Quite an intriguing little game that quietly dropped straight into a subscription service. Split into two episodes released two months apart, it had me literally counting the days until the second “tape” came out. In the end, it turned out to be the coziest and most heartwarming adventure I played this spring. The story opens with our protagonist, Swann, talking to her mother over the phone. Did she eat? How was the flight? We quickly learn it’s 2022, and Swann is about to reunite with friends she hasn’t seen in 27 years. One of them suddenly reached out after receiving a mysterious box sealed with what looks like a magical lock, despite the fact that the girls swore back in the summer of 1995 never to tell anyone what happened to them that year. At first, the premise immediately reminded me of Yellowjackets: a group of women forced to confront the secrets of a traumatic summer after someone hints they know the truth. The similarities don’t go much further than the setup, but that was definitely my first impression. When you arrive at the bar where everyone is supposed to meet, you can interact with familiar places that trigger Swann’s memories. Every single one is fully voiced, although at first you have no idea who these people are or why these memories matter. This becomes one of the game’s best storytelling devices: throughout the adventure, moments you experience in the past become stories Swann tells in the present, allowing the friends to relive those memories together. Soon Swann meets Autumn, who explains that someone sent her the mysterious box along with a clear message: they know what the girls did during the summer of 1995. That’s where the real story begins. Early on, the game feels a bit like the first season of Stranger Things, except the four girls don’t know each other yet—that part of the story is still ahead. Back in 1995, Swann is a shy, somewhat overweight sixteen-year-old who lives in her own little world. Her only real companions are her cat and her camcorder, and that camera becomes the game’s central mechanic. Every collectible is something you choose to film yourself: birds, animals, your friends, or simply beautiful scenery. Instead of collecting meaningless trinkets, you’re creating memories. The story itself is a wonderfully sweet coming-of-age summer adventure. It begins almost like Stand by Me—something Swann even points out herself—and gradually transforms into something closer to Stranger Things. Things eventually become genuinely strange, but I won’t spoil the mystery because discovering it is one of the game’s greatest strengths. Sure, there are moments when Swann’s awkward delivery or social anxiety can become a little grating, but that’s simply because she’s an awkward, isolated teenager. At its heart, this is a warm, charming story about four girls who dream of becoming punk rock stars for just a couple of weeks, playing one unforgettable concert, and riding off into the sunset. After they finally achieve that dream with their song “See You in Hell,” the game leaves you waiting two whole months, wondering what happens next. The second tape feels very different. The warmth and comfort are gone. The friends have drifted apart, and it seems like their friendship is either over or frozen in time, even though only yesterday they promised to stay together forever. Nora has been sent away to Los Angeles. Autumn has disappeared without a word. Kat is trapped at home under the watchful eyes of her parents and **** both Swann and the player have to overcome their own fears and go to see Kat anyway. Surprisingly, the game suddenly turns into a third-person stealth sequence for about half an hour. It’s admittedly clunky and fairly simplistic, but it’s an unexpected change of pace as you sneak into Kat’s lonely prison on the second floor of her family’s ranch. The second episode is much more emotional and melancholic. After the hopeful “Bloom” comes the true “Rage,” fully living up to the tape’s title—but only in its closing moments, and it’s something that’s far better experienced firsthand. Finally, the moment when you open the mysterious box—either with your reunited friends beside you or without them, depending on how supportive and understanding you were throughout the story—is the emotional climax of the entire game. To me, that scene perfectly captures what this story is really about. This is a game to escape into. A game that lets you step away from everyday life, remember what it felt like to be sixteen, and relive a summer filled with teenage drama, curiosity about the world beyond your neighborhood, and friendships that seemed like they’d last forever. It’s a story about friendship, adventure, and how effortlessly you make friends when you’re sixteen. Then life happens. Years pass. You meet again in an old bar near the place where you used to spend your summers, and together you try to understand what really happened all those years ago.

A slow burn game. I liked all the references to previous LIS games. This is what BTS should have been.

In the first part of the game, you can see a great '90s setting with good graphics and a great camera mechanic. As you progress, you realize this is one of the worst stories ever written; it was difficult to keep nothing happening for the entire duration of the game, but they succeeded, thanks also to the characters, each worse than the last. It's a cringe feast, and the protagonist helps a lot.