Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is a narrative-driven adventure game that blends mystery, nostalgia, and supernatural elements. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.

← Go to Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Review (Tape 1)

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Review Overview

What is Lost Records: Bloom & Rage?

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is a narrative-driven adventure game by Don't Nod. The game blends coming-of-age drama with a mysterious past, switching between two timelines, 1995 and 2022. In the past, we follow a group of four friends, Swann, Kat, Nora, and Autumn, as they navigate one unforgettable summer. In the present, Swann returns to her hometown to uncover the truth about what really happened during that time.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage features:
　⚫︎　A Dual-Timeline Narrative
　⚫︎　VHS Recording Mechanic
　⚫︎　Emotionally Driven Dialogue
　⚫︎　Light Puzzle-Solving and Exploration
　⚫︎　A Deep Focus on Friendship, Nostalgia, And The Passage Of Time
　⚫︎　A Carefully Curated Soundtrack
　⚫︎　Supernatural Elements

For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Lost Records: Bloom & Rage .

Digital Storefronts
Steam		PS Store		Xbox
Price		$39.99

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Tape 2) Pros & Cons

Pros	Cons
Deep Character Development and Evolving Relationships Stunning Integration of Recordings from Tape 1 Complex Puzzles Strong Voice Acting and Emotional Soundtrack	Some Plot Points Remain Ambiguous Less Interactivity Collectibles are Easy to Miss

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Tape 2) Overall Score - 84/100

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Tape 2) successfully delivers on the emotional promises made in the first installment. Its strengths lie in the immersive narrative, character development, and innovative gameplay mechanics. While some questions remain unanswered and the pace may frustrate players looking for more action, the game’s thematic depth and attention to detail make it a compelling experience. With a solid foundation for further exploration and narrative payoff, Tape 2 is worth it for fans who appreciated the first game and want to see how the story evolves.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Tape 2) Story - 9/10

The story of Tape 2 builds upon the solid groundwork laid in Tape 1, delivering an emotionally charged narrative filled with complex characters and a haunting atmosphere. The protagonist's motivations are clear, and the plot twists, though somewhat subtle, are impactful. The supernatural elements remain intriguing, though not fully explained, leaving room for speculation. This narrative complexity makes the game memorable, even if it leaves lingering questions.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Tape 2) Gameplay - 8/10

Tape 2 improves on the core gameplay of its predecessor by adding more complex puzzles and a deeper use of the recording mechanic. While there are fewer puzzles than in Tape 1, their execution is sharper and more integrated into the world. The mechanics remain intuitive, though occasionally repetitive. The real highlight is how your choices shape the world, creating a sense of agency. However, some of the choices, especially those regarding the supernatural elements, can feel like they don’t lead to satisfying resolutions, which impacts the overall experience.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Tape 2) Visuals - 8/10

The visual design in Tape 2 continues to impress with its stylistic choices, blending realistic character models with a dreamlike, surreal atmosphere. The environments are beautifully crafted, with detailed settings that add layers of meaning to the narrative. While the technical performance is generally solid, there are occasional frame drops that interrupt immersion. The environmental storytelling is evident, particularly in how the settings reflect the growing tension between the characters and the unknown force of The Abyss.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Tape 2) Audio - 9/10

The audio in Tape 2 is exceptional, with a haunting, atmospheric score that elevates the emotional weight of the story. The voice acting is strong, bringing the complex characters to life in a way that feels authentic and raw. Sound design is equally well-executed, with ambient noises that enhance the world-building and moments of suspense. The soundtrack is emotionally resonant, shifting seamlessly between haunting melodies and more subdued tracks, keeping you immersed in the narrative. Overall, the audio is one of the game’s standout features.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Tape 2) Value for Money - 8/10

Given that the game is 12 hours long for $40, Tape 2 offers good value for money. The replayability factor is significant, thanks to branching choices, multiple endings, and collectible footage that rewards exploration. However, limited gameplay mechanics may cause some players to feel the game is stretched thin. There’s also no post-launch content or DLC aside from Tape 2 to extend the experience further. Still, for those invested in the story and characters, it offers plenty of emotional and thematic depth to justify the cost.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Tape 2) Review: Shrouded in Beautiful Mystery

If you read my review of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1, you’ll remember that Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is a narrative-driven, episodic adventure game with a heavy emphasis on memory, relationships, and recording—the literal kind, with a camcorder—and the metaphorical kind, the emotional stuff we carry with us. We follow four teenage girls—Swann, Nora, Autumn, and Kat—through the sun-faded streets and surreal experiences of a summer in 1995. There’s mystery, there’s music, and there’s just enough supernatural weirdness to keep you wondering if it’s real or imagined.

