Jacob and Riley have no vehicle, and must hike and climb to their destinations, dealing with increasingly hostile spirits trying to break into our world, and what may or may not be a sinister cult known as Parentage who have a connection with Camena’s checkered history. But rather than this be a breakneck race to the finish, it’s much more intentionally slow-paced. Together with Jacob, Riley is tasked with planting four transmitters at the highest points around Camena and the nearby abandoned ghost town of Garland in a bid to overpower and remove the anomaly. It doesn’t take long for Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals to become unsettling. Shortly after meeting her co-worker, handyman Jacob Summers, Riley finds herself repeating the same moments again and again thanks to a transdimensional anomaly on Edwards Island. What begins with a simple radio chat with Evelyn, Riley’s supervisor, soon degenerates into something much creepier. It sits opposite Edwards Island, the small lump of rock and sand that served as the setting for so much calamity in the first game. We’re introduced to protagonist Riley right away, as she prepares to start her first shift working for an environmental research department, planting radio transmitters along the coast near the small town of Camena. The “small town gone bad” theme is prevalent, evoking parallels with Netflix’s paranormal TV show. This feels like a game made for the Stranger Things generation, as indeed the first one was before Stranger Things was even a major hit. Perhaps the most telling element is the “Netflix” logo that fades in as Oxenfree 2 begins. In fact, Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals is that perfect kind of sequel that uses the original game as a solid foundation, and then builds upon it in every way it can. The dialogue rarely stops, informing as it does so much of the narrative, but it’s some of the best writing and voice acting I’ve heard in such a small-scale game. Oxenfree 2 takes this intuitive system up a notch. If you played the original you’ll remember that it was incredibly story-driven, as dialogue unfolded organically while you played, not stopping for cutscenes or long exchanges but allowing conversations to flow by assigning dialogue choices to simple button presses even as you guided protagonist Alex through gameplay. It’s not often that I watch the credits roll on a game and immediately want to start a new playthrough, just to make different choices and see how it affects the story – but Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals had its hooks well and truly in right up until the final moments and beyond.
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