Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is excellent, but it shouldn't have been split into two parts.

      Despite being an innovative narrative adventure game, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage still follows a release format that is no longer effective for this genre. So far, Lost Records is among the best games of 2025. It presents a timeless coming-of-age story that embraces 90s nostalgia. The game employs the choice-driven adventure gameplay style pioneered by Telltale and the early works of Don't Nod, while adding creative elements like shifting perspectives between the past and future and allowing players to record the world using a gyroscopic camcorder. I highly encourage you to play it now that the entire game is available, but I feel uneasy that I couldn't fully recommend it until this point.

      Don't Nod opted to release Lost Records in two parts. Tape 1 was released on February 18, followed by Tape 2 on April 15. While Don't Nod hoped this method would allow players to pause and reflect on the game, it resulted in the contrary. In a time when numerous games are launching and competing for attention, episodic releases are not as appealing as they were in 2014, especially if only partial content is available.

      Lost Records follows a group of friends during the summer of 1995. They are a collection of misfits who come together to form a strong bond, especially when they discover a hidden cove and a mysterious glowing hole in the wilderness near their hometown. Tape 1 primarily focuses on the group forming the band, Bloom & Rage, culminating in their first performance and a revelation that changes the context of earlier events.

      Tape 2 continues with the group dealing with the aftermath of the events from the first part. Additionally, Lost Records tracks three friends reuniting in the present day to reflect on their past and open a mysterious box left for them. While the story is engaging overall, I don’t think it needed to be divided into two parts. The slower pacing of the narrative leaves the individual segments feeling lacking on their own. Many of the central themes and mysteries only come together once you play through the entire game.

      Don't Nod provided reasons for the two-part release. Creative Director Michel Koch mentioned to Game Rant that he appreciates “media that values my time and doesn’t try to lock me into endless hours of content.” He elaborated to Eurogamer that he enjoys weekly TV series, and after the conclusion of Tape 1, it made sense for Don't Nod to allow players time to pause and reflect, making them more invested in Tape 2 after having some time to consider what occurred.

      Short games hold equal importance as 100+ hour live service experiences, and weekly TV shows have their own appeal. While I agree with Koch on these points, the structure of Tape 1 and Tape 2 of Lost Records doesn’t resemble television episodes, and the entire game can be completed in about 8 to 9 hours. Even if there are story elements to ponder, the two-month gap between two four-hour segments of a unified narrative didn’t ultimately benefit Lost Records. If the goal was to mimic a TV format, then the narrative structure of Lost Records could have been organized to resemble a more episodic structure.

      While I appreciated Tape 1 of Lost Records, I might not have had the opportunity to play Tape 2 had I not intended to write about it, especially since it launched in an incredibly crowded month for games. I also couldn’t provide an enthusiastic recommendation until now, as it was an incomplete experience. With so many games vying for players’ time and attention today, it’s a risk to ask players to commit to the first half of an adventure game, then require a two-month wait to conclude the story.

      Looking at the limited data available, the launch of Tape 2 on Steam attracted more players than Tape 1’s launch. Would the numbers have been stronger had the entire game been released at once? I enjoy Lost Records and hope a lot of people engage with it, but part of me is left wondering if the episodic release model was suitable for this new narrative adventure from Don't Nod.

      Fortunately, that concern is now behind us as all of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. It is also part of the PS Plus game catalog on PS5.