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Lost Records: Bloom & Rage News

Announcing Aphelion, DON'T NOD’s new sci-fi adventure!

[p]We’re thrilled to present Aphelion, DON’T NOD’s newly announced sci-fi action-adventure game!  [/p][p]Set in a near-future where Earth faces collapse, Aphelion is an emotional journey to the edge of our Solar System to survey a planet that may be humanity’s last hope. Our latest tale follows two European Space Agency astronauts: Ariane Montclair and Thomas Cross. Following their crash landing on the uncharted planet Persephone, they must brave harsh landscapes, master survival tools, gather crucial information, and navigate reality-bending phenomena in a desperate mission to reunite. [/p][p][/p][p]Check out the reveal trailer:  [/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Aphelion blends our signature emotional storytelling with immersive exploration and traversal, mystery, and tense stealth gameplay. What begins as a totally compromised mission becomes an adventure into the unknown. As you explore the frozen world of Persephone, you’ll gather information on the planet’s strange conditions and what could’ve caused the crash of Ariane and Thomas’s ship, the Hope 01. [/p][p]A game in collaboration with the European Space Agency [/p][p]We’re also super honored to announce that the game is developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA)! Ariane and Thomas are both ESA astronauts, part of the fictional Hope 01 mission to survey a new potential home for humanity. We’re grounding our depiction of space exploration in real scientific knowledge and humanistic values. This very cool collaboration weaves authentic elements of space science into the emotional core of the game.  [/p][p]After all, this isn’t just a game about a planet. It’s a very human tale of how we behave when all hope is lost, and what keeps us going. [/p][p]Aphelion will launch in 2026 but you can wishlist it right now! [/p][p]To keep up with news on the game, follow us on X, Instagram and TikTok! [/p]

Tape 2 Patch 3 (build 2.03.131125)

Hi everyone!

This update introduces highly-requested quality-of-life changes, addresses critical progression blockers, and improves overall game stability and visual fidelity.

Please do not hesitate to report any bug you encounter in-game to our [support platform](https://support.dont-nod.com/hc/en-gb/requests/new).


See you in Velvet Cove!

[h3]New features[/h3]

  • Added a caption to subject tracker in the scene selection menu to clarify what the number represent.
  • Finished memoir compilations can be accessed via the main menu extras (Camcorder).
  • Added a recorded subject name under the video thumbnail in the editing panel.
  • Added an indicator when an entry in the How To Play menu has not been looked at yet.
  • Enabled a contrast slider in HDR mode to provide additional overall screen brightness control.


[h3]Game Progression Blockers Fixes[/h3]

  • Fixed a progression blocker in Chapter 'Lights, Camera, Action!' (Tape 1), where Swann could get stuck when interacting with Autumn’s cart wheel at the same time as interacting with the bike.
  • Fixed a progression blocker in Chapter 'Alone Again' (Tape 2), where talking to the cat and then examining the phone would render the exit and number dial interactions unavailable.
  • Fixed a Collison trap Chapter 'An Empty Cabin' (Tape 2), where Swann could get stuck in the rocks near the outhouse.


[h3]General Fixes[/h3]

