Don’t Nod, the studio behind the original Life is Strange and its (stellar) numbered sequel, has an earnest quality to its writing that still gets me, almost 10 years after Max Caulfield first strode down the halls of Blackwell Academy. So even when Lost Records: Bloom & Rage , the next game from the studio set to launch next year, leans into some of the hokiest, most saccharine dialogue I’ve heard in a hot minute, that earnestness keeps me invested. I recently played about two hours of Lost Records, and though the build I got to mess around with was a little janky, especially as it oscillates between its ‘90s-era flashbacks and present-day framing device, I’m already even more intrigued than I was when I talked to the developers at Don’t Nod about the project earlier this year.
Lost Records focuses on a group of four friends who met as teenagers in the ‘90s and bonded over their love of rock music and protagonist Swann’s camera. But what’s clear is that, by the time they reunite over two decades later, something happened to them as they shot music videos in their childhood hometown. Lost Records shifts back and forth between Swann’s past and present, toying with the player’s uncertainty about why this group of girls haven’t spoken in years to create a constant sense of unease.
Mundane conversations I had with Swann’s friend Autumn across a diner table in the present felt tense even when we were reminiscing about wonderful times we had together as teen.