Oxenfree aroused a lot of interest thanks to a surprising dialogue system and an adventure that was as mysterious as it was moving. As you will discover in ours. Oxenfree 2 review: Lost Signals, in this sequel things have not changed much, but the gaming experience advances at a different pace and features the voices of two much more mature characters than the handful of teenagers in the first chapter.
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First of all, let me tell you that it's really good that Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals is releasing under this label. Netflix, and that this one treats it as if it were a new television series. After all, the union between the streaming giant and the Night School Studios development team is perfect because they both aim to offer similar entertainment, based mainly on characters and dialogues. Oxenfree and Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals also feature interactivity, but it is of a different type than the classic video game where success is contrasted only with failure.
In this game there are no right or wrong choices, nor game overs, but there are more or less important ones that will direct us towards different narrative branches and consequent endings. During the adventure you will find some tasty puzzles too, you'll also have to deal with a deliberately confusing map, but it's a small thing compared to the role that dialogue will once again play.
The innovation brought by Oxenfree, however, has been recalibrated downwards, a choice that will make happy those who found it disconcerting or exhausting to follow the constant conversations about the cast of the first game, but that partially limits the most characteristic aspect of the game . prequel.
Riley y Jacob
Once again we are faced with some of the most natural dialogues ever seen in a video game, where it is possible to insert responses even when the interlocutor continues speaking, or has recently started again by changing the subject. A system that also includes silence as a response and when silence is taken into account by the gameplay it is usually good news (Pentiment also does it, among the latter). As anticipated at the beginning, the main cast of this new Oxenfree is made up of only two characters, Riley y Jacob, and most of the dialogue and interaction will be between the two of them.
This does not mean that the adventure will focus solely on its story: if the protagonists are fewer, the characters that will revolve around them have increased exactly as the importance of their role has increased. The plot of Oxenfree 2: Last Signals begins only a few months after the end of the first game, in addition this sequel takes place a few kilometers from the island where the events of Oxenfree took place, even this can be glimpsed from afar. Riley and Jacob meet at first because they are both tasked with strategically placing radio antennas along the coast. Anyone who has played the first one will have no problem imagining how this seemingly harmless experiment will end...
Radiomancer
The mystery behind the two Oxenfrees travels through radio waves and enters the frequencies of walkie-talkie by Riley, distorts space-time, splitting the sky like a glass from a bottle between almost imperceptible whistles and baritone frequency modulations. These themes also involve the audiovisual aesthetics of the series and its puzzles, often based on the alignment of figures acting on the frequencies of a sound. Artistically, Oxenfree 2 improves on the previous game with slightly more detailed settings and decidedly more proportioned characters; Nothing surprising but very effective, especially if you add the excellent soundtrack to the equation.
Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals is a great product. Sure, it doesn't stray too far from the first game, but why would it? This is a direct sequel, very direct indeed, to the point that we strongly advise against starting it without having finished the previous adventure, in the same way that we advise against starting a television series from the second season (don't try it, also applies to Star Trek Next Generation). Now it will be interesting to see where this closeness with Netflix will lead, Oxenfree 2 was born before the software house was purchased, especially when it comes to the budget of these projects. We don't expect or want Triple A, but it wouldn't be bad to see Oxenfree's graphic style enriched in details and animations, dreaming. larger stories.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam Holygamerz.com 7.5 Readers (13) 7.1 your voteIf you loved Oxenfree, you can't help but love this Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals, especially since it continues (and ends?) a story that still has several things to say, several mysteries to reveal. The game has remained essentially the same, so there is a lot of walking and endless dialogue, but that it is so minimalist is also a strength given that among the many platforms where you can play Oxenfree are tablets and smartphones. Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals and the previous chapter are available on PlayStation, Switch and PC (this sequel remains inexplicably absent on Xbox). Both Oxenfree are also included in the Netflix subscription.
PRO
- The dialogues are very well written and always very interactive.
- The story is carried forward with class.
- Unmatched atmosphere
AGAINST
- We walk too much and think too little.
- Graphically, more details and animations would be needed.
