Oxenfree 2 review: an intriguing ghost story that’s too well hidden

Riley wakes up on a bus stop in her hometown of Camena, eyes flicked open from the surprise of walkie-talkie static, a chilling hiss that’s now a calling card for developer Night School Studio.

Riley has just been hired by a team that is interested in the radio waves. Her job is to setup the beacons needed to pick up the signals. You’d better get used that static! Riley is a military dropout who’s returned to her hometown right at the precipice of major change. She’s paired up with a former high school acquaintance, Jacob, to put up several of these beacons over the course of a few days. Naturally, that’s before the first beacon goes haywire and connects to a static portal above Edwards Island, a gateway to a techno-ghostly world that the two don’t yet know is being summoned by a group of teenagers (separate from the bunch from Oxenfree). It is similar to its predecessor. Oxenfree: Lost Signals revolves around walking and tuning a radio to the supernatural world, but now there’s also a decent amount of climbing and a walkie-talkie. In Oxenfree 2,The radio and the walkie talkie are devices for storytelling that give depth to the story you see immediately on the screen.

Night School Studio/Netflix

Oxenfree 2, builds upon the scaffolding the first game provided: It upgrades the rich, detailed environments, weaves in a town’s worth of new characters, and continues to nail the increasingly creepy atmosphere of a world in which ghosts hang out in static and radio waves. You can find pieces of Oxenfree 2,I was compelled to look over my shoulders for anything amiss. Other times, I found myself pulled away by a familiar story, with a narrative that was a bit stale and a forced relationship between the characters. Even though there is a lot that’s new and exciting in Oxenfree 2,How often does it build on its predecessor’s strengths? OxenfreeThe film fails to move far enough from the original. Many of its secrets are hollow, just like shortwave signals.

Oxenfree 2, once again features time travel, but this time, it’s deployed as a means to solving puzzles. When Riley opens a rift using the radio, she and Jacob are able to step back into Camena’s past. The duo could, for example, use the rift in a mine cave to travel back before an elevator crash and bridge the gap. Riley and Jacob are then able to step through the rift, back into the present and wonder if they were, in fact, the ones responsible for the accident. It’s these moments of unanswered questions, paired with the creepy, chopped-up audio the ghosts use to communicate — remember the iconic “Is. Leave. Possible?” from the first game? — that leave the lasting chill of a good horror story.

Oxenfree 2,’s narrative branches mean that you’re able to shape Riley’s personality a bit, while also altering the story with what you choose to say or not say. This is where the similarities to Oxenfree hinders Oxenfree 2,’s success; the writing in the original was rightfully lauded for how it captured the spirit of teenagers. This was an adult drama that had the moodiness associated with high school, but also touched on the psyche of teenagers, including grief, relationships, and change. Night School has once again captured a realistic pattern of speech in its dialogue, with great voice acting, too — but Oxenfree 2,’s main characters don’t have the same appeal as their forebears, and in a game like this, characters are everything.

Night School Studio

Because Oxenfree 2, is less of a mystery on the paranormal level — it’s the same phenomena as the first game — a lot of the weight falls on Riley and Jacob, two characters that aren’t captivating enough to carry the load. Their own stories unravel, somehow, both too quickly and too slowly; after hours of character-building dialogue that I couldn’t connect to, I was frequently caught off guard with a major development that came out of nowhere. It could be that the story is a result of Oxenfree 2,’s nonlinear world; the main premise of the game is to set up four beacons, but save the first one, you can do them in any order. The branching dialog system could also have hindered my narrative on my first try.

I do find myself more interested in these characters on my second playthrough, which I haven’t yet finished. After spending roughly eight hours with Riley and Jacob in the first playthrough, I am invested in their journeys purely in a “quality time” sense; I’ve engrossed myself in their stories, so how could I not eventually become attached? Still, were I not playing the game for this review, I may not have given it a second go, and I wouldn’t have arrived at the appreciation I’m feeling now.

Night School Studio/Netflix

Ironically, Oxenfree 2,’s best moments involve its ancillary characters — one in particular who is literally never seen on screen. Maria is a high school radio host who’s manning Camena’s late-night broadcast. She’s easy to miss if you don’t make certain narrative choices, namely listening to her show and calling into her advice line. She’s an earnest buffer to the sometimes insufferable Jacob, and Night School once again lets its teenage characters, especially its teenage girls, exist in a way that’s unfortunately still rare in modern art. Maria has the conversational style of a teenage girl, expressing her emotions in the way that teenagers would. She also uses a dramatic tone to express the problems she faces, but in an insignificant manner. Beyond that, she’s also an essential connection between Riley, Jacob, and the three teenagers opening back up the Edwards Island rift. She is the only one who can make these teens seem like more than just archetypes of antagonists. It’s a shame that I only found Maria on my second playthrough — the depth she lends these three other characters is essential to the story, and I find myself more interested in the story of what led these kids to this particular point.

I liked the concept of the book. Oxenfree 2,More than just the game. It’s a game that has the right pieces, but falls short of putting them together in a way that lives up to the innovative, classic experience of the original game. A more compelling story is frustratingly hidden within the game’s branching narrative system, and it’s a shame that some people will miss it.

Oxenfree: Lost Signals Netflix is releasing the title on Nintendo Switch (July 12), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 for Windows PC and Mobile, as well on mobile devices. Netflix provided a code for a prerelease download to review the game on Steam Deck. Vox Media partners with affiliates. Vox Media can earn affiliate commissions, but this does not affect editorial content. This is where you can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.