Games worth discovering

Uncover creepy radio signals in this sci-fi horror game - Oxenfree II: Lost Signals Quick Review

6K View2023-07-14

OXENFREE II: Lost Signals

8.1

Side ScrollerPsychological HorrorThrillerInteractive FictionPoint & ClickHorrorVisual NovelAdventure

Get

PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Play it if you’re a fan of sci-fi, analog horror, or just like narrative-focused games. Oxenfree II: Lost Signals is a direct sequel to the original Oxenfree, but it’s surprisingly friendly to newcomers. Set five years after the first game, Lost Signals follows two brand-new characters: small town handyman Jacob and stoic screw-up Riley. There are moments that will hit harder if you’ve played the original, but it’s not overly reliant on old material, and it should make for a satisfying experience even if you treat it as a standalone game.

TIME PLAYED

I spent around eight hours with Oxenfree II, which was enough time to complete the main story and uncover quite a few secrets and collectibles. I’ve only unlocked 33% of the achievements, so it seems like I still have plenty of discoveries ahead of me. Like the first game, Lost Signals is filled with dialogue choices, so I should see lots of new content during my next playthrough.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Fantastic characters. Oxenfree II weaves a fascinating narrative that blends science fiction with the supernatural, but the heart of the story lies in its character interactions. While the first Oxenfree focused on a group of teenagers, the main characters in Lost Signals are thirty-somethings. The dialogue isn’t overly serious, but it has a mature tone that I really appreciated. Aside from the time rifts, I found the character’s struggles to be intensely relatable.

Oxenfree II has two leads, but there are also plenty of side characters that make the world feel more alive. I had direct interactions with some of the game’s cast, but there were lots of people I only talked to via walkie-talkie. It’s not always easy to make someone feel like a real person when you can’t see their face, but luckily, all of the voice acting in Lost Signals is exceptional.

• Amazing spooky atmosphere. Whether I was crawling through caves, traveling through time, or eavesdropping on disembodied voices, Oxenfree II felt incredibly immersive. It doesn’t always feel like a horror game, but there were times when it made my skin crawl. Sometimes I got so caught up in the dialogue that I forgot about all the terrifying things happening around me, and when something creepy did happen, it really caught me off guard. If I needed a good scare, I could always turn the dial on my radio. There were plenty of normal stations, but every so often, I’d come across a strange voice saying something bizarre or horrifying.

• Awesome sci-fi puzzles. Oxenfree II isn’t packed with puzzles, but the ones that are there are a blast to solve. The simpler puzzles had me fiddling around with dials to form shapes and alter the world around me. My favorite brainteasers let me travel through time so that I could interact with the environment at different points in history. Puzzles sometimes feel like an unnecessary obstacle, but every challenge I encountered here fit in perfectly with the setting and story.

• Tons of hidden secrets. Not only does Oxenfree II have plenty of collectibles, but there’s all kinds of optional dialogue and story content you can find if you’re willing to look for it. One of the in-game radio stations is a local channel run by high schoolers. I tuned in during a call-in advice program, and since I happened to be near a phone, I was able to dial in and chat with the show’s host. The hidden scenes I found were among my favorite moments in the game, and I can’t wait to play more so that I can search for more of them.

WHAT SUCKS

• Occasional bugs. Oxenfree II is pretty polished for the most part, but I encountered a couple of frustrating bugs during my playthrough. After I got around two-thirds through the main story, I got an error every time my game tried to save. By the time I realized this was a recurring problem, I’d made a fair amount of progress, so I decided to leave my Steam Deck running and push on through to the end. It worked out, but I was slightly terrified that my game would crash before I could complete the story. I shut things down and restarted after I beat the game, and I was able to save without any problems, but it’s definitely an issue to watch out for.

• Slightly wonky controls. Most of Oxenfree II’s gameplay consists of walking and talking, but the controls felt a little awkward every time I attempted to complete other tasks. If I wanted to climb a rope or jump from one ledge to the next, I had to be in exactly the right position for my command to work. Sometimes I had to press a button several times before an input would register. This was only a minor annoyance for most of my playthrough, but it left me feeling irritated during one of the game’s more intense story sequences.

💬 Will you tune into strange frequencies in Oxenfree II: Lost Signals, or do you have other things to listen to? Let us know in the comments!