DoubleAA Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Review

What could I possible say that has not already been said? I'm not a writer, I'm not confident, can I even put all that I feel about this game into this post? I don't know but I would regret it if I didn't try at all. Our life's as kids seem so far away yet it lives inside of us, ever-present, time seemed to fly so fast when everything was simpler, when we played with our friends. I much like the group thought I would keep my friends forever, that nothing could ever separate us and yet... I lost all of them. Its bittersweet that we only get fragments of memories from back then, little windows to our past. Windows that Swann gets to relive with her friends in the present and reminisce about the past, all the trouble they got into, wild sh*t they said, did. This game is my window into my past, my abyss, I recollected fragments of memories from my teenage years I didn't even know I had forgotten, didn't know important they were. We get to relive our lives through them, to remember what we had, what we forgot and what we... lost. Their carefree energy when they're together, like nothing else in thew world matters, in their own little world deep in the woods, a fantasy tinted by the sun and moon. No other entertainment media media has ever made me feel this way. Yet not all is rainbows and sunflowers, all characters have problems they want to keep a secret. Secrets they wan to keep hidden, then buried and eventually forgotten, yet they're always there... festering underneath. "To see the past is to look into yourself" The most obvious example of this is Kat, everyone is her life is protective of her, for a good reason but what is meant as protection can also cause harm and I myself know what's its like*.* Being homeschooled is not easy, who do you talk to when you love something, when your interested in something? Parents? They can try but they come from a different time. Who can you let see your true self out when you have no one to tell your secrets to, to be free, to be a kid, to make mistakes, to learn, to talk to. There's comes to a point that all those bottled up emotions comes out in a swirl of rage. I myself see a lot of myself in both Swann and Kat so it was a no-brainer, I am both of them. Kat finally had people, people she could call her friends*,* friends that didn't know of her condition, that weren't overprotective of her, that she could be herself around, that she could share her enthusiasm of music with, normal just like them. She could go on adventures with them instead of being imprisoned in the ranch looking out to a free world. Instead of letting her experience more of the world they locked her away, it's hard to make new friends when you've only talked to your family. Her parents definitely didn't like the music she listened to, that's why instead of Nora's boombox/speaker she had her headphones, so she could escape listening to music and be in her own little world, maybe that is what the abyss was looking for? This festering was only fastened by her family telling her to keep away from her friends, the only good thing in her life, the escape to her everyday life back home. This is the Rage the Abyss was searching for. Throughout the game I would see Kat bending over like she was hurt and I would go over to maybe talk to her and see if she's okay. As the game went on I started to worry, just before the lookout, at the shore of the lake, then she started coughing more and more. I knew where it was going yet nothing could prepare for what was the pent up emotions Kat let out at the end. The hate, the sadness, the desperation as she continued even when she started to bleed... to let all her pent-up frustrations over the years and years of her life. Pain that feels like it could eat you whole if you let it, like a mountain weighing on your shoulders, a hole so deep no scar could ever fill it. Why did it have to be Kat? When I was younger I would have asked myself this question but now I now that to question what IS, is to loose focus on the present, to spend whatever time Kat has by her side is all that matters. "As a child, I considered such unknowns sinister. Now, though, I understand they bear no ill will. The universe is, and we are, I am ready". - SOLANUM Pain is a part of life I've always lived with and we will all continue to live with. To focus on the pain is to forget the happy moments we had, to give it power and let it consume and paint over the happy memories we had, to leave those memories in the past. To live is to know pain. I would do it all over again even If I knew where it all lead, every little moment with them is precious. Kat is precious. To face the past is to face yourself. Like Lis1 this game has changed me forever, but unlike anything I've seen before its done it halfway through their journey, to know we are only halfway though yet it already has this much of an impact on me is astonishing! No number rating could ever do it justice or express how much I love this game, this experience. I am not afraid of Tape 2, to be afraid is to waver in the face of uncertainty, if Kat had been afraid of Corey and not confronted him their journey and their friendship would have never Bloomed. Autumn and Nora were too afraid of him before Kat showed up, Kat gave them strength, the strength to confront their fears. I am ready.