Lost Records: Bloom and Rage - TAPE 2

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Image from DONTNOD

We pick off right where left the last tape. Kat has cancer. A truth that the three other girls in the group were ignorant to. Based on the choices I made, I had Swann take the fall for impromptu concert Bloom and Rage had in front of the Blue Spruce. Swann recaps the night to her camera and she is in complete shock at the revelation of Kat's illness. You have the option of calling the other girls and based on your relationship with them, the conversations will vary. I'm assuming Kat will never pick up the phone since she's supposed to be in the hospital, but I could be wrong. Additionally, in the year 2022, the girls finally open the package to find a locked box. Which they have no idea how to open.

Following Swann's recount of the night prior, we head to the Blue Spruce to clean up the mess the following day (I'm not sure if the others come to help out if you let Kat admit to it being her idea because I haven't gotten around to that scenario yet). I met Pam there, who players initially meet in the year 2022 inside the bar. You get the option of speaking with her, fulfilling the "strangers" collection of your captured videos, and returning her book to her after she tells Swann that she's misplaced it. Pam hints at the fact that she believes something odd is happening in Velvet Cove, but she never elaborates. Following that, you have an encounter with Dylan which leads to more confrontation with Corey.

After that, we head back to the cabin in the woods to collect some of our things. It's there we encounter Autumn, who's come to do the same. In my first playthrough, Autumn was distant. She didn't reach out to anyone and was significantly rattled by Kat's illness. We learn there that Autumn has pretty bad anxiety. I choose to play a kind of poetic game to distract her from it, and it did work. Although she was still kind of down.

After some time, you catch up with Nora in her garage. Depending on what the player chose, Nora will have some kind of piercing. They briefly hangout there before deciding to got to Mikaelsen house to break Kat out of her house. The goal is to get her out so that they could all watch the scheduled meteor shower together. This is where the developers added a new kind gameplay. It isn't too interesting or different, but it was fun for the brief moment you get to do it. Eventually Corey will come out for air and the player will have to stay out of his sight, and use their surroundings to distract him. This is the only time you do something like this, and it is very reminiscent of the hallucination chapter in Life is Strange where you had to avoid the likes of Jefferson, Warren, etc.

After succeeding in avoiding Corey and climbing a ladder up to Kat's room. We find that she's cut her hair very short because she says she's going to lose it anyway. She's a little insecure about the choppiness and will fix it before they depart. Kat seems grateful and happy that Nora have come to break her out. After catching up with her, you can either help her cut her hair or cut it for her. As Swann and Kat are getting ready to leave, Dylan and Corey come up to check on Kat. The player will get a choice of staying in the room with Kat or rushing out of the window to avoid getting caught, which is also reminiscent of Life is Strange. It's like when you had to choose to stick up for Chloe or let her get in trouble.

I choose to scramble since I already got Swann in enough trouble with taking the fall for the Blue Spruce (sorry Kat!). We witness Corey's abusive behavior then and there. The game eludes to the abuse and it was apparent in the first tape, but it's clear as day in this one. On top of the bruise Dylan is sporting on her forehead, we find a letter between Kat and Dylan in which someone (I can't remember) states "you know how Corey gets when you don't put out".

From there, we leave the Mikaelsen house, and go to the dock with Nora to await the meteor shower. The two are both upset and defeated at the fact that they failed in freeing Kat. Everything involving that conversation is up to the player, per usual, and depending on your choices Autumn may or may not show up. A bit later, Kat calls Nora and informs her to get everyone to meet up at the dreaded Abyss. Autumn is audibly disturbed while Swann is hypnotized by it. The three await Kat's arrival and when she does, a plan is hatched.

That same night, the friends vandalize the Mikaelsen Ranch and set all of the caged deer free. The cherry on top was the complete incineration of the establishment, which the player gets to choose to do. It's either Swann or Kat. While the rescue mission was a success, Corey, Dylan, and Kat's father came just in time to see the fire that has been set. Corey does see the teens and decides to hunt them down with his bike.

The girls run all the way back to their cabin, feeling safe enough to rest there. This is the only other time where feel like a coven agan as they chant a kind of incantation, in which each symbol they chant is meant to represent them. This is also the exact order the girls in 2022 need to open the box. One thing leads to another and Corey does find them, and sets the hideout on fire with them inside. After another chase, we end up right back at the Abyss.

I'm assuming that one way or another, Corey ends up in the Abyss and the girls all promise not to see one another ever again. Since the story is ping ponging from 1995 to 2022, we see the now adult Swann, Nora, and Autumn react as they remember what happened 27 years ago. Why they stayed apart, and exactly what happened to Kat. The box is finally opened in 2022, and they reminiscence all the good times of the summer of 1995.

Now depending on how you've built the relationships both in 1995 and 2022, Autumn and Nora can choose to leave the Blue Spruce in 2022. You can do all of this alone as Swann, but I haven't seen this ending yet. The ending I got resulted in Nora and Autumn singing an acoustic version of "See You in Hell" where Swann sees Kat's ghost or presence. After the performance, the trio wrap up the night with a group hug before parting ways. But not before Swann gets beckoned to the Abyss by Kat, and jumps in to find her.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

This tape felt a lot shorter than the first one. I know it's because the first tape was really just setting up the characters, and the town but I expected a little bit more from tape 2. Maybe I'm biased and used to the Life is Strange formula of at least two major events happening before the end of the episode. Or even the drama that most of the Life is Strange games have. It feels like there are way more confrontational moments in DONT NOD's previous games which impact the game more. I feel like Lost Records kind of lacks that.

I know that at its core, Lost Records is more about kinship than anything. But I kind of wanted more "oomf" you know? Corey was a threat, but we were rarely in any scenarios that he really felt like one. The only time was is in the cabin and in Kat's room. But he wasn't as present as lets say Nathan or David from LiS (Life is Strange). Hell he wasn't even like Frank. In my opinion, Corey was too absent to be the villain of the game.

While I still enjoyed it, there really wasn't a sense of urgency or danger in any of the scenarios. Where LiS left you feeling a panicky or unsure of your choices, this game doesn't really. I almost don't care about the consequences. And I know that this game was meant to be different from LiS, but it's hard not to compare when it's in the same genre.

On top of that, I really wish the game felt as suspenseful as the initial teasers and trailers. They just felt more nuanced and mysterious. It felt like the Abyss would feel more important. Like it would have more of an impact and change the girls more than it did. It's a personal opinion, but I really wish it felt more witchy. It felt more like girls going through day to day struggles with a splash of supernatural. I would have liked to see more supernatural, honestly.

The best thing about Lost Records was the girls. Seeing their contrasting personalities and how they handle certain scenarios was fun to see. While the game doesn't elaborate further on Swann, Nora, or Autumn's homelife, I think that was fine because the spotlight was on Kat. We saw Kat's struggles with her health and with her family, but never did she back down. She was resilient to the end and not afraid of dying whatsoever, and it was heartwarming to see how the girls backed her up. Even if some of their actions could have landed them in prison. The overall message was pretty much love trumps all.

But in all it was fun. I'm very much looking forward to any possible sequels and maybe seeing Swann and the girls again. Or who knows? Maybe even a prequel.