Oxenfree II: Misplaced Indicators performs one thing like a thematic flip of its glorious 2016 predecessor. The place the unique sport adopted a teen named Alex and a bunch of her mates on a coming-of-age journey that had the group confronting a nebulous future, Misplaced Indicators finds 30-something Riley Poverly feeling caught in maturity and returning again to her childhood dwelling, the mining city of Camena, in an effort to “begin over.”
It’s an attention-grabbing flip on the standard coming-of-age story that makes the sequel really feel refreshing, but acquainted—it’s not merely retreading the identical floor with a brand new group of teenagers. As somebody who’s experiencing a midlife disaster as his thirties are quickly barreling down on him, Riley’s dilemma resonated with me. She wonders if she’s made the fitting decisions in life, in addition to questioning the impression she’s had on the folks and the world round her.
Riley and her outdated highschool acquaintance, Jacob, are given the project of going round Camena and putting antennas to trace the unusual alerts which were interfering with digital tools all through city. No sooner do they place the primary one than one thing unusual occurs on Edwards Island, the setting of the primary sport—and so they go to research. Though Misplaced Indicators is meant to be a standalone story, I might extremely advocate enjoying the unique sport first in an effort to perceive why Edwards Island is so vital. In any other case, you may really feel misplaced proper off the bat. (Even Camena was briefly seen within the unique sport’s secret ending, although it’s vastly expanded on right here.) Technically, sure, Riley’s story is her personal. Nevertheless, it’s filled with references to the occasions of the primary sport, and characters from it make appearances as properly. You’ll miss a lot context for those who don’t at the very least play the earlier sport as soon as.
All of this performs out in scrolling 2D gameplay, as you navigate Riley via the gorgeous hand-drawn environments of Camena and past. You’ll often have to resolve easy environmental puzzles by tuning Riley’s radio to match sure frequencies, and the occasional alternative to enterprise off the overwhelmed path in quest of collectibles lends the motion a little bit of an journey platformer vibe.
Nonetheless, Misplaced Indicators is arguably extra of a visible novel than an journey sport, and also you’ll spend a lot of your time participating in conversations and selecting between varied dialogue choices. The sorts of solutions you select will affect the ending. Whereas a dialog about mother and father may appear minuscule, the best way that Riley chooses to reply has colossal ramifications in a while. Will you act mean-spirited and dismiss different folks’s issues? Or will you present kindness all through the journey and have favors repaid down the road?
It’s not lengthy earlier than Riley and Jacob’s investigation into the mysterious alerts haunting Camena begins to threaten their sanity. Together with different anomalies, phantoms with pink eyes seem immediately out of nowhere, talking in cryptic messages and fragmented sentences, with phrases separated by static, invoking an uneasy feeling everytime you encounter them.
![Riley and Jacob stand before a red fissure in a cavern, with Riley tweaking the frequency dial on a device, the numbers seen floating above her.](https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,q_60,w_645/ec447d3fc04a250add14558d8ff06142.jpg)
Naturally, witnessing such inexplicable horrors places them on edge, and I cherished the nonchalant dialogue between them as they tried to maintain themselves from dropping their minds. It’s stunning how entertaining it’s to listen to two folks simply discussing whether or not libraries ought to carry again late charges for overdue books.
However this isn’t all simply idle chit-chat. For one factor, Jacob’s dynamic with Riley makes their interactions as revealing as they’re entertaining. He’s completely different from her in that he’s by no means identified life outdoors Camena, but in addition just like her within the sense that they’re each looking for their objective in life. And secondly, the best way Riley responds to Jacob and different characters will have an effect on the ending. For instance, If Riley is overly impolite to Jacob or ignores his makes an attempt to bond, then he may not observe her to the top. The conversations circulate extremely properly—all of them sound pure and reasonable, because of the superb script and phenomenal voice appearing.
Oxenfree II: Misplaced Indicators
Oxenfree II: Misplaced Indicators
Again of the field quote:
“Type of the identical, however completely different!”
Sort of sport:
Narrative journey
Preferred:
Nice environment, unbelievable writing, attention-grabbing characters.
