Lost Records : Bloom and Rage

This game opens with you playing as a 40 something woman called Swann, driving back to your home town that you left 27 years previously, to meet up with old friends. Your memories of the summer before you moved away are hazy, but one thing is clear - why have you now got a parcel addressed to Bloom and Rage, the punk band that you were part of, way back when?

The narrative flips from the present day, in a bar waiting for your friends, to a halcyon summer in the mid 90's, where you first met your friends - skateboarder Autumn, riot grrrl Nora and Kat, the youngest of the group but a sparky firecracker nonetheless. Together, you confront a bully, explore the local woods and unravel a mystery that gets stranger the more you dig into it.

Swann, starts out as a shy loner, but gradually blossoms, documenting events through the lens of her camcorder as an aspiring videographer. There's a nice gameplay loop of collecting different short clips and assembling them into a narrative that makes sense of the unfolding events. There is a great level of detail to uncover as you record things around you from the mundane, to the natural flora and fauna of the woods to the strange and possibly sinister. 

There are strong elements of shows like Twin Peaks and Stranger Things, with a nostalgic 90s style soundtrack and many period appropriate details to pick up on. The plot has some shocking twists and genuinely creepy moments, held together with the grounded reality as you re-unite with your old friends in the present. The narrative choices that you make in the past have an effect on your current relationships as you talk about who you were back then and try to remember why you lost touch.

One interesting choice is that events in the present are seen mostly from a first person perspective, whereas the past is third person except for the times when you are looking through your camcorder. The graphics are all gorgeously detailed with great voice acting and music too. This is definitely one of the most emotionally engaging games I've played since Firewatch. Highly recommended.