I usually hate to lean heavily on comparisons to another game when talking about a stand-alone title, especially one developed and published by an independent studio. But really, there’s no way to talk about Lost Records: Bloom & Rage without acknowledging that its history is deeply, likely inextricably entwined with that of the Life is Strange franchise.
We may never know the behind-closed-doors history of why Dontnod broke off from Square Enix, leaving its flagship franchise in the hands of former collaborators Deck Nine, and vowed to publish much of its own work in-house from now on. What we do know is that Lost Records aims to kick off a new independent IP for the studio that builds on Life is Strange while remaining crucially distinct — a task complicated by the fact that the original release window ended up clashing with that of the fifth LIS game, Life is Strange: Double Exposure.
Dontnod made the sensible decision to blink first, delaying Lost Records: Bloom & Rage into early 2025 to avoid splitting the attentions of a sizeable built-in audience who are obviously going to want to play both games.
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