Disliked:
Lengthy load occasions (on Swap), totally understanding the story is overly reliant on having performed the primary sport.
Developer:
Evening College Studio
Platforms:
PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Swap, iOS, Android.
Launch date:
July 12, 2023
Performed:
8 hours on Swap, two full playthroughs, noticed two of the sport’s a number of endings.
Misplaced Indicators can also be significantly better paced than its predecessor, with occasions delving way more shortly into the ghostly and supernatural in a approach that grabs your consideration and retains you hooked. It does this, although, with out sacrificing the quiet moments that helped make the primary sport so charming, with the banter between Riley and Jacob as they search for locations to place down their antennas capturing a lot the identical feeling of Alex and her mates riffing off of one another within the unique.
One small however vital enchancment over the primary sport is the person interface. Whereas enjoying Oxenfree, I bear in mind being confused that the B button on my Pleasure-Cons was used to set off an motion as there was no indication of that. In Misplaced Indicators, strolling as much as interactable objects like a ledge will present an enormous fats B with a circle round it, and equally, different face buttons now seem when selecting between dialogue choices.
Misplaced Indicators makes glorious use of time-travel components as properly. Like Alex within the earlier sport, Riley will expertise time loops all through the story, giving us a glimpse into Camena’s darkish previous. Misplaced Indicators generally has puzzles the place Riley must tune her radio’s frequency to match a tear in space-time, ripping it open and moving into the previous. A caved-in tunnel may block Riley’s path, as an illustration, however by turning again time, she will bounce to a interval the place it doesn’t. It makes for a really compelling gameplay mechanic just like Titanfall 2’s time gauntlet. I simply want it had been used extra typically.
The brand new main antagonist, a cult referred to as Parentage, tries to use Camena’s supernatural phenomena like time journey and house portals for its personal ambitions. As a result of Misplaced Indicators’ tone is extra unsettling than scary, Parentage isn’t engaged within the sorts of actually grisly enterprise you may get from one thing like Resident Evil’s Umbrella Company. In reality, all through the sport, as you come throughout murals devoted to the cult, Jacob will even touch upon how the group simply appears a bit too excited about astrology and seem relatively innocent.
![Riley and Jacob are seen walking along a beach, a hilly path just to the left of them, the moon looming large in the sky behind.](https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,q_60,w_645/aac1572424ca8e5268010a18f60b09ff.jpg)
Because the story progresses, although, Riley and Jacob be taught that Parentage’s members are extra misguided than they’re sinister. Nevertheless, the group’s strategies nonetheless put lives in danger. Fairly than simply being dangerous for the sake of being dangerous, Parentage finally ends up being a vital avenue of delivering Misplaced Indicators’ themes of loss and craving. Parentage’s objectives act as a distinction to Riley’s. Whereas Riley is grappling with the implications of her previous choices and battling the best way to transfer ahead in life, some members of Parentage are unable to let go of their very own previous and need to relive a sure second over and over.
Whereas I received’t go into spoilers, these themes are exemplified properly within the sport’s completely different endings. The informal conversations between Riley and Jacob as they discover Camena collectively function a foreshadowing of their fates. Jacob yearns to be remembered for one thing that issues. Riley has a lot to sit up for sooner or later, however can she let go of her previous so as to take action? As Parentage’s motivations grew to become clearer over the course of the story, I really discovered myself sympathizing with its members. Ultimately, I really wound up giving them what they wished.
Maybe it was my need to return and relive my youthful days that made me facet with them. Many video games characteristic sympathetic villains, however I by no means would proactively facet with them. Nevertheless, Misplaced Indicators succeeded in making me accomplish that.
Whereas Oxenfree II: Misplaced Indicators isn’t an overhaul in comparison with its predecessor, it didn’t should be. It tells a superb story with a solid of well-developed characters, and the smaller modifications are what assist outline the sequel. Higher pacing, smoother controls, and extra attention-grabbing gameplay concepts make it a worthy follow-up to the supernatural coming-of-age story that first graced our hearts seven years in the past.