After puzzle platformer Jusant and action RPG Banishers: Ghosts of Eden, Don’t Nod Entertainment is going back to the well of narrative driven adventure games with it’s next title, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage. It was supposed to be launching later this year, but the publisher has since announced it’s being held back thanks to the surprise announcement of a new Life is Strange game from Deck Nine.
According to GamesIndustry.biz, Don’t Nod explained this in a press release, confirming a new launch window of early 2025 due to “recent trends and developments in the industry.” Life is Strange: Double Exposure was unveiled during the Xbox showcase earlier this month, with it already slated to release on October 29 and bring back the very first game’s protagonist Max Caulfield. While Bloom & Rage never had an exact release date, it sounds like Don’t Nod was considering an October launch too, or at least intended to have it out within the same time frame.
As a reminder, Don’t Nod was the original developer on the Life is Strange series, but moved on after Life is Strange 2, with Deck Nine taking over. Despite not being involved with the newest entry, Don’t Nod CEO Oskar Guilbert not only hopes for Double Exposure to do well, but believes delaying Bloom & Rage will benefit both games in the long run. “We know that many of our fans are eagerly awaiting [Bloom & Rage], just as they are the recently announced next installment of Life is Strange,” he said, “Let’s give both titles the space they need to be enjoyed by our players within the large community we have built.”
Guilbert’s probably not wrong. Bloom & Rage is shaping up to be quite similar to Life is Strange, not just in genre but also general vibes. Its teaser trailers suggest it’ll focus heavily on grounded drama between old high-school friends, while still having some supernatural elements. It may star adults instead of teenagers but, at this early stage, it feels like it could’ve easily been a new Life is Strange game. Given their similarities, there’s a chance consumers would opt to buy Double Exposure over Bloom & Rage or vice versa if they launched around the same time, thus limiting their sales potential. Both games do stand a better chance if one doesn’t launch until many months after the other.
I imagine Double Exposure would’ve fared a lot better since it’s part of an established IP, while Bloom & Rage is entirely new. Plus, Double Exposure bringing back a former protagonist in Max gives it an advantage. Although Deck Nine’s reputation did take a hit earlier this year following an IGN report about workplace abuse and Nazi symbols being sneaked into the then unannounced Double Exposure. Time will tell if that will at all hamper the game’s launch sales.
By comparison, Bloom & Rage has no such controversy swirling around it. “We firmly believe that the wait for Bloom & Rage will be worth it,” said Guilbert. “We look forward to sharing this new adventure, which we hope will become another memorable chapter in the Don’t Nod universe.”
