#Oxenfree II: Lost Signals

[utopianoverlord]

OXENFREE II: Lost Signals ↳ “Don't worry, you'll be gone soon anyway. Just like me. Just like we all are.”

[thebvbbletea]

📻 Spend the summer in Camena. Don’t forget your radio.

— OXENFREE II: Lost Signals (July 12th, 2023)

[artbycats]

is leave possible ?

[wolves0nmars]

if i had a nickel for every time an indie game set in the pacific northwest with time travel elements opened with a girl with a unisex name having a thunderstorm lighthouse nightmare i'd

[pandakong]

https://www.iam8bit.com/products/oxenfree-ii-lost-signals-2xlp

With its eerie atmosphere and sharp-as-nails dialogue, Oxenfree II: Lost Signals calls to mind both ‘80s horror movies and coming-of-age stories alike. Developer Night School Studio weaves together a rich tale of returning home to find that not everything is the same, deftly building on the themes established in the first game.  And as was the case with that first game, music is a crucial part of Oxenfree II’s DNA. scntfc has once again crafted a foreboding, mercurial synth-powered soundscape, one that adds a whole new layer of intrigue and mystery to Oxenfree II’s foggy, treacherous cliff tops and streets. The music seems to whisper: “Danger is just around the corner, but so too is hope.”  It’s a soundtrack that quite simply demands to be immortalized in classic iam8bit fashion. That’s why we teamed up with publisher Netflix to bring you this — the Oxenfree II: Lost Signals 2xLP. Pressed on Radio Disturbance Red vinyl, its otherworldly grooves let you enjoy the music & mood of Oxenfree II, again and again.  The ludicrously talented Calder Moore crafted cover art worthy of the moody music you’ll find inside, calling to mind the brain-bending, jaw-dropping visuals present in the game itself.  It’s time to tune in to the signal. The Oxenfree II: Lost Signals 2xLP has arrived. 

[digirainebow]

things that are (probably) true now that we have canon birthdates for the oxenfree characters

the events of the original oxenfree take place on june 4th, 2016. if taken into town, nona reveals that her birthday is in 3 days. since we now know that her birthday is june 7th, and that lost signals takes place 5 years afterwards in 2021, we finally know the exact day the first game happens. yay!

clarissa's birthday happens to fall on the same day that anna was killed. as maggie writes in adler letter 9, april 4th is the day in 1952 that she and anna tried to bring the sunken back.

last year, ren went to the movie theater and watched oppenheimer with nona (and clarissa) because she wanted to see it, even though he wanted to go see barbie, and it was his birthday that day.

[robertlutecee]

OXENFREE II: LOST SIGNALS (2023) - Dev. Night School Studio

[xikra]

finally played Oxenfree Lost Signals and it made my mom and I cry.

10/10 game

[thelvadams]

finished oxenfree 2

[spookylostboy]

Okay I need everyone to go play Oxenfree and Oxenfree II IMMEDIATELY <3

[dabidagoose]

Ok ok but if you choose Riley. Do you still get the box with her stuff in it? Cause she's not alive. And rex isn't alive to receive her stuff. So. How the fuck does that ending work???

[kyndaris]

A Lesson in Radio Waves

I first played Night School Studio's Oxenfree after hearing good things about the title. Many of the reviews I read spoke of the excellent writing and praised how the dialogue easily flowed between characters in an almost realistic manner. Years later, I played Afterparty, which was another game from the studio. Set in Hell, the two protagonists would challenge Satan in a drinking contest to earn the privilege of returning to the World of the Living. It was an interesting conceit and I was eager to see what Night School Studio would make next.

Imagine my surprise when they were then acquired by Netflix to make exclusive games for the streaming giant!

Thankfully, though, Oxenfree II: Lost Signals was released on multiple platforms and could be purchased on Steam. But while it is true I do have a Netflix subscription and could have played the game on the platform, it's been a pain to figure out how to access their library of games as they are not readily available on the Desktop app version. In fact, it's why I've yet to play the sequel to Valiant Hearts. Given how laden down with games I've been, though, it's been a right struggle.

Anyways, Oxenfree II: Lost Signals acts as a sequel to the original game. Instead of following Alex and her friends around King Edward though, the main protagonist this time round is a woman called Riley. Five years after the events of the first game, Riley has returned to her hometown of Camena Coast. Although she is here to purportedly help in the study of radio anomalies around the town, depending on one's choice of dialogue options you soon learn she has a fraught relationship with her ill father. Later, if you so choose, you can reveal to Jacob, Riley's companion throughout the game, that she's pregnant. Possibly another factor for why she came back to her hometown.