In Tape 1, I talked about the game’s slow burn, how it lets you steep in its world like a tea bag in lukewarm water. It was tender, a little strange, and emotionally loaded in that specific way only Don't Nod seems to master. We dove into the recording mechanic and how it grounds the game’s memory-heavy themes. We talked about teenhood, trauma, trust. And we waited, because Tape 1 ended with more questions than answers.

So here we are. Tape 2 is finally out. And I swear to you, within five minutes of launching it, I genuinely thought I’d clicked on the wrong game.

No exaggeration—I sat there blinking at the screen like, Wait. What? I was expecting another walk through dusky neighborhoods, another bittersweet dialogue about childhoods ending. What I got instead felt like a cold plunge into a psychological horror game. I was stumbling through some unknowable space, shadows pressing in from every angle, past moments from Tape 1 whispering as I walked. I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t know why I was there. It was the kind of dream logic that modern horror games love to trap you in, and I was just… lost.

And still, it worked. Somehow. At first, I assumed it was just a strange way to recap the last episode, an artsy opening flourish. I didn’t think much of it. It felt disconnected. Cool looking, sure, but narratively? Weird. That is, until I reached the end.

Suddenly, everything about that strange opening snapped into focus. I can’t go into details without completely spoiling the punch, but let me say this: the game told me how it was going to end—right there in the beginning. And I didn’t even realize it.

That’s when it hit me: Tape 2 doesn’t just continue the story—it recontextualizes it. It changes the meaning of what came before. Scenes from Tape 1 that once felt idle or purely emotional are now loaded with new meaning. Subtle glances, offhand remarks, even the stuff you recorded with your camcorder—they all come back with weight. With consequence. The game remembers everything, and now it’s your turn to do the same.

So if Tape 1 was the sleepy, sun-drenched setup, Tape 2 is the thunderstorm you didn’t see coming. It’s bolder. Sharper. Unafraid to disorient you. Even when you don’t get it at first, it knows what it’s doing.

Puzzles and Playback

It might be easy to forget amid all the emotional gut punches and surreal storytelling, but Tape 2 quietly steps up its mechanical game in some impressive ways. Yes, there are fewer puzzles this time around—but what is here feels more cohesive, more world-aware, and, frankly, more satisfying.

Where Tape 1 had simpler, more straightforward interactions that often felt like set dressing for the narrative, Tape 2 makes its puzzles part of the experience. They draw from your environment, require some real attention to detail, and integrate with the game’s logic instead of just interrupting it. It’s subtle, but effective.

And then there’s the camera. Still one of the game’s most compelling mechanics, it gets more purpose this time around. Beyond just story beats and aesthetic vibes, you’re now rewarded for your curiosity. Snap enough footage, uncover the right angles, and you’ll find small collectible secrets tucked away—little nods that make your inner completionist feel seen. They’re not game-changers, sure, but they deepen that sense of presence and agency. You’re not just watching this summer unfold; you’re archiving it.

So no, this isn’t a gameplay-heavy title in the traditional sense but it respects the medium enough to play with it. And when it does, it plays well.

Lights, Camera, Consequences

Let’s talk about the camcorder a little bit more. In Tape 1, the act of filming felt like a gentle gimmick at first—something nostalgic, maybe a little poetic. You pointed your lens at graffiti, shoes dangling from power lines, your friends laughing in the playground. You captured moments. Memories. The mechanic invited you to frame the world, to make it yours. But in Tape 2? That little camera becomes something else entirely.

I don’t think I was prepared for the emotional whiplash of seeing my own footage—my choices, my framing, my gaze—played back to me in Tape 2 as backdrop for major scenes. It’s not just "Remember this?" It’s "You filmed this. You brought this into being." And now? It’s echoing through moments of consequence. Dialogue plays out in front of your past self. Entire sequences fold into footage you barely thought about at the time. It’s like the game is stitching together a scrapbook from your decisions and then setting it on fire, just to see how you’ll react.

