3/5 ★ – Endless_backlog's review of Oxenfree II: Lost Signals.

6hrs Oxenfree 2 was a strange game to review for me as I feel like I haven’t seen much change from the first game. This time round you play as Riley, who returns to her home town to help set up radio transmitters across the coast with her new colleague Jacob, to aid research into radio anomalies. It’s set 5 years after the events of the first game and does act as its own instalment but carries very similar gameplay mechanics. The radio is used again to match frequencies which will tear open “portals”, although it’s not as overplayed as before and Riley will experience time loops much like Alex did previously. My biggest gripe with the first game was how broken the dialogue system was, not being able to make your conversation choice without you or others clashing and talking over each other. This time round not only will it let the person finish talking before giving your response, but it will actually continue conversations when you change scene, prompting the character to regain their thoughts and not miss any dialogue. Overall I enjoyed the same water colour painted environments and general slow pace of this walking simulator that occasionally delves into its sci fi horror, I just didn’t massively feel like it was a necessary sequel, and more that it was an upgrade on the first game rather than offering something new or more advanced than what we’ve seen before.