  • (Xbox Only) Fixed blurred rendering artifacts on the edges of the screen.
  • (PS5 Only) Fixed an issue where Kat's model failed to appear in the main menu when playing on a partial install of the game.
  • (PS5 Only) Fixed possible crash when resetting the motion-controlled camcorder camera tilt.
  • Fixed an issue in Chapter ‘Pieces of Autumn’ (Tape 2) where the hovered memoir would be shown to Autumn instead of the selected one.
  • In Chapter ‘Garage Band’ (Tape 1), fixed an invisible toy interaction.
  • In Chapter ‘Bloom…’ (Tape 1), fixed teleporting drinks animations.
  • In Chapter ‘Alone Again’ (Tape 2), fixed an issue with the ‘Read’ overlay UI displaying text when examining Nora's and Autumn’s poems up close.
  • In Chapter ‘A Tale of Two Sisters’ (Tape 2), fixed a continuity issue where picking up Pam’s book without returning it to her would incorrectly trigger the same outcome in later scenes.
  • In Chapter ‘Pieces of Autumn’ (Tape 2), fixed animation issue on Autumn when she’s supposed to pick up her bag and walk out of the cabin.
  • In Chapter ‘Infiltration’ (Tape 2), fixed flow issues during the moment where player signal Kat’s to prevent animation issues or potential VO overlapping.
  • In Chapter ‘Infiltration’ (Tape 2), improved the balance of pathways to walk past Corey around the firepit, ensuring that hitting the bird feeder consistently triggers a fail state.
  • In Chapter ‘Infiltration’ (Tape 2), added an animation where the player attempts to grab Nora’s hand in the present timeline as she prepares to leave.
  • In Chapter ‘Hunted’ (Tape 2), fixed missing music.
  • In Chapter ‘Time Capsule’ (Tape 2), improved stagging around the reveal of the mystery packages and fixed related camera issues.
  • In Chapter ‘Remember Us’ (Tape 2), added the iconic water tower in the present timeline as part of the last Collectible Memoir.
  • Fixed a bug where data tracking could be reenabled when reverting the settings.
  • Fixed issue where shadows could be presented at a very low resolution when using the camcorder.
  • Fixed issue where some videos would not be cleaned up from future scenes when restarting through scene selection in Story Mode.
  • Texture streaming on characters has been improved in several scenes.
  • Last played scene is now properly highlighted after replaying a scene from Tape 2 in collectible mode.
  • Fixed issue where the 'Punk Showdown' memoir could be impossible to complete.
  • Multiple safeguards have been added to avoid crashes during gameplay.
  • Fixed radio advertisements not playing throughout the game.
  • Fixed multiple typos in ‘Read’ overlay UI that display texts when examining closer objects.
  • Fixed various subtitle timings or mismatches with the actual VO.
  • Fixed various issues when examining closer objects so that they don’t render blurry.
  • Fixed various localization issues to make sure the right meaning translates into other languages (subtitles, interactions, text overlay, etc.).
  • Fixed various animations and visual effect bugs.
  • Tweaked atmospheric visual effects in various levels.


[h3]Performance Improvements[/h3]

[List]
(Xbox Only) Fixed uneven frame pacing, which results in smoother camera movement.
Shadow rendering quality is now variable based on the target framerate and chosen quality level, which helps in evening out the frame time in complex scenes.
Camera cuts in cinematics have been significantly optimized, resulting in less frame drops.

Tape 2 Patch 2 (build 2.02.130347)

Hi,

This second patch comes with numerous bug fixes and significant polish on all fronts!

Only the key highlights are listed in these release notes.

Please do not hesitate to report any bug you encounter in-game to our support platform.

See you in Velvet Cove!

[h3]New features[/h3]

  • In Settings menu, added a new option to change the subtitle color (white, pink, green, red, blue).
  • In Settings menu, added a subtitle preview to visualize customization (background, size, color).
  • Implemented contextual colors on the controller light bar for Dual Sense users.
  • In camcorder view, added an option to reset the motion control camera tilt by clicking the left thumbstick (on platforms and controllers supporting motion control).


[h3]Game Progression Blockers Fixes[/h3]

  • Fixed an issue in Chapter ‘… & Rage’ (Tape 1), where exiting the lock pad while Kat was still talking then re-entering it would prevent progression.
  • Fixed an issue in Chapter ‘Alone Again’ (Tape 2), where inputting a full phone number before the dialogue finishes would block progression.
  • Fixed an issue in Chapter ‘Infiltration’ (Tape 2), where player could get out of bounds and block progression.


[h3]Crash Fixes[/h3]


    While investigating random crashes that multiple players experienced with our game, we ended up disabling the FSR upscaling feature (and related rendering code) on machines running with non-AMD graphics cards (most notably Nvidia). Discussions on Unreal and Nvidia developer communities led us to think this could be the source of crashes which have been reported to us. This could help reduce crashes even if you did not have the FSR feature enabled in the game’s graphics options menu.
    Moreover, Nvidia just released a major driver update to fix random crashes experienced by players in the last months on Unreal Engine games. Please consider updating your drivers to their latest version.
    We hope that the combination of these two elements will significantly reduce the occurrence of random crashes you may experience.


[h3]Localization fixes[/h3]

  • Fixed missing German translations of multiple object’s descriptions.


[h3]General Fixes[/h3]

  • Fixed texture loading & streaming issues when running the game at low resolutions or low texture quality settings.
  • Game progress is now saved immediately when exiting to the main menu while playing in Collectible Mode.
  • Improved the reliability of depth of field effect’s while focusing on some characters, objects and some specific scene setups.
  • Fixed Lip-sync missing on multiple ‘onomatopoeia’ along the game.
  • In Chapter ‘Lights, camera, action!’, fixed Kat's visual disappearing after she fakes being electrocuted on the deer enclosure's.
  • In Chapter ‘Remember Us’, fixed Nora's car being invisible when she drives out of the parking lot.


[h3]Performance Improvements[/h3]

  • More memory optimizations, allowing faster streaming and removing occurrences of ‘out of memory’ crashes on consoles.
  • Improved FPS in multiple scenes, in particular for outdoor and in vicinity of the abyss.