That’s not an exaggeration. It’s personal in a way I didn’t expect. When I first noticed the repurposed footage, it kind of hit me like deja vu, like walking into a dream made of your own memories. It’s not just immersion—it’s continuity on a level that most narrative games don’t even attempt. Don’t Nod didn’t just record what you did in Tape 1, they built Tape 2 around it. It’s uncanny. Brilliant. A little bit haunting, too.

Then the story takes over, fast. For most of Tape 2, it all feels inevitable. The way conversations escalate. The way relationships fracture or deepen. The way all the characters spiral. I honestly believed, for a huge stretch of my first playthrough, that things were out of my hands. That this was the story being told no matter what I did.

But it wasn’t.

When I went back and tried again—tweaked just a few things, said this instead of that, chose silence where I’d spoken before—I started to see the cracks. Moments I thought were set in stone began to shift. Characters I assumed would always react the same way suddenly didn’t. Whole outcomes rearranged themselves like puzzle pieces I hadn’t realized were loose.

That’s when it got me. The inevitability I felt wasn’t the game forcing me down a path—it was the writing, the performances, the illusion of fate. And when a game can make you believe that your choices don’t matter—only to later prove that they absolutely did? That’s mastery. That’s narrative design operating on a different level.

Bloom & Rage: Tape 2 doesn’t just ask you to remember. It asks you to take responsibility. To own what you chose to see. To question what you could have done differently. And that’s powerful.

The Heart of the Story

There’s a point in every good coming-of-age story where the characters stop feeling like characters and start feeling like people—real ones, with sharp edges and rough patches and fears they’re too scared to name. Tape 2 gets there. And it doesn’t take long.

If Tape 1 was about setting the scene—introducing the group, hinting at fractures, handing you the tools to shape how they connect—Tape 2 is the result of all that simmering finally boiling over. The conflict is loud, dramatic and it creeps in. The ending, depending on how it lands, is either a soft exhale or a punch to the ribs. All endings feel right, everything makes sense.

The emotional throughline of Bloom & Rage works. Not in the manufactured, made-for-Netflix sort of way, but in the "this hurts because it’s true" kind of way. Growing up isn’t just about milestones—it’s about realizing people change, and sometimes that change takes them further from you. It’s about guilt and silence and saying the wrong thing too late. It’s about losing things you didn’t know you were holding onto.

For all its supernatural undertones, Lost Records never forgets what kind of story it’s telling. It’s a game about friendship, grief, and the messy space in between. It’s about four girls standing on the edge of everything they think they know—and realizing they can’t stay there forever.

Everyone changes. Some slowly. Some like they’re racing against time. Some with grace. Others with guilt. But they all change. They didn’t all arrive at the same place, but every single one of them was shaped by what happened, by what I chose, and by what they could no longer ignore. Well….. almost every one.

There’s one character who, at the end of Tape 1, I thought had depth. I saw layers. Subtext. Maybe even redemption. I figured we’d peel them back in Tape 2 and find something raw or tragic or quietly human. Instead? Turns out they might just be a bad person. Not tortured. Not misunderstood. Just… cruel. And yeah, maybe some of that can be chalked up to the Abyss and how it affects people differently—Kat wasn’t the only one it got its hooks in—but part of me thinks this person didn’t need supernatural help to become who they are.

The Abyss Between Us

Let’s talk about The Abyss. I’ve spent hours combing through theories, interviews, lore deep-dives, half-baked Reddit speculations and I still don’t know what it is. Not exactly. Not really. I don’t know where it came from, why it chose these girls, or what rules it plays by. And that’s the part of Bloom & Rage that lingers. That unsettles. That frustrates the hell out of me.

The Abyss is this dark, creeping presence threading through both tapes, but it really starts to pull at the seams in Tape 2. It doesn’t always show up in the same way—sometimes it’s metaphor, sometimes it’s space-bending horror, sometimes it’s grief made tangible—but it always changes things. It distorts the world, the people, the relationships. And unlike the other mechanics or narrative choices in the game, this thing doesn’t care about your decisions. It just is.

