Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (spoiler-free review of Tape 1 here) feels like it was made for me. Few games have captured my attention like Bloom & Rage. I have, like I did for those old books, played it front to back, unlocked every achievement I could, traversed the variety of paths and dialog choices for friendships, enemies, songs, and something more. I spent so much time in 1995, it’s hard to remember that I’m actually stuck in the hell that is 2025.
Tape 2 won’t release for a few more weeks. How many times can I replay a game? Turning over every stone is only fun until you’ve literally turned over every stone. So what’s a Lost Records fan to do?
Dig deeper, of course!
The Lost Records Alternate Reality Game (ARG), is a mixed media game that makes you a part of the puzzle solving. If you’re not familiar with the concept of an ARG, it’s kind of like being a conspiracy theorist for fun. You find codes and secret messages in everything related to the game. Everything is a clue to advance the story, once you crack the code. In an ARG, you solve a mystery you’re actively a part of.
The website for the ARG updates with information about who contributed to solving the puzzles each week. You engage in email correspondence with characters. It feels like you’re taking real actions to drive the story. Fail to decode something, and it could be lost… if someone else doesn’t figure it out first. With a setting as mysterious as Lost Records’ Velvet Cove, an ARG is actually kind of perfect.
Perhaps that’s why this is the first time I’ve done an ARG, and I’m having a blast.
Movie Palace Online
Screenshot via Don’t Nod’s MoviePalaceOnline.com. Blur from me
Head over to Movie Palace Online and you’ll find an old 90’s-era computer. Turn on the monitor and you’ve got into the game. Follow the instructions to solve the first puzzle: getting this old thing online with Cyber America. From there, you’ll receive emails that reveal a mystery. Websites, emails, blog posts, all seemingly sent through time, showing up in the present day, though shared as though they’re occurring “now,” in 1994. The mystery deepens as you look into it more, matching the mysteries around Velvet Cove in Lost Records.
I don’t want to give too many hints here, but if you’re new to ARGs, you’ll want to know you’ll be doing a lot of code breaking, watching videos frame-by-frame, reducing noise in audio files, and other little digital tricks to find hidden meaning in the mundane.
Some of the missions require knowing a bit about technology and file types, or hidden messages in sound. I’ve found the ARG Toolbox to be helpful for solving various parts of the game.
Most ARGs are meant to be solved over weeks or months. The ARG involving Cyberpunk 2077’s FF:06:B5 mystery has taken years to… maybe solve. However, the missions in the Lost Records ARG are made to be solved within a week, each building up a deeper mystery. Most missions take anywhere between 20 minutes and a few hours to work out yourself. You can also find hints and outright answers on the official Discord, as well as files that may help you piece it together yourself if you don’t have the technical know-how to do file encoding, denoising, or other digital techniques to uncover meaning from digital data. You might even have a chance to jump into 1994 yourself, and interact with the residents of Velvet Cove. Take part in solving the mystery with others on the official Discord, and you may even get a shout-out in the game’s log files! One user even had their movie idea turned into a real trailer for the in-game universe as part of a contest. I’m a little disappointed it’s not a full film, it looks like a fun cyberpunk action flick.
Returning Soon!
Screenshot via Don’t Nod’s Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1
We’re now almost 3 weeks away from the release of Lost Records: Bloom and Rage Tape 2. The ARG has added to the story, giving hints and creating entirely new theories for what’s happening in the game. The purpose of the ARG was to drive interest between episodes, and it certainly has done that. If you’re interested in Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, I highly recommend playing the first tape, then hopping on the ARG. It’s beginner-friendly and a lot of fun. If you’re starting to get bored of overturning every stone on your 10th playthrough of Lost Records, the ARG is a great way to expand the universe and have some more fun digging for clues.
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 2 will release as a free update on April 15th. The game is available for what feels like an illegally low price of $39.99 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam. It’s also currently free to Playstation Plus Extra subscribers.