Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Chapter 2 review (PS5): More Rage and Less Time to Process

I ended the first chapter of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage on a pretty sour note. After learning the major twist that Kat has leukemia, I was ready for the story to take a turn. Unfortunately, what I got was more of the same poor storytelling, awkward moments, and a rushed ending that made me feel like Don’t Nod gave up on the story. By the end, I was unsatisfied with what I got. Despite this overall drop, there were moments that I bet Kat would describe as “F*&king awesome.”

The more awkward Chekhov’s Gun

The second chapter of Bloom & Rage continues to focus on a mysterious package that the women received. After discovering that inside the package was just another box, they continued to bring it up in almost every present-time scene, teasing the eventual opening of it. Again, this object is overused and teased to the point that I wanted to leave the bar I had been narratively stuck in since the start of the first chapter. While I am not overtly against using an item such as this to tell a story, Don’t Nod used it as a crutch to justify the present scenes when the main focus should have been on the past scenes.

The modern-day scenes of the second chapter did nothing but fill me with rage. They once more slowed the story to a halt, but thankfully, it wasn’t as bad as the first chapter. This is mainly because there were fewer future scenes, and the chapter flowed more quickly. Of course, the faster pace also made it feel like each past scene was rushed, except for two major scenes that stole the show.

A narrative mess 

The second chapter of Bloom & Rage follows the aftermath of learning about Kat’s disease. The group is feeling down, and they are afraid to contact one another due to possible retaliation. Ultimately, they find their way back to each other quickly. This worked well for me, but Don’t Nod left in some serious plot holes that made the chapter feel rushed or like the devs only cared about certain scenes.

One of the biggest slip-ups that I caught was that, after choosing not to call any of the girls, the main character, Swann, runs into Autumn. Instead of having dialogue choices, I got to watch as my character blurted out, “I tried calling.” This stuck with me as I made a choice not to call any of the girls. Later on in the scene, when interacting with Autumn, I have the choice to say, “Sorry I never called,” in reference to my choice earlier. Which is it? Did I call or not?

This can be seen throughout the chapter, but there was one section where I loved the narrative decisions available. That came during the night Swann and Nora sneak into Kat’s house. As you break in, the future version of the ladies can be heard discussing what their plan was. When you fail or get caught, they can be heard saying they didn’t do that or they went a certain way. This stealthy section was fun, and it made me wish the entire game followed that narrative style instead of switching back and forth from the past to the present with the most awkward moments ever.

Kat: Crazy, with a K

Kat gets a major boost in the second chapter. Her character is one of the main focuses, and it pulls the story together in a way that I thought was better than the first chapter. The girls are focused on their friend and want to free her from the torment and help her live out her final days with happiness in her heart. This bond is brilliant, and Kat goes pretty wild in her final days.

One of the major sections of the chapter that I felt was the strongest outside of the breakout scene is when Kat convinces the girls to help her commit vandalism, light a statue on fire, and then free a group of captured deer. This scene, while improbable, was adrenaline-pumping and exciting. Better yet, there were no breaks to jump back to the present time. We were focused on the moment and saw the girls grow in the moment.

All of this excitement, however, ends in a way that is unsatisfying and frankly dumbfounded me. It boils down to the girls forgetting this moment of their lives because they decide that it is best to forget, but the idea that they then need to come together in the future to remember the past makes the promise of forgetting null and void. I stand by the sentiment that the present scenes could all be cut and the story would be twice as strong.

The verdict

The second chapter of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage had a mix of high moments that made it worthwhile to play and low moments that made me wish Don’t Nod had returned to the drawing board. The first chapter, despite its major flaws, introduces the player to an interesting story and a unique mechanic that allows you to record your adventures and relive the 90s era. Unfortunately, the second chapter does little to improve upon what the narrative team set up in the first chapter and leads the player off a narrative cliff into an abyssal void. I promise that I won’t be coming back to this game, and that one will be kept and not rehashed 20 years later.

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