Just like in the first game, introducing time travel into a personal story is a great way to have characters literally face their future and have them reckon with it, and it still works well here as a way to understand what everybody is dealing with. If you allow her, she can reveal a lot of dimension, especially as Lost Signals opens up to reveal what she’ll be experiencing in the years ahead. She’s clearly closed off and always on the edge of a nervous breakdown, but it isn’t her entire personality. And as somebody who also had some rough teen years, I definitely projected quite a bit on these characters. Like them – and a whole lot of other people in this part of their lives – I’m also sitting on a bit of a precipice between a present that’s not emotionally fulfilling and a potential future that I could work toward. I’m around the same age as Riley and Jacob, and watching them (sometimes literally) face their baggage and potential futures hit a little too close to home. However, it was obvious who I was going to relate to the most from the start. They’re different takes on Riley as a character, but they all still manage to feel like things Riley would do or say, and that’s even before you learn about why she is the way she is. You can choose to be emotionally distant or open with Jacob engage with his weird tangents or cut him off. A lot of the story hinges on the conversations these two have as they hike around Camena’s winding trails, and just like in the first game, you can satisfyingly control the vibes and direction of those talks. She pairs neatly with Jacob, a meek but generally optimistic guy who can best be described as an airhead. Riley, who is our point-of-view character, is clearly holding back a lot of intense emotions when we meet her for the first time sleeping at a quiet bus stop. They are your typical aimless millennials with generational baggage. Riley and Jacob are, understandably, out of their depth, and not just in regard to the ghosts. I’m still not sure how I feel about this revelation, which simultaneously works with and against the events of the first game, but it’s enough to really change things up before the final act. What is really going on with Olivia and her friends is the big reveal, not why they’re doing it in the first place. Their leader is a boisterous girl named Olivia, who has readily apparent motives, and it’s frustrating at first because Riley and Jacob take way too long to realize what’s happening, but thankfully, the developers have a few tricks. The duo quickly comes up against the antagonists - if they can be called that: a group of teens from a mysterious religious group who are trying to reopen the portals from the first game and unleash whatever’s beyond them. It doesn’t outdo the impact of the original, nor is it as scary, but it still finds its own way thanks to some subtle but impactful changes that come together for an emotional and surprising ride rather than a lackluster rehash. The watercolor-inspired art style does a lot to make it feel like a dream, and the audio design continues to be hard-hitting. You have a similar array of secrets to uncover, dialogue to engage in, and choices to make that can drastically impact the ending and the relationships you might build. In some ways, Lost Signals feels familiar to the point of being somewhat repetitive, but it still goes just a bit further. Those were two edges that worked extremely well together, especially with time-travel elements that make possible futures and outcomes feel more real. It centers on teens on the cusp of adulthood battling terrifying ghosts trapped on the boundary of reality between space and time. The first Oxenfree became an instant favorite because it’s a horror game about being on the edge, both literally and metaphorically. As with a lot of sequels, Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals sticks with what works.
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