OXENFREE II: Lost Signals

The first game was difficult to play because it lacked volume settings to be able to actually hear the dialogue over the music. Luckily there is volume settings now, so that issue was gone in this 2nd game in the series. Past that the only other improvements I came across were that there were instances where your character would actually run and a decent speed instead of just moving super slow the entire time, but the map is a lot bigger and harder to navigate, so it doesn’t quite make up for that. Pathing was slightly better, but it still ran into a lot of situations where you could just stuck. Like when climbing your character would just climb up a few steps, then down a few, over and over and over and over and over again. Occasionally indefinitely. Other frustrating things that probably should have been caught in QA are the few spots where sound cuts out. The fact the Apple Pencil can’t be used in many of the mini games, though that’s a bit in line with the first game since the Apple Pencil failed to work in the map in that one. It did work for the radio in the first game though, and it completely refuses to work for that in this version. Oh, and for some reason they removed the hold to walk function. So now with a larger map, strange positioning of the camera, and limitations on how far ahead you can place the movement reticle, the bulk of the game is just constant tapping so you can keep the character moving at a reasonable pace. Overall, it was an okay game. It was just held back by all of these weird design choices that some playtesting a quality QA time could have helped iron out to make the game more enjoyable and less monotonous.

This game had me in tears. I’ve never connected more to a character or story, like this one. I wish I could write the amazing stuff in this game but I would just ramble. By the end of the game I was literally sobbing and crying, I love the plot and the characters and the setting. The art style 10/10! Lighter compared to the first game but not too light where the dark mysteries setting was lost! The art also confused me at first which I loved! It being so light really helped build in the plot later on. Like at first it was just mysterious but then the plot kicked in and it got all dark and the art hid that just 10/10. Also just the paths compared to the first game had me geeking! UGH SO GOOD. My favorite thing about both games is the topic of trauma. Really like how the main topic in both games is the loss of a loved one but this game added the fear of being a new mother with generational trauma. The fact the main character had a hard life with her mom and dad gave into the scare of her being a mom herself. The fact that Jacob felt so trapped in his little bubble of a life and water to do more. The fact that Olivia is a child easily impresionable due to the loss of her parents, leading her to be manipulated by ghost! UGH SO GOOD! The characters were obviously thought of in detail to make a story of this QUALITY! Thank youuuu sooo soo much for making this game. It made me look at my life in a different lighting and that is what art does. This game is pure art.

I don’t normally write reviews on anything really, but I wanted to share how much I truly loved this game. I was actually very skeptical about it at first, because I loved the first Oxenfree so much. When I played the first game, I was enraptured in the characters lives and the story and the mystery that I played it 3 times haha! I just loved and appreciated it that much. So when I started this one I thought it was going to be some dumb rip off of the first with no personality (that was just my assumption). However, I just finished the game and it was better than I ever expected 🥰 this game deserves 5 stars because of how well it ties the original story line of the first game and the adventure of Alex and the gang into a whole new set of characters and stories. Words literally cannot express how much I love it, I may start it over again a few times too!! I don’t want to give spoilers, but I just love how by the end I cared for each of the characters so much and was so excited to see older characters too that I squealed haha. But thank you to the game makers and Netflix for this absolute masterpiece!! If it was made into a show I would totally watch it 100% Side note: Jacob has my heart, he’s such an awkward lovable character oh my gosh😂🫶