Lost Records: Bloom & Rage - Tape 1: Bloom review

Bloomin’ heck

Image credit:RPS / Don’t Nod

• Developer: Don’t Nod Montreal
• Publisher: Don’t Nod
• Release: February 18th, 2025
• On: Windows
• From: Steam
• Price: TBA
• Reviewed on: Intel Core i5-12600K, 32GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti, Windows 10

Most writing tries to avoid cliché, understanding that an overused idea is one that has lost its power. It often feels as if video games take the opposite approach, gleefully piling tropes high upon their back like Labyrinth’s junk lady. Sure, they sacrifice the opportunity to say anything affecting or which feels true, but presumably the theory is that reminding you of a dozen other films, TV shows, books and games you like is just as good.

Enter Lost Records: Bloom & Rage , hunched over from the weight of all the teen TV shows and young adult novels stacked atop its shoulders.

You play as Swann, a teenage girl who in 1995 lives in a small fictional town in Michigan called Velvet Cove. Swann and her family are moving to Canada at the end of the summer, but a run-in with the town’s bullies leads to an intense new friendship with Nora, Kat and Autumn, three other teenage girls. Nora and Autumn are aspiring musicians, and wannabe filmmaker Swann becomes their videographer as they rehearse songs, make music videos, and turn a seemingly abandoned cabin in the woods into a teenage hideout.

As a player, this means you have a camcorder with you at all times which you can bring out to film short clips of whatever you please. These are basically collectibles - film X birds, film Y pieces of graffiti, and so on - but if you capture certain characters or scenes they form “memoirs”, brief montage videos which you can edit by selecting and re-ordering shots. I didn’t feel much freedom or creative spark in doing so, but it’s another trope gathered. Coming-of-age dramas often have characters who seem nostalgic for their own moment, and their self-reflection is often expressed through a camera lens. Think of Dawson, whose story culminates in him creating a TV series about his life called “The Creek”; think of The Wonder Years’ opening titles; think of Max’s photography in Life Is Strange, a previous Don’t Nod game which Lost Records evokes constantly.

Prehistoric vlogging aside, and bar a couple of padlock puzzles, your main interaction lies in dialogue. Swann is in near constant conversation with her friends, individually and in a group, with your choices affecting her relationships and the course of the story. Or so we’re told via interface elements. Lost Records isn’t the kind of game that pivots rapidly and rewards experimentation, and if I encountered consequences to any choice I made, they were opaque. In fairness, this is Tape 1: Bloom, with the concluding Tape 2: Rage due for release in April.

Not much happens, plot-wise, for most of this first half’s running time. The intent seems to be to let players bask in the good vibes of the four new friends, but I found it all too slow. If you’re going to make a hangout game, those friends better be a good hang, and while Nora, Autumn and Kat are a likeable bunch, they too often felt like uncomplicated archetypes, designed more for projecting yourself upon than being exciting to spend time with.

Without a clearly branching plot, the most significant feedback you get during conversations is the icon of a heart growing or breaking depending on your dialogue choice. Is it too much to say I hate this? Lost Records is at times cloyingly sentimental, and its characters are concerned with authenticity most of all. Swann, in an early scene, is explicitly praised by her friends if she’s honest about her music taste rather than faking to impress them.

And yet the UI scolds the player constantly. There were times when I’d choose a dialogue option because it sounded fun, like I was playing along with a friend, only to be met with a breaking heart. Alright, so none of these characters are up for banter, at least outside of cutscenes, but I can’t work out why I would ever want to choose an option that makes one of my friends like me a little less. Checkpoints are frequent and re-doing a conversation rarely requires you to lose more than a few minutes of progress, and though I endeavoured to be authentic to myself or at least to Swann, I’m too weak not to min-max my friendships even when it flattened the emotional journey and stripped my actions of agency.

Pretty sure Desmond is down there. |Image credit:RPS / Don’t Nod

Thankfully your forest hikes, furtive cigarettes and games of truth-or-dare are complemented by scenes set in 2022, when the friends are reuniting in Velvet Cove for the first time in 27 years. I much preferred these sections, although they’re comparatively brief. The characters are immediately more complex and interesting for having lived adult lives, and their relationship dynamics are more compelling for the ways we can see they’ve changed since that wet hot American summer. This later timeline reaches back and makes the on-the-nose depiction of the 1990s richer, too. Certain items in 1995 will present the player with a ‘Reminisce’ prompt, allowing the characters in 2022 to reflect on their hometown and their younger selves.

This feels like a rare moment of synchronicity between the story and the storytelling techniques used to tell it. Otherwise, there’s very little here that moves the format forward from Don’t Nod’s Life Is Strange in 2015.

We’re introduced to the 2022 version of Swann in her car during a phone conversation that makes several references to the Covid-19 pandemic. She has a mask with her, too. It’s not subtle, but I was immediately engrossed by such a mundane depiction of an event most video games would ignore. This sense of immersion survived about 40 seconds. Swann leaves her car to enter a bar, which has a bottle of hand soap outside and a box of free masks. Great! I interacted with them and– I picked up the box of masks, where it became a rotatable object floating in space in the middle of my screen.

What does it say about Swann that it’s 2022 and she doesn’t wash her hands or wear a mask before entering a public space? “The budget couldn’t cover a bespoke handwashing animation”, probably. What does it say about her that she doesn’t worry about transmission via contact with surfaces? “It doesn’t say anything, this is just how video games work,” almost certainly. But I think those are poor excuses. One of the best pieces of writing advice is “every word should tell.” Perhaps a corollary for video game narratives might be, “Every interaction should tell.” Lost Records’ design feels like a collection of expected tropes just as much as its story does. I just wish video games would stop turning their protagonists into weird gremlins who go around picking up and rotating trash they found on the ground.

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Is it possible that this video game of Young Adult tropes and teenage girl protagonists just isn’t meant for me? I have a few rebuttals to that idea. For one, hey, this game also contains the tired 40-something version of those characters, which I obviously find deeply relatable. I was also a kid in the ’90s and feel a growing nostalgia for Hey Arnold! and my Nintendo 64. I bet I’d love Yellowjackets, and I own a Rainbow Rowell novel and one day I might even read it, but really I just think that good writing can transcend demographics.

Although the final reason I’d argue against the “isn’t for me” label is simple: I want to play more of it.

Look, I can talk all day about the parts of Lost Records that didn’t work for me. If I hadn’t been playing it for review, I probably would have stopped after a couple of hours and never gone back. As it is, I reached its climax and it finally introduced the drama and the stakes that were missing from the rest of the story. Lost Records is bland, derivative, lacks momentum, does not reward player agency, and it twice made me cringe so hard I had to look away from the screen. I wish it was half as long as it is. I wish it had learned to let go of the ideas that have lost their power, like Sarah does in Labyrinth. I wish it had learned you can tell your coming-of-age story about a teenage girl with energy and originality… like Labyrinth. I am, despite all of that, looking forward to finding out whether any of it pays off when the second and final part releases on April 15th.

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Lost Records: Bloom & Rage

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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