Characters from the previous game show up later on, but this game takes place a while after the original and makes plenty of sense even if you don’t know the original’s plot. Oxenfree II’s story connects to the previous game’s, but since you’re playing as a new character, it also works well on its own. The game’s only 5 hours long, but it’s a good 5 hours. The art comes together really well, using animation, lighting, and a nice mix of 3D and 2D to create a neat style. The audio work as a whole is notable - the voice acting is good, the music heightens the storytelling, and the sound effects make the spooky moments much more immersive. It’s a neat way to add side characters into a game that could otherwise have felt smaller. If you call a character often, you can see their story to a couple of different endings based on your choices, but if you ignore them, you might never uncover their story - or even leave them to die to the night’s deadly mystery. And of course, while you solve these puzzles, you have more time to converse with Jacob, your co-worker for the night, or the people you can call on your walkie-talkie.Īt any time, you can call a select group of characters on your walkie-talkie. None of them annoyed me or interrupted the pace, and some were even interesting, which is a good place for these to land. You might need to get to the other side of an area and figure out which parts to climb on, use your radio to manipulate nearby signals and open up portals, or explore an area to find a key. The majority of the game’s puzzles are quite simple, there more as an accompaniment than the main attraction. The supernatural mystery you uncover makes internal sense, and the choices you make feel impactful in ways both big and small. Riley is a likable protagonist, the stakes of the story feel meaningful as the story touches on grief and loss, and each member of the supporting cast has enough depth to make them feel real. This is a huge benefit to the game’s pacing - any time you’re getting bored of walking forward and choosing dialogue options, it’s cleverly interrupted, and in a way that deepens the game’s mysteries.Ī lot rests on the game’s writing, and I’m glad to say it’s compelling. Supernatural occurrences like jumping into other time periods, alternate realities and glitches, and being attacked by ghosts interrupt your exploration and keep the game’s mysterious, spooky-but-not-scary vibe going. There are minor traversal puzzles along the way, but once you arrive at your destination, there’ll often be a small puzzle and more conversations to navigate. As you walk towards your objectives, you’ll be presented with dialogue options that can affect your relationships with other characters or change how the story turns out. The game is centered around its conversation system. You play as Riley, who returns to her hometown for a job and uncovers a mysterious radio signal that disrupts time and space. It's the lack of challenge and underutilised radio mechanic that make it harder to recommend as an adventure game.Oxenfree II: Lost Signals is a supernatural adventure game by Night School Studio. Great characters and an outstanding dialogue system make Oxenfree an easy recommendation for fans of interactive storytelling. Difference is, Dontnod made a game that had a smart gameplay mechanic along with a compelling story. Oxenfree gets a lot right that Life is Strange got wrong (you'd never catch Oxenfree's teens dirtying their mouths with dire-logue like “go fuck your selfie”). There was little chance we'd get through this review without bringing up the other character-driven, teen-focused, photo-snapping adventure game. One dark moment involving Clarissa should remind us of Life is Strange's best moments, but here feels like it's just used for shock value.Īh, Life is Strange. It's also not above some cheap narrative fake-outs, which make it harder to get invested in everyone's fate. There are further rewards for searching the island later in the game, but traversal is slow and the island too small to satisfy any explorer's itch. Because even with character relationships giving it replay value, this is still very short. Just when we're getting to know these characters, it steamrolls towards a conclusion that feels rushed. It feels like we only got the first two acts of a great story.
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