Lost Records: Bloom & Rage - Tape 2

In mid-February, the first of two episodes of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage was released and the story of the four teenage girls Nora, Autumn, Kat, and Swann continues in the second episode, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage - Tape 2: Rage.

The second episode picks up immediately after the first, where we saw the four girls bond with each other in the summer of 1995 - and how in 2022 they meet at a bar in the city where their summer adventure took place, despite having promised never to see each other again. Quite simply, Don't Nod was on storytelling form with the first episode and it's safe to say they continue to be in this second episode.

• Don't miss our review of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage - Tape 1: Bloom

I won't go too much into the story here, because as always in these games, the story is the centrepiece and it needs to be experienced first-hand, but let me just say right now that the action in Tape 2: Rage really hits home. I don't know anyone like Don't Nod who can tell a story so that it gets under your skin - I'm not usually very receptive to storylines, I'm not affected by them - but the story in Lost Records: Bloom & Rage grabbed me.

The tone of this second instalment is somewhat different and it's influenced by the somewhat surprising ending from the first episode. It's now characterised by powerlessness, despair, and desperation - and there are passages that are actually not very nice to unpack. Don't Nod pushes all the right buttons, and if you've experienced the game's themes first-hand, it's hard not to feel it inside.

Aside from the story, Tape 2: Rage plays out similarly to the first instalment. It's a bit more fast-paced now, but it's by no means fast. Everything develops slowly and there's room for long sequences with music and steady, calm, panning shots. You can't help but get a Twin Peaks feeling when the game moves gracefully and is sometimes interrupted by sequences where nothing happens - it gives the game a very special atmosphere.

Again, there isn't much gameplay as you're really witnessing an interactive narrative that you can influence. Once again, you have to use Swann's video camera to film various sequences that help drive the story forward and you have to solve simple puzzles and tasks. The visuals are quite nice and atmospheric and generally use very cinematic camera angles and quiet camera pans to keep things calm and ambient.

Don't Nod has also managed to capture the 90s style quite convincingly, especially when using Swann's video camera. Here the image changes to a 4:3 format, with grainy quality and overly harsh contrast, just as it looked with those video cameras in the 1990s.

The soundtrack is excellent, with really good performances from the voice actors and the dialogue is always believable and convincing. As always with these stories from Don't Nod, the music takes centre stage, and it does so here too. The soundtrack is mainly provided by American singer-songwriter Ruth Radelet (lead singer of the band Chromatics) and Canadian band Milk & Bone, and it's a dreamy and melancholic soundtrack that fits perfectly into the style of the game.

Tape 2: Rage concludes Lost Records: Bloom & Rage really well. There may not be any big plot twists this time, but it's a really strong story and you'd have to be made of granite not to be a little moved by it. It's exactly how life can be; beautiful and very brutal at the same time.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is a game that sticks in your head for a while after you've finished playing it. Not many games can do that, and if you've played the first episode, do yourself a favour and play Tape 2 as well, because it's just as good as the first and completes the beautiful story of the four friends Nora, Autumn, Kat, and not least Swann.