Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Oxenfree II: Lost Signals is much more than a “part two”

When you return to your childhood home, or back to the park you used to go to in college, is it the same experience you originally had? They are the same places, and to your knowledge, they look exactly the same. But now that you have more experience, are wiser (hopefully), and possibly a little grayer, retreading old grounds will always be different.

Oxenfree II: Lost Signals - Announce Trailer | PS5, PS4

That’s what Night School Studios kept in mind for the sequel to Oxenfree, which is aptly named Oxenfree II: Lost Signals. The developers held a preview event to show off small bits of the upcoming game and spoke about its themes and what it is like going back to a game world they initially had no intention of returning to.

Riley and Jacob underground.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

A different aesthetic

When watching the hands-off preview for the upcoming indie game, I got to see the island where the story will take place, as well as two of the major characters in the game: Riley and Jacob, the former of which is playable. Right off the bat, the game’s aesthetic will be instantly familiar to anyone who had experience with the original Oxenfree. However, the developers added a lot of subtle changes to the game to make it feel more modern and different. Parallax scrolling in the background makes moving through the island more cinematic. The attention to detail in the environments themselves and the introduction of the radio communicator that allows Riley to talk to various people on the island also help change up the formula up. All of these aspects let Lost Signals be its own game on its own terms.

Recommended Videos

When thinking about making a sequel, Night School Studios did not want to have the cast of the original game become a “Scooby-Doo gang” and travel around solving different paranormal mysteries. The characters and stories did not have to be the same, though the core pillars of the first Oxenfree will be found in its sequel. The Oxenfree series is a coming-of-age story for characters at a pivotal point in their lives, with paranormal spookiness and some weird stuff sprinkled in along the way. That holds true in the sequel, even with its tweaks.

Dialogue options in Oxenfree II.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

A new perspective

Instead of following Alex and the other characters from the first game, Lost Signals will mainly follow Riley. She is unique compared to Alex and the other members of his group in that she is not a child, but in fact in her 30s. Throughout the game, Riley will have a unique perspective on the events that are unfolding around her, as she is not a bright-eyed child seeing things for the first time. She has experience under her belt, which allows her to look back on her life to determine where it should go from here.

This is something that the developers wanted to really focus on: Having characters that are going through transitional parts of their lives make important decisions. That’s a rich vein to mine from, and the developers want players to be in a position to make important choices during their playthrough. Riley helps with this by already being a fully grown person who is going through her second major life change. Even if the player does not have the full context, her choices and actions still have the weight of her past on them.

Sequels to media can usually feel like something that could be stapled onto the original, like an expansion or a literal “part two.” However, Night School Studio wants the sequel to be an extension or an addition, to be its own stand-alone story, even if the foundation was solidly built by the original game. It may feel very similar at times, but with the benefit of time and experience, it will feel like an original story all on its own.

Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals is set to launch sometime in 2022 for PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch.

Andrew Zucosky
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Andrew has been playing video games since he was a small boy, and he finally got good at them like a week ago. He has been in…
Goodbye Volcano High’s dinosaur drama is more enticing than its rhythm interludes
Fang, Trish, and Reed playing in Worm Drama band

Teen dramas are all the rage, but society is running out of ideas. How many ways can you spin the same coming of age story? Developer KO_OP has risen to that challenge with its upcoming narrative rhythm game, Goodbye Volcano High, by daring to make something new: a high school dinosaur simulator.

Goodbye Volcano High - Story, Gameplay & Release Date | PS5 & PS4 Games

Read more
The Last of Us Part I makes Part II’s flaws much more apparent
Ellie aiming a rifle.

The Last of Us Part I may not be meaningfully different from the original game or its 2014 remaster, but the context around the franchise has notably changed. That’s because of The Last of Us Part II, a sequel that’s spurred as much critical praise as it has heated debate. The 2020 release built on the first game’s strong foundation by delivering a more complex story that further muddied the “good guys vs. bad guys” trope we see in so much media. It's a story about cyclical violence where Joel’s actions at the end of the first game directly impact Ellie on her own misguided thirst for blood.

It's a bold game, one that’s significantly longer and larger to fit in all of its ideas. I respected Naughty Dog’s ambition when I played the sequel two years ago, but walked away feeling like it was as swollen as one of the series’ Bloaters. After revisiting both The Last of Us and its excellent Left Behind DLC in the new PS5 remake, I feel more sure of my original critique. The Last of Us works because it's a lean and focused game. Part II, on the other hand, makes it clear that excess is Naughty Dog’s Achilles' heel.
From lean to bloated
What I immediately noticed in my replay of The Last of Us is that there’s barely a wasted moment. From its tense opening sequence to its gripping final hour, most scenes play a crucial role in the story. For instance, the winter-set chapter where Ellie takes charge serves as an important way to show how Joel’s ruthlessness has begun to infect her. My mind wandered once or twice during my 12-hour playthrough.

Read more
Oxenfree 2 and more new games announced at Nintendo Indie World Showcase
A lighthouse sits on a cliff in Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals.

Nintendo today held another Indie World Showcase featuring announcements from developers around the world. The stream included the surprise reveal of Oxenfree II, along with other announcements, including a release date for Cris Tales, a release window and Switch reveal for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, and more.

The biggest announcement of the showcase was Oxenfree II: Lost Signals, a sequel set five years after the events of the original 2016 indie hit. In this next installment, Riley returns to her hometown to investigate mysterious radio signals. It doesn't have an exact release date, but is planned to launch sometime in 2021.

Read more