DON’T NOD recently announced that Lost Records: Bloom and Rage, its next narrative adventure, would launch in late 2024. The new trailer showcased Swann, one of the main characters, and some locations in Velvet Core. Players go through the Summer of 1995 and 2022 when the core cast reunites, making decisions that shape both timelines.
In an interview with CG Magazine, DON’T NOD Montreal studio creative director Michel Koch explained how this works, “You’ll be playing in both timelines, and the choice you make in the present will affect something you’re playing in the past, and the choice you make when you’re playing in the past will change who they are today and what’s happening in the present.
“So we are thinking that having this kind of setup would allow us to bring some new interest and twists on the choose-your-own-adventure genre we did with Life is Strange, and Life is Strange 2.”
Also, Swann’s camcorder isn’t just for show – it plays a “big part” and creates a “connection with you and your character,” per Koch. “I don’t want to spoil too much of what we are doing with this one, but as you’ve seen in the teaser we showed you at the beginning of this meeting, Swann used a video camcorder during her life in the ’90s.
“So when you play the Past Memories in 1995, you will have access to this camcorder, and I won’t give away how it will be used in the game, but it will be a big part of how you will be able to use it at any moment that will create a connection with you and your character, and it will be used for both puzzle solving and storytelling.”
Lost Records: Bloom and Rage will be available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC when it launches later this year. The story focuses on four friends – Swann, Nora, Kat, and Autumn – who end the Summer of 1995 vowing to never see each other again following a “downward spiral” from an “unexplained event.” Of course, they reunite in 2022 and must deal with the fallout. Stay tuned for more details on the narrative title in the coming months, including its release date.
