Riley wakes up on a bus cease in her hometown of Camena, eyes flicked open from the shock of walkie-talkie static, a chilling hiss that’s now a calling card for developer Night time College Studio.
Riley is a brand new rent to a crew of environmental researchers fascinated by radio waves; her job is to arrange the beacons used to catch the precise indicators. (Higher get used to that static!) Riley is a army dropout who’s returned to her hometown proper on the precipice of main change. She’s paired up with a former highschool acquaintance, Jacob, to place up a number of of those beacons over the course of some days. Naturally, that’s earlier than the primary beacon goes haywire and connects to a static portal above Edwards Island, a gateway to a techno-ghostly world that the 2 don’t but know is being summoned by a gaggle of youngsters (separate from the bunch from Oxenfree). Like its predecessor, Oxenfree 2: Misplaced Alerts revolves round strolling and tuning a radio to the supernatural world, however now there’s additionally a good quantity of climbing and a walkie-talkie. In Oxenfree 2, the radio and walkie-talkie are storytelling units that add layers to the world you instantly see on display, the place the 2 fundamental characters are already wrapped up in an otherworldly plot.
![A character sits at a bus stop and reads a text message at night in Oxenfree 2](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/w1327ss5pNlvAhStl_RadvtymQM=/0x0:3840x2160/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3840x2160):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24782715/OXENFREEII_Walkie.png)
Picture: Night time College Studio/Netflix
Oxenfree 2 builds upon the scaffolding the primary sport supplied: It upgrades the wealthy, detailed environments, weaves in a city’s price of latest characters, and continues to nail the more and more creepy environment of a world through which ghosts hand around in static and radio waves. There are items of Oxenfree 2 that made me query the static within the air round me; they fashioned a compulsion to maintain wanting over my shoulder for one thing amiss. However usually, in different moments, I felt pulled out of that engagement by a narrative that felt too acquainted, each by a pressured connectedness between the 2 fundamental characters and an unraveling narrative the place the mysteries largely fell flat. Regardless of all the pieces recent and compelling in Oxenfree 2, and the way usually it successfully builds on the strengths of its predecessor, Oxenfree fails to push far sufficient away from the unique; so a lot of its mysteries are empty, like errant indicators on a shortwave radio.
Oxenfree 2 as soon as once more options time journey, however this time, it’s deployed as a method to fixing puzzles. When Riley opens a rift utilizing the radio, she and Jacob are in a position to step again into Camena’s previous. One instance: In a mining cave with a damaged elevator, the duo can use a rift to return to a time earlier than the elevator crashed, and use it to bridge a niche. As soon as throughout, Riley and Jacob can step again by means of the rift and again to the current, left with the mindfuck of whether or not they, in spite of everything, have been the reason for the crash. It’s these moments of unanswered questions, paired with the creepy, chopped-up audio the ghosts use to speak — bear in mind the enduring “Is. Go away. Doable?” from the primary sport? — that depart the lasting chill of a superb horror story.
Oxenfree 2’s narrative branches imply that you just’re in a position to form Riley’s persona a bit, whereas additionally altering the story with what you select to say or not say. However that is the place the comparability to Oxenfree hinders Oxenfree 2’s success; the writing within the authentic was rightfully lauded for the way it captured the spirit of youngsters. It was a mature drama with the sunshine moodiness of highschool issues, however it additionally dug deeper into the teenage psyche to the touch on grief, change, and relationships. Night time College has as soon as once more captured a sensible sample of speech in its dialogue, with nice voice appearing, too — however Oxenfree 2’s fundamental characters don’t have the identical enchantment as their forebears, and in a sport like this, characters are all the pieces.
![The “Is. Leave. Possible.” screen from the first Oxenfree, shown over an old-school television color and bars screen](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/J_D0NAZ0PweBlxSYq3yLw0KrqD4=/0x0:1920x1080/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1920x1080):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24782719/NSS_AT_6.png)
Picture: Night time College Studio
As a result of Oxenfree 2 is much less of a thriller on the paranormal stage — it’s the identical phenomena as the primary sport — plenty of the burden falls on Riley and Jacob, two characters that aren’t charming sufficient to hold the load. Their very own tales unravel, someway, each too rapidly and too slowly; after hours of character-building dialogue that I couldn’t hook up with, I used to be often caught off guard with a serious growth that got here out of nowhere. This might, maybe, be the results of Oxenfree 2’s nonlinear world; the primary premise of the sport is to arrange 4 beacons, however save the primary one, you are able to do them in any order. Likewise, due to the character of the branching dialogue system, my selections may have been what stunted the narrative throughout my first playthrough.
I do discover myself extra fascinated by these characters on my second playthrough, which I haven’t but completed. After spending roughly eight hours with Riley and Jacob within the first playthrough, I’m invested of their journeys purely in a “high quality time” sense; I’ve engrossed myself of their tales, so how may I not finally change into connected? Nonetheless, have been I not taking part in the sport for this evaluate, I’ll not have given it a second go, and I wouldn’t have arrived on the appreciation I’m feeling now.
![Two characters converse near the railing of a small concrete bridge at night in Oxenfree 2](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WlSPfcqnxKyMreu9gGewUyfUcoM=/0x0:5120x2880/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:5120x2880):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24782718/OXENFREEII_rileyjacobbridge_EN.png)
Picture: Night time College Studio/Netflix
Satirically, Oxenfree 2’s finest moments contain its ancillary characters — one specifically who’s actually by no means seen on display. Maria is a highschool radio host who’s manning Camena’s late-night broadcast. She’s straightforward to overlook should you don’t make sure narrative selections, specifically listening to her present and calling into her recommendation line. She’s an earnest buffer to the generally unbearable Jacob, and Night time College as soon as once more lets its teenage characters, particularly its teenage ladies, exist in a approach that’s sadly nonetheless uncommon in trendy artwork. Maria speaks with the flighty tone of a teen, generally making use of a gravitas to in any other case inconsequential teenage issues, like dramatic youngsters do, whereas additionally having the house for emotional depth in musings about her mates and life in Camena. Past that, she’s additionally a necessary connection between Riley, Jacob, and the three youngsters opening again up the Edwards Island rift. With out her, the teenagers really feel like mere antagonist archetypes. It’s a disgrace that I solely discovered Maria on my second playthrough — the depth she lends these three different characters is crucial to the story, and I discover myself extra within the story of what led these children to this specific level.
Ultimately, I liked the thought of Oxenfree 2 greater than the sport itself. It’s a sport that has the precise items, however falls in need of placing them collectively in a approach that lives as much as the progressive, basic expertise of the unique sport. A extra compelling story is frustratingly hidden throughout the sport’s branching narrative system, and it’s a disgrace that some individuals will miss it.
Oxenfree 2: Misplaced Alerts will probably be launched on July 12 on Nintendo Change, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Home windows PC, and cell through Netflix. The sport was reviewed on Steam Deck utilizing a pre-release obtain code supplied by Netflix. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These don’t affect editorial content material, although Vox Media might earn commissions for merchandise bought through affiliate hyperlinks. You will discover further details about Polygon’s ethics coverage right here.