This feature discusses Lost Records’ Content & Trigger Warnings which detail specific content elements that may be viewed by some players as spoilers.
Update: Don’t Nod has responded to this article and will be adding the line, “This game contains intense flashing lights that may trigger seizures in individuals with photosensitivity” in the next patch they release for the game.
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is Don’t Nod’s first step in establishing a new universe of games and a return to narrative adventure. The developer and publisher have crafted a dual timeline story that aims to unpack the secrets a group of friends buried in the Summer of 1995 when they were called together in 2022.
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Highly influenced by cinema’s great coming-of-age stories, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is beautiful to look at, but it also features flashing lights and video distortion effects that need to be fine-tuned if you struggle with easily triggered motion sickness like me or need to manage if you live with epilepsy or other photosensitive illnesses.
From an accessibility standpoint, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage uses a toggle to allow players to opt into seeing the “content & trigger warnings” (the latter of which is a phrase that many in ED&I have moved away from in favor of “content warnings”). It’s a good addition that solves the problem that other games like The Medium had to navigate about balancing the desire to tell audiences what they’re in store for and, well, story spoilers. That said, Lost Record: Bloom & Rage’s attempt to provide optional content warnings also buries the necessary one: flashing lights.
On the surface, the content warning page is well-written throughout. It’s there for people who need it, and for those who don’t, you can just keep moving forward. If you’d like more detailed explanations, you can even scan the QR code in the corner. But warnings like strobe and flashing lights are not the same as content warnings. Content warnings, which the games list as explicit language, casual homophobia, domestic violence, and so on, have emotional impacts on players and are based on content.
Below is the language listed on the optional trigger warnings reveal screen:
“This game contains explicit language, casual homophobia, weight and body image issues, underage drug and alcohol consumption, sexual content, illness and discussion of illness, blood, domestic violence, flashing lights, and sudden loud sounds.”
However, strobe and flashing lights trigger physical responses in players with photosensitivity, which can be as simple as a migraine or as dangerous as a seizure, which can result in death. Medical Warnings exist to inform audiences of the hazards or effects that they will view if they continue to engage with the media. As I looked through the menus and the Steam Page and restarted the game, it was clear that in order to know if the game would trigger your photosensitivity, you would have to use the option toggle.
Accessibility notices are important for players’ safety. While I’m not here to discuss the differences between emotional and physical impact, it’s a glaring oversight to hide such an important warning that can cause physical harm to a player when not shown ahead of time.
I don’t have a problem with content warnings. As a survivor, I rely on them myself when it comes to choosing the medium I watch, read, or play. Lest I walk into It Ends With Us, expecting it to be a rom-com. What I do have a problem with is flattening the experiences into one column where traditionally rating noted elements like explicit language are put next to themes like domestic violence, intimate partner violence, and even worse, all are put into the extremely important Medical Warning about flashing lights.
In fact, even when you travel to the Lost Records: Bloom & Rage‘s Content and Trigger Warnings page (this link does contain spoilers), the warnings listed are expanded with specific instances. We know that the insult “fatso” is used, there are spiderwebs, a character gets a nosebleed, and even that are mentions of ghosts. But we get no expansion on “flashing lights.” There is no detail on whether it’s avoidable or even when players can expect it. That simple courtesy goes above and beyond, yes, but so does the current version of the Trigger Warnings that Don’t Nod thought was essential to include on their official page for expanding on them.
While it may not seem like a big deal for those who don’t live with photosensitivity, it disrupts life and access. Sundance, one of the United States’ most renowned film festivals, isn’t even a stranger to making mistakes in issuing medical warnings and having a patron suffer as a result.
Content Warnings are important to accessibility, but so is understanding the necessity of Medical Warnings.
The thoughtful and inclusive game design also details the developer’s ability to understand the nuances that a content warning category contains. The ability to parse out the nice-to-haves, the must-haves, and ultimately, the ones that are even larger accessibility concerns. Medical Warnings do not belong buried in the last line of a trigger warning list.
Content Warnings are an important part of accessibility, and Don’t Nod captures that with extreme detail, noting even the slightest potential trigger for players. That said, the Lost Records trigger warnings list is trying to do so much that it misses the forest for the trees and isolates those who need Medical Warnings for photosensitivity. This doesn’t just affect a singular player.
Don’t Nod also features robust accessibility options for motion sickness, allowing players to adjust the intensity of certain camcorder effects and even remove head bobbing in addition to motion blur. However, in 2025, it seems like a curious choice not to include a Medical Warning as the game boots up, which is standard for most video games now. Providing separate Medical Warnings doesn’t just help photosensitive or epileptic players. Content creators and their audiences should also be given the consideration to make necessary decisions for their health.
Much like Cyberpunk 2077 before it, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage uses visual distortion effects. In the same way that glitching effects are necessary for atmospheric storytelling in Cyberpunk 2077, so are the purple and pink-hued VHS distortions that happen while using the camcorder. Similarly, CD Projekt Red launched its title with no medical warning screen and made changes once Game Informer issued their own medical warning about the game.
I use this example because, like everything in life, inclusivity and accessibility need to be part of an open dialogue. Critiques should be given, and more importantly, a path for change should also be laid out. That said, since the 1997 Porygon episode of Pokemon, the importance of adapting content to keep photosensitive viewers protected has become the standard in video games and television. Which makes my frustration with a clearly thoughtful content design stand out.
The only thing I hope is that this is patched as close to Day One as possible. Given that upon booting up the game, you’re shown an anti-piracy warning to capture the ’90s VHS aesthetic, I’m hoping adding an actual Medical Warning in its place is an easy swap.
Striking a balance between providing information for those who need it and allowing those who don’t to skip it is admirable and something that more developers should do instead of forgoing a detailed explanation altogether. This is something that marred my experience while reviewing different titles. Still, there shouldn’t be such a strong swing in the other direction that it leaves out players who need Medical Warnings that impact their health by simply relating it into an optional display.
A simple option is to not hide them behind the toggle, but more importantly, the solution would be to differentiate them into different sections. While the Lost Records trigger warnings show compassion, the choice to relegate a necessary Medical Warning to the last line of an optional screen doesn’t. Utimately, flashing light warnings isn’t something we should still have to advocate for in 2025, especially from a developer who clearly cares about fostering an inclusive environment. And yet, here we are.
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, Tape 1 Bloom is available now on PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 with Tape 2 Rage releasing April 18, 2025.
