The follow-up to 2016 indie darlingOxenfree,Oxenfree 2: Lost Signalshas big shoes to fill. The time-bending, coming-of-age adventure in the first game left a lasting impression. Great writing, compelling characters, and an eerie mystery driving the action came together wonderfully to tell a heartfelt and heart-wrenching story. The bar was set high for the sequel.
Despite many of the same ingredients, the recipe doesn’t quite come together forOxenfree 2as successfully as it did for its predecessor. The full, truthful characters and solid writing are there, but they lack some of the soul and drama that was present in the first game. Some laborious traipsing back and forth, and a collection of too-clean endings detract from the experience as well, landing the game solidly in the ‘good but not great’ category.
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The latest to join the growing library ofadventure games available on Netflix,Oxenfree 2is the product of developer Night School Studio, which was responsible for the original game as well. As a part of Netflix’s push into video games, Night School was acquired by the company in 2021, thus both games are available through the service.
Players see events play out through the eyes of Riley, who teams up with her new co-worker Jacob - two new characters in theOxenfreemythos. The game is set in Camena Coast, hometown of the first game’s heroes, though not a location ever explored in that story. Riley is returning to Camena after several years, while the similarly-aged Jacob has never lived anywhere else. These differing experiences play a big part in the characters' conversations as they travel together. The morning of Riley’s first day on the job, she meets Jacob and the two head off to set up a transmitter. The transmitter signal goes haywire and interrupts some possibly nefarious goings-on at Edwards Island, the setting ofOxenfree. From here it’s off to the races with ghosts, time travel, and the occasional check-in with the local high school radio DJ.
2 primary tools will be at Riley’s disposal: a radio and walkie-talkies. Players will also see a few one-off puzzle mechanics, like theEMF boosters in the ghost town of Garland. Much like the first game, the radio can tune in to various signals across Camena and interact with the otherworldly entities the pair will encounter. The walkies allow Riley to keep in touch with several side characters or to progress objectives, advance side stories, and learn more about the world. The best part is that they offer alternate conversation options to the constant back-and-forth between Riley and Jacob, as sometimes the pair’s chatter feels like filler.Oxenfree 2is largely about exploration, but it can get boring in later portions of the game, especially if players are seeking out missing collectibles and must venture through screen after screen of previously explored environments.
This wasn’t a world that was meant to be swiftly traversed. When the character-building chatter dies out, the compact community of Camena suddenly feels enormous and empty. At these points, it’s a relief to have something to do, or someone to talk to, that can still provide interesting tidbits or at least a chuckle. However, even the walkies can fail if no one has anything new to report, and players are left to seek out those last couple of hidden journals in silence. It’s a shame that this tends to happen towards the end, adding a monotonous wrinkle to the conclusion.
On the note of character banter, it’s evident that Jake is meant to be just a regular dude. He’s a paranormal enthusiast and a Maggie Adler fanboy (a central figure in the first game), but for all of that, he’s just a guy. Riley meanwhile is depressed and floundering, forced to return to the home she doesn’t want anything to do with. They are a couple of down-on-their-luck 30-somethings, stuck together at a point when the reins of their lives seemed to have slipped away. To a certain audience demographic, these characters are relatable in a way that the first game’s protagonists weren’t. The decision to explore older characters, and the entirely different phase of life they’re in, works well. The coming-of-age narrative doesn’t just have to be about teens.
Late-game shortcomings aside, traversal and discovery is a joy inOxenfree 2. Each part of the town has a distinct feel - be it charming, eerie, or both - and exploring them is a pleasure. The game’s story, and that of the town itself, is laid out piece by piece as each new area of Camena is revealed and perused. Sometimes it’s through banter, sometimes a scripted event, and sometimes the environments speak for themselves; their story evident in a dilapidated tombstone or an abandoned hall. HiddenMaggie Adler letters inOxenfree 2: Lost Signals,though optional, also add to the world-building, and give more context to both games.
They say in theSex and the Cityseriesthat the fifth character is the city. Similarly, inOxenfree 2,Camena is the third character. This game is at least as much about the town as it is Jake and Riley. The vision of an aging town, its fortunes waxing and waning over time, is a key narrative element. Camena possesses a strong sense of place, a place that Jake and Riley know like the back of their hands, but from two very different temporal perspectives.
Oxenfree 2is all about time and perspective, about playing with the idea of differing views on the same place or event. There are ghosts and spooky radio stations and the imprint of Maggie Addler haunting Camena, but this storyis really about the people that have, are, and will live across its shores.Oxenfree 2’ssuccess in this respect, manages to make it an engaging and worthwhile experience, despite its flaws.
ThoughOxenfree 2has multiple endings, they all feel a little too neat. Part of the magic and mystery of the first game was the ambiguous endings, none of which were overtly ‘the best.’ Which ending played out depended on player actions throughout the game, and the status of Alex’s relationships with each character. No matter what ending played out, each came with a sense of foreboding, a feeling that something was left unfinished. It aligned with the game’s central ideas of time travel and inevitability.
Oxenfree 2ponders the same questions, but manages to conclude without any of the lingering unease or mystery that the first game managed. There’s something to be said for finishing a story, but to wrap it all up in a bow with one of three fairly neat endings contradicts the ever-shifting nature of time travel and fate that both games play with.
Despite some stumbles, there’s still much to recommendplaying and finishingOxenfree 2: Lost Signals. Fans of the first game will get a little more out of it, but new players will catch up easily. Though it wraps up a little too cleanly and some bothersome traversal gets in the way, it tells a well-written, relatable story that’s worth experiencing.
Oxenfree II: Lost Signals
WHERE TO PLAY
TVs turn on and off. Planes lose radar. Radio stations can’t broadcast through the static. In the small coastal town of Camena, unnaturally occurring electromagnetic waves are suddenly causing interference with electrical and radio equipment. Reluctantly, Riley Poverly returns to her hometown to investigate the mystery, but what she finds is more than she bargained for.OXENFREE II: Lost Signals is the mind-bending follow-up to the critically-acclaimed narrative adventure game OXENFREE from Night School Studio. Play it as a standalone story or dive deeper by playing the original – it’s up to you. As you play, you’ll shape every step of the story through your choices. How you choose to deal with the supernatural events at hand will forever alter the future.Shape everything through your conversations and dialogue choices. Forge a deep friendship with an old acquaintance from high school or opt to ignore a lost fisherman in need. Your choices impact who Riley becomes, your relationships, and the story options available to you at every turn.Use an all-new walkie talkie conversation system to chat with contacts and uncover useful insights about the mysteries of Camena. Ask for info, check in with the locals, or completely ignore them. It’s your call to make. And, it has consequences.Five years ago on nearby Edwards Island, a few teenagers unwittingly opened a portal, creating a rift between realities and timelines. Now, members of a mysterious cult-like group called Parentage are deliberately trying to open a new portal to pull something out. Who are they? What do they want? Are they trying to contact ghosts?
Oxenfree 2: Lost Signalsis available on is available now on Android, iOS, PC, PS4, PS5, and Switch. Game Rant was provided a PC code for this review.
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