Have you ever played a game that spoke to you so much that you were sure you had lived it yourself? Well, as a queer woman, that’s how Lost Records: Bloom & Rage made me feel. A title that pridefully waves its identity at every turn, Bloom & Rage is the exact title that I needed as a young queer teen. It’s messy, sapphic, angsty, and beautiful, everything that comes with the self-discovery of being a young Femme. Though there’s a lot more witchcraft in the game than I remember dealing with as a kid.

Gameplay and Story

If you’ve played a Life is Strange title, then you know exactly how Bloom & Rage plays out; you’ll walk around environments, interacting with objects and people to further the narrative. Oftentimes, there’s a superpower that the main playable character is given to make gameplay unique. In the case of the game’s playable character, Swann, her camcorder is just the thing. You can record just about anything you want, unlocking new minor story beats mostly, but also just adding more depth to the gameplay at large. It’s utilized enough within the game to be intriguing, and I never felt like I was using it at times that felt unnecessary.

What snagged me with this story is just how much I related to every one of the four girls that make up the friendship that Bloom & Rage is based around. Swann is our nerdy girl with a heart of gold, Kat’s a tough girl who would do anything for her friends, Nora’s a punk who lifts her friends’ spirits with comedy, and Autumn is the de facto leader, often being the voice of reason to her friends’ recklessness.

Honestly, these are oversimplifications of who these deep, young women are as characters. I saw myself in each character, allowing me to feel a deeper connection to every action I made as Swann. Mistakes made my heart drop, giving weight to every decision. Though I would say I felt the biggest connection to Swann, as I’m a plus-sized girl and always have been. Watching her self-esteem climb as her friends supported and empowered her made me feel like I was finally healing myself.

Perhaps the biggest thing about this game for me, is the queer coming-of-age story that this title touts. Without giving too much away, this is certainly a coven of queer witches. The story tastefully allows these girls to organically become strong friends, or even more as the game progresses. The subtlety with which the game handles it is perfect because it certainly has moments that I believe players who aren’t gay would miss entirely. The fumbling words, jealous eyes, and sapphic longing are truly on display at full force within this title.

Marrying the lesbian Summer love themes with the 90s Riot Grrrl scene made for a story that entralled me. As a woman who was once a queer teen who played in punk bands over long hot summers with my friends and girlfriend (now wife), this game brings me back to those easier times. Before the world fully started to beat me down with adulthood. So when the game makes its various time jumps to the adult versions of these characters, I’m even more connected to them by seeing how, just like myself, I’ve grown into a more well-rounded and confident version of that young girl I once knew.

Feedback

The only thing that I could say about this game is that I wish it were even longer. Truly. This game feels like it was made for me. From its characters, music, sapphic themes, relateability, emotional story beats, and horror nuances, I can’t believe that I didn’t just manifest this into existence myself.

Conclusion

As much as I’ve loved the Life is Strange series, Bloom & Rage is the kind of game that makes me feel so many things that it’s kind of difficult to properly articulate them. These feelings come from a story that’s so niche and nuanced, and yet was able to perfectly make me feel such a gigantic set of emotions. This game made me cry. It made me cry tears of joy for the characters as they navigated young love and friendship, and tears of sadness for them when things were much more bleak than any young girl could handle.

It also made me do the same for my own teen years. Mistakes I made or never gave myself the chance to make. Teenage life is always the point in many people’s lives where they look back and think, “What if?”. And I think that for me, this game just earnestly pulls the right heartstrings that other lesbianswould understand. This is a game for us, and I’ll be forever grateful to DONTNOD for allowing it to exist, especially in 2025. See you in hell.