Tape 2 Patch 1 (build 2.01.129791)

Hi everyone!

This patch delivers numerous bug and crash fixes, along with significant polish and game flow improvements. Key highlights can be found below.

We have more title updates planned to further enhance the game experience.

As usual, please do not hesitate to report any bug you encounter in-game to our support platform.

See you in Velvet Cove!

[h3]Game Progression Blockers Fixes[/h3]

  • Fixed an issue in ‘Lights, Camera, Action!’ where triggering the ‘Air Guitar’ sequence while a dialogue about bugs was active could prevent progress.
  • Fixed an issue in ‘Alone Again’ where cancelling an item’s movement while resetting all items and exiting the box packing interaction made it impossible to place items in the box.
  • Fixed an issue in ‘A Tale of Two Sisters’ where a black screen remained permanently after cleaning up the last item on the payphone.
  • Fixed an issue in ‘Infiltration’ where Kat did not respond to the light signal for distracting Corey.
  • Fixed an issue in ‘Infiltration’ where Corey’s door interaction animation could get stuck in a loop if Kat was asked for help.
  • Fixed an issue in ‘The Coven’ where rushing to barricade all doors before a specific dialogue started made the water bottle interaction unavailable.
  • Fixed a rare issue in ‘Time Capsule’ where the game would not progress after examining all of Nora's items in the box.
  • Fixed an issue in ‘Time Capsule’ where Swann was unable to turn on the camcorder if the player interacted too quickly, causing dialogue to repeat and the scene to not progress.
  • Fixed an issue in ‘Lost Records’ where Swann could go out of bounds after walking over animal bones.

[h3]Achievements Fixes[/h3]

  • 'Geez-O-Meow': fixed a bug preventing the achievement to unlock in some specific situations.
  • 'Eye See You': fixed a bug preventing the achievement to unlock in some specific situations.
  • 'Complete Box Set': fixed a bug preventing the achievement to unlock in some specific situations.
  • 'Breakfast Club': fixed an issue where choosing the line "Hey, we make a good team!" would interrupt the entire dialogue and prevent the achievement to unlock.

[h3]Crash Fixes[/h3]

  • Greatly improved memory management, addressing recurrent ‘out of memory’ crashes on Xbox Series S.
  • Fixed a crash that occurred when repeatedly opening the camcorder, switching to the ‘Footage’ tab, and leaving the menu with numerous 1-3 second videos.
  • Fixed a crash that occurred when spamming ‘Mark as Favorite’ on videos while switching tabs with numerous 1-3 second videos.
  • Fixed a crash that occurred when spamming the ‘Replace’ option in the ‘Edit’ menu of a memoir with a large number of videos to replace.
  • Fixed a crash that could occur after deleting all Junk footage and immediately closing the Camcorder Menu.
  • Fixed a crash in ‘Alone Again’ that could occur when pausing the music video on the TV for a second time.

[h3]General Fixes[/h3]

  • In the scene selection menu, indicated the total number of completed collectible memoirs (appears once the game has been completed).
  • In the scene selection menu, amended the story mode selection pop up to explicit that any story progression, choices and collectibles made after the selected scene will be erased.
  • In the settings menu, for the keyboard/mouse key binding screen, made movement actions available for rebinding (forward, backwards, left, right).
  • In the settings menu, ensured that hovering the mouse on half-shown items in the scroll area forces it to go into view.
  • In the player’s choices ending recap screen, updated thumbnails depending on player’s choice to better illustrate the consequences.
  • In the outfit selection menu, fixed the checkmark disappearing upon scrolling through the opposite outfit category.
  • Revised logic for ‘Read’ interactions (i.e., interaction that displays object’s description) to prevent them from being paused by systemic dialogue flow (they were previously unresponsive when in that state).
  • Fixed mismatches between subtitles localization and voices audio.
  • Improved numerous subtitles timing with voices audio.
  • Improved numerous lipsync animation matching with voices audio.
  • Fixed few missing or mismatching French voices audio.
  • Fixed localization issues and made translation improvements over the entire game.
  • Improved audio mixing over the entire game.
  • Fixed visual artefacts and made quality improvements on environments over the entire game.
  • Improved texture streaming heuristics, reducing texture quality popping in several areas.
  • Fixed some car license plates inaccuracies in regard of States regulations in ‘95 era.
  • Fixed visual of Dylan to show bruises throughout Tape 2 chapters, based on player’s choices.

