Oxenfree II looks like it’s putting all the ingredients together to make the first one a great conversational atmospheric adventure, and then more.We played the first 30 minutes or so of the Night School Studios sequel at Summer Game Fest Game Days and it was great and fun, but we don’t want to tell you more than what we collected a while back
We did, however, have game director Bryant Cannon and lead writer Adam Hines in Los Angeles, who were happy to answer a few questions from Gamereactor about what fans of the original are still familiar with and what’s further in Lost Signal. The content of the development, all in the video interview below:
For those who don’t know at this point, Cannon recalls, “Riley was an environmental researcher in her 30s who came to Kamena to investigate some strange radio signals that were disrupting televisions and electronic equipment. stuff like that, she’s finding the same things that Alex and friends found in the first game: Ghosts in the Portal. She’s obviously dealing with a lot of different things that teens don’t have to deal with , because of where her life is at, but it’s set against a very similar paranormal event that she and Jacob are investigating.
However, despite being in the same place in Oregon just five years later, and while fans of the original are sure to grab a different reference, “you don’t have to play the first game,” Hines clarifies in the video. “It’s kind of cold that you can jump into the sequel. We think this one’s done pretty well, any information you should have, or need to know from the first one, like world rules, about the main towns, we’ll give you a little bit of what we’ve got there Tips for building. There are a lot of good references to the first one, so if you’ve played it, you’ll get more out of it, but you definitely don’t have to”.
For those who thought the first game felt a little too linear, Cannon explained: “The player has a lot more agency in Oxenfree II in terms of how your choices affect the game. More agencies to go to as they feel they need to places to go, kind of poking around different areas of the map that they want to investigate, not just where we’ve been telling people to go. So we wanted to enhance that feeling of, like, ‘I’m driving this story,’ which I think will serve Players bring a lot in return.
In the interview, we also learn more about how the series’ signature dynamic dialogue has evolved this time through a walkie-talkie (L), which you can always use to listen to different channels in addition to good ol’ analog radio (R). Getting the whole branching system to work meant “just a lot of coverage” for the writers, but so far, thanks to Elizabeth “Liz” Saida (Riley Boverly) and Joe Bianco (Jacob Summers), and the results look very promising.
All of this naturally leads to more creepy supernatural stuff, including the tear of time in Carmena that transports you to 1952, or the fact that there are human counterparts in the game now, a creepy ritualistic performance Cult, called Parentage.
Also, contrary to the original, the game director confirmed that Oxenfree 2: The Lost Signal will be released on Netflix games, PS4, PS5, Switch and Steam from July 12, including localized into up to 30 languages. Text and subtitles, it’s sure to please more fans of the genre (and be spooked by Riley’s adventures).
