videogameblog

In my thoughts on Lost Records – Tape 1, I hoped that ‘tape 2 will be able to follow through with the same level of quality’. More specifically, the ‘quality’ I was referring to was the natural feeling of the relationships that gradually form between the characters. Tape 1 meanders down its narrative path; it lets you spend a lot of time doing nothing in particular, just hanging out with your new pals, getting to know them as you do. You learn that Nora’s parents are divorced, and her mom lives in LA. Autumn likes gymnastics. Kat listens riot grrl music. You’re encouraged to stop and take your time, which is even backed up mechanically by your in-game camera that you can take out and record footage with whenever you want. The bonds that form over the course of the tape feel natural and realistic, mostly because there is no narrative force pushing the characters forward. They’re allowed to have a sleepover, eat smores and play truth or dare.

It can’t stay that way forever, though. Something has to happen eventually. It’s a something that’s constantly looming in the background of Tape 1, and I expected it to fully show itself in tape 2. The supernatural elements they’d been teasing throughout would finally come out in full force, and the bonds formed in tape 1 would be put to the test.

This kind of just uhh.. doesn’t happen though? Most of the first act consists of disjointed scenes where you go from place to place completing whatever pushes the narrative forward at that moment. Similar sequences were in tape 1, but the less important scenes acted as a glue of sorts that made everything come together cohesively. The big finale of Tape 1 is a concert, and beforehand you play through a sequence where you pick out your makeup colors and style. It's a small scene, but it bridges the narrative into the concert quite nicely. There’s a similar sequence in Tape 2 where everyone is wearing these animal masks while they’re doing crime, but it just cuts from one sequence directly to the one where you’re about to do crime. A sequence where the girls pick out their masks and the player gets to choose theirs would feel quite fitting, but anything like that is largely missing from Tape 2.

You could attribute this to the fact that the group has begun to drift apart since the reveal at the end of Tape 1, but it harms the pacing more than it benefits it in a big way.

Anyway, the creepy mystery of the woods that was built up in Tape 1 doesn’t really go past what we already knew. The scary purple hole is still there, and nothing new comes of it. The final scene of the sequences set in the past takes place here, and it’s probably exactly what you think it is. The lead up it scene is really cool though, even if it is extremely predictable. I played through the sequence with a friend watching over discord (hi aj) and he was like wtf i didn’t see any of this in my playthrough what is going on

There’s some nice conversations throughout where you have to act as a sort of shoulder to cry on for your friends, during both the past and the present sequences. It was nice to see the relationships between the characters built to a point where they can support each other in such a way, but apparently you can fuck these sequences up so badly that everyone leaves you in the final scene(hi aj). Even though they’re quite scarce, these kind of act as the equivalents to the less important scenes that Tape 1 majorly consists of.

The ending that I got was quite bittersweet, but I’d assume they all are. I think it’s the ‘best’ ending you can get and I’m glad I was able to get it.

Tape 2 isn’t as much of a drop-off in quality as I feared it would be based on Dontnod’s track record with endings, but it unfortunately suffers from the lack of narrative progression in Tape 1. I’d call it a worthy trade-off, because Tape 1 is probably one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had in a game. But, in order to actually reach a solid conclusion, you’re forced to stop meandering. You lose your camera, and you must walk into the woods one final time. There’s no sleepover on this occasion.

((been really inactive on here recently!! gonna TRY and start writing about most things I play again because i've been in a bit of a writing slump with some personal projects so hopefully if i start doing this again i'll feel more motivated to write other stuff. thanks for reading!!))