As you explore Camena Coast, Riley and Jacob soon stumble upon a strange phenomenon. When they see an interdimensional portal open up in the sky above King Edward Island, they are also gifted a vision of three teenagers (Olivia, Charlie and Violet) trying to communicate with the dead. Riley and Jacob, fearing what the portal might bring, set about triangulating radio signals from multiple transmitters to close it for good.

Over the course of the night, Riley and Jacob experience strange supernatural events, confront the posse of teenagers dabbling with powers they know not, and grapple with the return of World War II era ghosts. But what came as a real surprise for me was the reveal that Alex, the protagonist of the first game, was also reaching through the void in order to break herself and her friends out of the time loop they found themselves in five years ago.

It all culminates in one last confrontation at King Edward Island where one person must sacrifice themselves to close the interdimensional rift for good. In my playthrough, that choice was easy. I picked Olivia.

One might wonder why I would pick a young teenager over an expectant mother or Jacob but since the death of her parents, Olivia hasn't had much to live for. But by choosing to stay behind, she is able to be a version of the parents she lost, which was her entire goal from the very beginning.

Oxenfree II doesn't have much in way of complicated gameplay. It essentially has the player click, or use the directional keys, to move Riley around a static screen. While there are the occasional objects Riley can interact with, it's actually the dialogue that serves as the basis for the game (and the tuning of a radio). Whether that was fleshing out the lore behind the island and its cult, or the characters.

What I liked most were the visions where Riley was visited by her future son, Rex. Through these interactions, we were able to see the parallels between their relationship and the one Riley shared with her father. And I, always keen to know more about the people around me, or the fictional characters I play around with, can fill in the gaps and feed my own headcanon for how things shake out.

There are only a few things though that I wish could have been answered such as the identity of Rex's father and if Michael, who I brought back in the first game, would be considered a canon event at all.

But while I liked the story for what it was, I felt like the decisions I had to make didn't make much impact to the direction the story could have taken barring a few side conversations with people over the radio. This meant that no matter what I chose, the ending would always be predetermined with a few select differences based on the person I chose to close the rift.

Given this was the last game I played in 2023, I was hoping for something with a bit more oomph. Unfortunately, Oxenfree II was a slowburn fizzle. The mystery too, with the floating bodies and distorted voices, added a bit of variety, did keep me invested in the story but didn't give me any unsettling vibes like games such as the Little Nightmares series or Limbo. Then again this may have been because of my already high expectations for the story, which was let down by the fairly rote story I was given.

On a completely unrelated note, by the time this post goes up, I should be overseas with bleachpanda. The two of us are probably somewhere in South Korea, fumbling our way through the language to visit iconic sites around the country. So, if you see two Asian-Australians either lounging in a cafe or struggling to have ourselves understood, come and say 'hi.' I know bleachpanda will probably wonder how I might have written a whole blog post while she wasn't looking but as I've told them countless times, I have these scheduled and the actual moment I've written these posts is sometime in the not too distant past.

Of course, given I've gone overseas, that does mean there WILL be travel posts coming to the blog soon!

While bleachpanda has made it VERY clear they don't like my idea of ugly candid photos, I'll strive to take some nonetheless. My humour, as always, is stuck somewhere between that of a 6-year-old and dark dry wit.

Doubtless, I won't be able to UPLOAD any of the photos of @bleachpanda to my blog but I'll most assuredly be using them to torment my erstwhile travelling companion as we traipse around Asia.

[thebvbbletea]

"Nothing fights like time, child."

— OXENFREE II: Lost Signals (2023)

[satoshi-mochida]

OXENFREE II: Lost Signals releases today digitally for the PS5, PS4, Switch and Steam.

[wolves0nmars]

OXENFREE II SPOILERS!

i love how alex is kind of evil <3

she doesn't want to destroy the world... but she does plan to use riley as a vessel for her to continue living so

she is also kind of very much assisting olivia in her suicide for her own benefit. i mean her intentions are definitely not to the extent of the sunken, but she is still convincing olivia to sacrifice herself so that the rest can get out.

and then she also kind of tries to convince riley too!

evil and selfish! and i love her for it! ur damn right shes gonna be kinda evil! as she should! shes been stuck in purgatory for five years!

good for her!

[humormehorny]

I need there to be a third Oxenfree game. I need a resolution to all timelines. I don’t think the good ending to be the one that dooms the sunken. I hope that night school studios does this, especially as it would help explain how Alex and possibly Riley was able to escape the time loop.

I have my own speculations, but I’m not ready to speak about them right now ow