Narrative Videogames are SO Back
The art of over-delivering
10 years ago, Parisian studio Don’t Nod struck gold with their indie sensation Life Is Strange. A Frankenstinian coming-of-age interspliced by supernatural oddity, the indie project proved audiences in the narrative-driven game space are keen for unique yet close-to-home stories.
This February, the studio hurled another masterpiece into the world.
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Tape 1) transports us back the VHS, Blockbuster, Courtney Love era of 1995, charming the player with endearingly relatable characters and stunning cinematic sequences.
The player-protagonist Swann is unbelievably cute. Obsessed with horror, her cat, and videography, she endeavours to record a memoir of her last summer of small-time life before her move to Canada. She’s just missing a muse.
When Kat, Nora and Autumn fall into her life—everything feels perfect. Instant friends, the girls adventure out into the woods and create a secret hideout, where they geek out about rock bands, gossip about boys, and bond over truth or dare.
It’s all the socially awkward Swann ever wanted. But when the friends accidently uncover a supernatural Abyss, their lives are thrown of course.
In present day, we meet the pals in their mid-40s as they attempt to grapple with the mysteries they uncovered as teens.
Gameplay
Unlike it’s Life Is Strange predecessors, Lost Records features a choice-mechanic which actually impacts its narrative course. In both past and present timelines, dialogue choices impact your relationship status with other characters, as well as unlocking unique animations and multiple individual player experiences.
The game relies on several classic Don’t Nod checkpoint sections, where solving a puzzle progresses the storyline. These vary from taking creative direction with Swann’s camcorder to shoot memoirs, music videos and fun clips, to scavenging for objects, to breaking into buildings.
The ‘memoir’ feature in particular stole my heart. the fuzzy graphics perfectly replicate a retro camcorder, and enhances the animation style of the rest of the game, as suddenly gameplay outside of a lens looks that much more real. You can even go back and edit the clips you’ve taken.
Characters
Girlhood and the experimentalist optimism of the teenage years are perfectly encapsulated by the beautifully written characters. All of the girls feel so distinct, and offer delightfully different scenes and dialogue.
Throughout the game, you have the option to form a deep connection with/romance one girl of your choice in particular. This design choice ramped up the immersion, adding another layer of gameplay to indulge in.
A time-warp of interesting puzzles, creative narrative progression through split timelines, and propelled by a compelling mystery—I’m counting down the days until Tape 2 is released.
It's only February but I've already found the game of the year.
As always, thanks for reading!💌
My previous post:
Omg omg this is so fun! I absolutely ADORED Life is Strange. I saw somebody play this game the other night live and couldn’t get the name of it. Thank you for posting this! You have such a perfect description of what to expect and what it entails (: excited to watch it 😍