[h3]Performance Improvements[/h3]

  • Major improvement on memory usage of the game, helping us to improve overall performance and texture quality on all platforms.
  • Fixed multiple assets streaming hitches, improving the framerate stability all along Tape 2 walkthrough.
  • Fixed numerous performance drops throughout the game.
  • Fixed an issue with having numerous videos of 1-3 seconds long, causing the game to drop performance in the Camcorder Footage menu.

[h3]Game Flow Improvements[/h3]

This list highlights only a portion of the improvements and fixes made throughout the game, with approximately 300 additional bugs resolved.
Numerous cinematics in Tape 2 and Tape 1, have been significantly enhanced with improvements to camera shots, body animations, facial animations and lipsync, lighting, visual effects, and audio.


  • (Chapter ‘Lights, camera, action!’)

    • Ensured Autumn can still be filmed after she performed her second cart wheel.
  • (Chapter ‘Cabin in the woods’)

    • Added a new dialogue when coming down of the attic for the first time.
  • (Chapter ‘This Old House’)

    • Fixed a bug where reloading the checkpoint in this scene would always play the wrong branch in Autumn's dialogue.
  • (Chapter ‘Double Dare’)

    • Improved dialogue interaction placement to prevent potential miss-clicks during the Bloody Mary moment.
  • (Chapter ‘Alone Again’)

    • Added hints to the packing box sequence and interaction that can auto-place a few items correctly to better guide players at their own pace.
    • Extended calendar object visuals so the player can examine Swann’s calendar for both July & August.
    • Fixed the visual of the dollar bills used in the allowance money envelope to be accurate to ‘95 era.
  • (Chapter ‘A Tale of Two Sisters’)

    • Improved staging for the dialogue with Pam on the parking lot.
    • Added the payphone as a mandatory objective to clean up (i.e., remove the sticker player has put in Tape 1).
  • (Chapter ‘An Empty Cabin’)

    • Added more “wild life” elements around the cabin.
  • (Chapter ‘Infiltration’)

    • Improved the logic for signaling Kat with the flashlight, making it more responsive. Added a fail state if the player fails too many times, and fixed several flow and animation-related issues.
    • Improved global scripting so that interactions are available sooner and feels more natural.
    • Improved the flow of Corey’s stealth sequence.
  • (Chapter ‘Anarchist’s Dream’)

    • Improved placement of the deer and their staging when opening their stall doors.
    • Fixed a bug where Kat may remain sitting in air after opening the back door.
  • (Chapter ‘Enter the Void’)

    • Improved visual of Corey’s shirt after he has been stabbed.
  • (Chapter ‘Remember Us’)

    • Added a mandatory dialogue interaction to talk to Gus (Bartender) before leaving the bar.
    • Improved staging on the dialogue with Gus with better camera shots and lighting.

Tape 2 HotFix 1 (build 2.00.128634)

Hi everyone!

This hotfix aims to quickly deliver several fixes to players while a more comprehensive patch is being prepared to address bugs and enhance the game's overall polish.
Fixes for the Geez-o-Meow, Eye See You, and Complete Box Set achievements will be included in the next patch, coming very soon.

Please note that the fixes for Geez-o-meow, Eye See You and Complete Box Set achievements would only be available in the next patch and are not part of this ‘Hotfix’.

Please do not hesitate to report any bug you encounter in-game to our support platform.

See you in Velvet Cove!

Game Progression Blockers Fixes

  • Fixed a bug in chapter ‘Infiltration‘, where getting help from Kat and being caught by Corey would cause the action choice prompts to disappear, blocking progression.
Crash Fixes

  • Fixed a crash that could occur when pausing the game right in a middle of a scene transition, in some specific scenes.
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when transitionning between specific scenes, like in the chapter ‘An Empty Cabin’.
Achievements Fixes

  • ‘90s Chic’: fixed a bug forbidding achievement to unlock in some specific situations.
  • ‘Dear Diary’: fixed a bug forbidding achievement to unlock in some specific situations.
  • ‘Nailed It’: fixed a bug forbidding achievement to unlock in some specific situations.
  • ‘Dead Poets Society’: achievement was unlockable only if player helped Kat cut her hair. This criterium was removed, making unlocking accessible to every player, whatever the level of relationship with Kat.
General Fixes

  • Fixed a bug with the menu’s setting to invert vertical or horizontal axis, being greyed out and impossible to change.
  • Fixed a bug with the camcorder view being darker in some situations.
  • Fixed a bug in chapter ‘The Day We Met’, where Swann walking animation was missing during some dialogue with Dylan.
  • Fixed a bug in chapter ‘Infiltration‘, where Corey would never go back inside the house after player is getting caught.
Localization fixes

  • Multiple world object’s description where not properly localized in German, most of all are now fixed (a remaining will be in the next patch).