![]() ![]() For example, at first, I thought Lost Signals was inviting me to make more active character decisions, rather than just talky decisions, but this never quite materialised in the rest of the game. When completed, a line of communication on your walkie-talkie will open up and you can chat with them about Camena's history and lore wherever you like.Ĭonversations keep the pace up as you walk from A to B, but Lost Signals struggles to thread the same needle as the first Oxenfree when it comes to its wider story ambitions. When wandering from the beaten path you’ll often pick up people’s stray radio signals - a fisherman out at sea, a researcher interested in the paranormal, a cautious park ranger - and if you strike up a conversation with them and they’ll often give you a mini sidequest. Like, us adults have life shit that needs sorting out too, you know? Walkies and talkies I feel like we don't often get to see these kinds of age-bracket epiphanies in games very much - they're usually geared toward teens, as they are in other forms of media - so it was great to see it explored from the perspective of two actual adults here. The pair have a similar character arc in that they both feel like they’re drifting through life, not able to really find a purpose because of their respective pasts, but events in the game force them to reflect on their lives, and they each go through a transition that’s almost like a coming-of-age story for adults. When things got ultra spooky, their well-seeded backstories and motivations also helped its punches pack the right amount of emotional weight. ![]() Night School have always excelled at realistic conversations (seen in both the first Oxenfree and what they made next in Afterparty), and listening to these two opposing personalities shoot the shit was always humorous and endearing. Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Night School Studio When the ghostly shenanigans of the island start to kick off, she’s also super pragmatic - definitely the kind of person I would want to be stuck on a haunted island with. She's snarky, sarcastic and blunt in a way that initially comes across as abrasive, but eventually becomes refreshing. He's the kind of guy who makes junk art and complains about late library book fees. Awkward handyman Jacob is easy to like straight away. Night School’s speech bubble talk-and-walk system is back in full force, and I found myself quickly warming to this new duo. Turns out Camena is neighbours with Edwards Island, so cue the creepy cults, interdimensional tears in reality, and supernatural beings that can travel through space and time using radio static. Enlisting the help of Camena resident and loveable dork Jacob, the two set off across the island and get caught up in a string of supernatural events. In Lost Signals, we follow Riley, an environmental researcher who's returned to her coastal hometown of Camena to investigate why some of the island's electronic equipment is going haywire. It's still a good sequel, I should add, but it's not a particularly satisfying one. But with all these tethers to the first game, Lost Signals feels like a re-tread of the same ground. There are supernatural spooks, personal character drama, creepy radio equipment, and those good ol' screen glitches that I've missed so much. ![]() Lost Signals may take place in a new location with a new cast of characters, but there's still a lot of overlap. So I was pretty stoked when Night School Studio announced Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals, a direct follow-up set five years after the original game. It conjured a sense of unease in me that I couldn't shake loose, and it was a feeling that clung to me throughout my entire playthrough. The nervousness of not truly understating the supernatural forces its cast of troubled teens was up against, the heightened tension of uncovering the buried secrets of Edwards Island, and - what I loved the most - the finely tuned undercurrent of dread that quietly crept through the game. I remember playing the first Oxenfree so clearly. Reviewed on: AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 16GB RAM, AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, Windows 10.Well-written characters and a tense atmosphere set the right tone, but the signals of this Oxenfree sequel feel garbled compared to the original. ![]()
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