Oxenfree 2 review: an intriguing ghost story that’s too well hidden

Riley awoke at a bus stop in his hometown of Kamena, wide-eyed in amazement at the silence of walkie-talkies, the horrifying hiss that has now become the calling card of developer Night School Studio.

Riley is a new employee on the team of environmental researchers interested in radio waves. Her job is to set up beacons that are used to catch the appropriate signals. (She better get used to that static motion!) Riley is a veteran and returned to her hometown just before the big change. She worked with Jacob, a friend of hers from her high school days, to install some of these beacons over the course of several days. Naturally, that was before the first beacon malfunctioned and connected it to a static portal high above Edwards Island, the gateway to the world of Technoghost, although the two still don’t know it. , being called by a group of teenagers (a group separate from the group). Oxen-free). Like the previous work, Oxenfree 2: Lost Signal It centers on walking and radioing into the supernatural world, but now also includes a fair amount of climbing and walkie-talkies.of Oxenfree 2the radio and walkie-talkie are storytelling devices that add layers to the world you see right on your screen, with the two main characters already entangled in an otherworldly plot.

Oxenfree 2 It builds on the scaffolding provided by the first game. It upgrades rich and detailed environments, weaves in a town’s worth of new characters, and continues to nail the increasingly spooky atmosphere of a world where ghosts hang out with static electricity and radio waves.there is a fragment of Oxenfree 2 That made me question the static electricity in the air around me. They formed an obsession with having to keep looking over my shoulder to see if something was wrong. But at other moments, I feel pulled out of that relationship by a story that feels all too familiar, both by a forced bond between the two main characters and by a story of unraveling where the mystery almost falls apart. It happened often. Despite everything fresh and inviting Oxenfree 2and how effectively it builds on the strengths of its predecessors, Oxen-free You can’t get far enough away from the original. Much of its mystery is empty, like false signals on shortwave radio.

Oxenfree 2 Time travel appeared last time, but this time it is deployed as a means of solving puzzles. When Riley uses her radio to open a rift, she and Jacob are able to travel back to Kamena’s past. One example: In a mining cave where the elevator is broken, the two can use the rift to travel back in time before the elevator crashed and use it to fill the ditch. Once across the bridge, Riley and Jacob can walk through the chasm back into the present, and the thought crosses their minds that they may have been responsible for the crash after all. It’s a moment of unanswered questions combined with the eerie, chopped audio that ghosts use to communicate. Remember the iconic “Is”? Leave. Possible? “From the first game? — it leaves the lasting chills of a good horror story.”

Oxenfree 2‘s narrative branching means you can change the story by choosing to say it or not while shaping Riley’s character a bit. But here we are comparing Oxen-free hinder Oxenfree 2success. The original writing was rightly lauded for capturing the spirit of a teenager. It was an adult drama that lightly portrayed high school problems with a lot of mood, but at the same time it was also a work that delved deeply into teenage psychology and touched on sadness, change, and human relationships. Night School once again captures realistic speech patterns in dialogue with excellent voice acting.but Oxenfree 2‘s main characters don’t have as much charm as their ancestors, and characters are everything in a game like this.

Image: Night School Studio

because Oxenfree 2 Not a lot of paranormal-level mysteries, just the same phenomenon as the first game. A lot of the weight falls on Riley and Jacob. This two characters of his are not attractive enough to carry the load. Their own stories are somehow unraveled too soon or too late. After hours of character-building dialogue, I was unable to connect and was often caught off guard by big developments that came out of nowhere.Perhaps this could be the result of Oxenfree 2non-linear world. The premise of the game is to set up four beacons, but the first one can be saved and run in any order. Likewise, due to the nature of the branching dialogue system, it’s possible that my choices were causing the narrative to stymie during the first playthrough.

In my second playthrough, which I haven’t finished yet, I found myself more interested in these characters. After spending about 8 hours with Riley and Jacob on my first playthrough, I fell in love with their journey purely for “quality time.” I was hooked on their story, so why wasn’t I hooked until the end? Still, if I hadn’t played the game for this review, I probably wouldn’t have played it a second time, and wouldn’t have reached the rating I’m feeling right now.

Image: Night School Studios/Netflix

Ironically, Oxenfree 2‘s best moments involve supporting characters, especially those who literally never appear on screen. Maria is a high school radio host who is in charge of Kamena’s late-night broadcast. It’s easy to miss her if you don’t make certain narrative choices, like listening to her show or calling her advice line. She is a zealous buffer for the sometimes insufferable Jacob, and Night School once again presents teenage characters, especially teenage girls, in a way that is unfortunately still rare in contemporary art. . Maria speaks in the whimsical tone of a teenager and, as dramatic teenagers do, takes a somber stance on teenage problems, sometimes insignificant, while musing about her friends and life in Kamena. I also have the leeway to deepen my emotions by going around. Beyond that, she’s also a key link between Riley, Jacob, and the three teenagers who reopen the cracks on Edwards Island. Without her, the teens feel like mere antagonist archetypes. It’s a shame we only found Maria in her second playthrough. The depth she gives her other three characters is essential to this story, and I found myself more interested in the stories that brought these kids to this particular point. rice field.

After all, I liked the idea Oxenfree 2 than the game itself. It’s a game that has the right elements, but falls short of combining them in a way that’s true to the original game’s innovative and classic experience. The game’s branching narrative system hides a frustratingly engaging story, and it’s a shame some people miss it.

Oxenfree 2: Lost Signal will release on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and mobile via Netflix on July 12th. This game was reviewed on Steam Deck using a pre-release download code provided by Netflix. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not affect editorial content, but Vox Media may earn a commission on products purchased via affiliate links.discoverable Additional information on Polygon’s Ethics Policy can be found here.