2022), where Swann (the supposed protagonist, though I like to think they’re all equally important—you play from her POV) is on her way back from returning a videotape to the video store, since her family’s moving soon. On the way, she runs into Autumn and Nora, who are waiting for Summer to finish her shift at the ice cream stand so they can go to the movies.

At first, they kind of ignore her, but when Swann is about to leave, she pulls out her camera (which she always carries) and starts recording a balloon that gets stuck in a fence. Unfortunately, Dylan (Kat’s sister) is there and thinks Swann is recording her. Then Dylan’s boyfriend shows up—he works on Kat’s family’s farm, and finally Kat herself, who steps in to defend Swann from them. Soon after, Nora and Autumn back her up, and they end up scaring the others off after Kat blackmails Dylan.

I won’t say much more about the story, because honestly, it’s 100% worth playing on your own. All I’ll say is that, little by little, you get to know the girls better, until you reach the end of Tape 1—and that’s where I’ll stop to avoid any spoilers.

Meanwhile, in 2022, Swann reunites with Autumn and Nora after Autumn receives a package labeled *“For Bloom and Rage”* (the name of the girls’ “band”), breaking a pact they made at the end of that summer in 1995 to never meet again.

The Good:

✅ The art style is spot-on. Dont Nod usually gives us visual gems, but I’d bet anything this is my favorite so far.

✅ Whether you’re young or a bit older, all the characters are relatable, even if you didn’t live through that era. They’re just regular teens with typical teen problems who want to live in the moment without thinking about the future—at least that’s how it felt to me, being born in 2004.

✅ No matter what kind of teen you were, you’ll relate to at least one of the four girls.

✅ The game focuses heavily on music and atmosphere, and it nails both areas flawlessly.

❌ I wish the game had been a bit longer. It’s about 9 hours, and every minute is enjoyable, but I’m not sure it justifies the delays and the price for a “supercharged” visual novel.

In summary, I dare say this is, if not my favorite visual novel, my second favorite, right up there with Until Then. The reason I regret playing it is because it stirred up a lot of feelings I had buried. As you can probably guess, I didn’t have the best adolescence, and the connection I formed with Swann,and especially Kat, honestly took years off my life in a non-ironic way, I would also had liked to play everything the same day but had to do it in 4 different sessions.

As always, thanks for reading. Have a great day.

I finished part 1, and what a sublime game! I lost track of time playing—such an amazing art, music, and theme. I can’t wait for part 2!

Although I liked part one more, it’s still a nice game with a beautiful soundtrack. I encountered some bugs in tape 2, and I also found the game short. It’s a fine game.

What started off very promisingly fell off quite a bit in tape 2. Enjoyable enough but Don't Nod have done much better before.

Lost Records is interesting to me, it has a fun cast and undeniably interesting mystery yet it never truly utilises either of these things. Unfortunately it feels like Dontnod opted for this game to be set-up for a sequel instead of a complete and satisfying narrative in it's own right.

A bit of boring and characters are especially MC is so weird. I know this is the thing but I am yalking about the voice and the design