Monster Hunting Epics, Teen Dramas, More

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Goal: Develop my skills as a budding filmmaker

God, the faces in this game. They’re so human, authentic, vulnerable, expressive. I just want to look at them, to see what they reveal and what they hide, just like the faces of real people do. I’m maybe three hours into the first part of Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, the new game from Life Is Strange creators Don’t Nod, and I’m captivated. It shares some of the DNA of the original LIS—this, too, is at times a wistful look at teen experience, in all its awkwardness and intensity—but there’s a wrinkle: you also see these characters in their 40s, in the present day, as they look back on a fateful ‘90s summer in their teen years. Being a ‘90s teen who’s now in my 40s myself, I’m intrigued to see just what the game does with the perspective this time jump gives its characters.

You play as Swann, an aspiring filmmaker (at least when she was a teen), and I love the way the game lets you capture footage with her camcorder and stitch it together into little montages. There’s an openhearted authenticity to it; it feels like Swann is just experimenting, pursuing her creative impulses wherever they take her without overthinking it or worrying too much about doing it “the right way,” which is precisely what I think teens should do as they grow into real artists. Also, the atmosphere is impeccable. I just want to bask in the vibes of this game. I still don’t know much about where the story is going, but I’ll certainly be completing the first part of Lost Records this weekend and finding out more about whatever happened that summer, all those years ago. — Carolyn Petit