Oxenfree II: Lost Signals

A mystery is a wonderful thing to build a story around. When events are enigmatic and strange, when everything is not quite right and when what is presented requires something from you as a viewer, you can have a recipe for something really successful. Oxenfree II: Lost Signals definitely contains many of these ingredients, but before we dig deeper into all the wonderful things that happen in this game, I want to go back in time to the game's predecessor. The first Oxenfree was a strong debut for Night School Studio and over the past seven years, I've thought about that game from time to time. Without directly revolutionizing anything, I found it fresh, different and cosy and of course, mysterious and a bit creepy.

Seven years have passed and even though much is familiar in the game's structure, I think that this time a lot has been lost in the game's script and how the story progresses. Everything that was in its predecessor is also here; it is an adventure that binds space and time and presents the same thing of scary events as last time, but where the first game still felt like the story was anchored in something more human, down to earth and something you could grasp, the same cannot be said for the sequel.

The protagonist Riley returns to her hometown of Camena, where she has to place antennas around the city and she soon meets the slightly eccentric but charming character Jacob to help out. It is in these encounters that the best of Oxenfree II is to be found. Their well-written dialog and their growing bond are the game's strongest points. Just like in the first game, three dialog choices appear over Riley's head during the game's many conversations, and you can control her responses and reactions to pretty much everything that is said.

I think this aspect, the dialog itself, is really good. I like when characters reflect on what's happening and what's being said, and Riley and Jacob's many exchanges of stories are engaging in many ways. There are other effective areas as well, with the small town and its surroundings being cosy and the cartoony 2.5D graphics working well for this type of adventure game. Even though there is some awkward backtracking, each new part of Camena offers something nice to look at. I also like how the music, the effective synth mats, adds nice and intriguing background noise and even if there are no melodies to remember, it is atmospheric to the highest degree. Everything feels very retro which fits the adventure perfectly and the presentation is really something I liked in the first game, and like here as well.

The game consists almost exclusively of moving around the environments, listening to and participating in dialogues. It's not just Jacob who has to be talked to, but Riley has a walkie-talkie to keep in touch with their employer, and more mysterious people appear on the various channels. There are some small puzzles too, but they are almost exclusively about finding the right frequency on the radio that Riley has also picked up. It's a shame that they don't do more puzzles here, as they could promote exploration of your surroundings. They pretty much only exist to be run through, so that the dialog has somewhere to take place. I would have liked the sequel to have some new elements here, as it feels very empty in terms of actual interactivity. While this is the type of adventure the developers want to give us, it simply wouldn't hurt to have a little more to do when the location is so welcoming and the visuals so nice.

Oxenfree II: Lost Signals tries to tell several stories at once, with the mysterious things that happen when Riley and Jacob deploy their first antenna providing the framework that allows the story to spin off in other directions. There's a lot to say about the main story and the topics that are covered alongside it, but since it's pretty much the entire experience, I'm not going to say anything about what happens. Instead, I want to dissect it a bit, because while there were definitely moments to remember, I don't think it always comes across well, or even works at times. I don't mind its supernatural elements at all or that it goes in depth in the character portraits. On the contrary, space and time not working as it should and all the other crazy stuff going on is of course the main focus of this game, but it's pretty jumpy and messy. In the first game when Alex and her friends "managed" to open the rift that caused all the trouble, the events that followed were more natural in their crazy context.

I don't get quite the same feeling in Oxenfree II when this happens. This can of course be explained by the fact that the groundwork laid in the first game has already been done, and is already a feature here since this adventure takes place five years after the first game, and the town is close to where its predecessor took place. But for me, there were several elements of the story that I simply didn't like. It's a bit like trying to create mysteries for the sake of it, and not really making it feel coherent. Also, the creepy elements, which I found very effective in its predecessor, are not nearly as shocking here. I've already experienced variations on them, so they don't hit anywhere near as hard this time around.

I also think there is a bit of a lack of giving us memorable places to explore, although the map you move around on is extensive, I would have liked to see more. There are a few interesting places, but overall I would have expected more from the content of this sequel. Apart from a new story and a few new game mechanics, this feels very similar to what we got seven years ago, and in the end, I'm afraid to say that this doesn't come across in the way I had hoped. The nice, natural and well-written dialogues of Riley and Jacob are the main takeaways for me, and since it's also a relatively short adventure, I also think it's worth a playthrough just to see if the story and mystery might hit better for someone else. The game developers have also highlighted that choices and events in the city can happen in very different ways depending on where you are and what choices you make, and here I want to be transparent and say I did not really have enough time to play through the game many times and see how other paths and choices manifested themselves. I'm also not the type of player who does this very often, so the story and events I got are simply what I take away as my experience and what I judge my adventure by.

Despite the disappointment that this didn't reach higher heights, Oxenfree II: Lost Signals is still okay, but doesn't reach past that except for a few points. It's mainly my personal experience with the game's story and how it's presented that is the biggest obstacle for this to reach the same kind of feeling I got from the adventure I took part in seven years ago. The predecessor simply felt much more memorable than this, which can be seen as a small failure.