And the weirdest part? It affects everyone differently. Kat, obviously. But others too, in ways that make you question whether it’s the Abyss acting on them—or if this darkness was already there, waiting. Why was one character swallowed by it so completely while the others barely seemed to flinch? Was it about emotional vulnerability? Guilt? Proximity? Or just randomness? I have no idea. And the game isn’t interested in spelling it out.

That ambiguity is powerful… but also kind of maddening.

On one hand, I respect the hell out of it. Bloom & Rage doesn’t patronize you. It doesn’t dump exposition or spoon-feed lore. It wants you to sit in that discomfort, to wrestle with what the Abyss might be: trauma, adolescence, grief, a rift between worlds, or some horrible mix of all of them. And in doing that, it aligns with the rest of the game’s coming-of-age themes. Some things just don’t make sense. Some wounds never close neatly. Some summers end without resolution.

But at the same time? I’m not gonna lie—I wanted answers. Especially in Tape 2, where everything else tightened up, I kept waiting for that big moment of clarity. Not a full explanation, maybe, but at least a glimpse of what we were really dealing with. Instead, what we got feels like a setup. Like a prologue. Like there’s more coming—another game, another story, maybe even a trilogy—and this was just the beginning.

And hey, if that’s the plan? I’m already in line for the next one. But it does leave Bloom & Rage in a weird place: emotionally satisfying, thematically complete, but cosmically unfinished. So what is the Abyss? A metaphor? A monster? A narrative device stretched across two tapes? I’m not sure. But I can tell you this—whatever it is, it’s still looking at me. Still waiting.

Maybe that’s the magic trick. Bloom & Rage: Tape 2 doesn’t tie everything up, it ties up enough. It trusts you to live with ambiguity, to sit with unresolved feelings, to understand that coming of age isn’t about wrapping things in a bow. It’s about making peace with the mess. Accepting that not everything gets an explanation even though it probably deserves one. So before the summer fades, before the light on the tape flickers out for good, ask yourself: What story did you record? And was it worth remembering?

Is Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Tape 2) Worth It?

It's As Haunting As It Is Heartfelt

If Tape 1 was the foundation, then Tape 2 is the emotional crescendo—the game’s final act that ties up loose ends, expands the world, and leaves you reflecting long after the credits roll. But does it land?

The answer depends on what you’re looking for. If you’re in it for a neatly packaged supernatural thriller with all its questions answered, Bloom & Rage might leave you frustrated. The Abyss remains shrouded in ambiguity, and the game’s refusal to give clear answers can sting. However, if you’re more drawn to character-driven stories, where choices carry weight and relationships evolve before your eyes, Bloom & Rage does not disappoint.

For $40, Bloom & Rage invites you to lose yourself in its world in a combined 12 hours of gameplay, and for many, that will be more than enough. The immersive recording system and the carefully crafted world all work together to create an experience that is emotionally resonant and narratively compelling.

Ultimately, if you’re invested in the emotional journey, the character arcs, and the way Tape 2 builds on everything Tape 1 set up, then absolutely—Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is worth it. Just go in with the understanding that it’s a ride that demands patience and invites you to question its mysteries.

Digital Storefronts
Steam		PS Store		Xbox
Price		$39.99

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage FAQ

Is There Animal Symbolism in Bloom & Rage?

Yes, look out for moths. While moths represent rebirth, they are also widely known to symbolize death. Ultimately, in the game, they serve as guides, flying toward the light during dark moments.

Are Bloom & Rage Tapes 1 and 2 Separate Purchases?

No, if you buy Tape 1, Tape 2 will be available to you when it releases in April. If you choose to wait until Tape 2 releases and purchase it in April, Tape 1 will also be included.

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Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Product Information

Title	LOST RECORDS: BLOOM & RAGE
Release Date	February 18, 2025 (Tape 1), April 15, 2025 (Tape 2)
Developer	DON’T NOD
Publisher	DON’T NOD
Supported Platforms	PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Steam)
Genre	Adventure, Story-Driven
Number of Players	1
ESRB Rating	M
Official Website	Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Website

Allisandra Reyes

I find joy in the adrenaline rush of horror games, but my thrill-seeking doesn't stop there. Beyond the digital realm, I like to take on the role of designated GM in TTRPGs.