Last week, we had the opportunity to meet with MWM Interactive and Night School Studio to preview Oxenfree II Lost Signals. For this meeting, we met we jumped in a Discord call for a hands-off preview of the game. The demo preview was lead by Sean Krankel, Adam Hines, Bryant Cannon, and Eathen Stearns. At one point during the preview, the game demo crashed, so we were shown archived footage from a prior playthrough. As someone who has not experienced Oxenfree previously, this demo made for an interesting experience. So without further delay, let’s jump into what we experienced and the game’s overview.
Game Overview
Before discussing what we witnessed during the demo. let’s share the Oxenfree II Lost Signals‘ Overview.
OXENFREE II: Lost Signals is the highly-anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed narrative-driven adventure game OXENFREE, from the award-winning independent studio Night School Studio. The game will be published by MWM Interactive, a division of leading entertainment company Madison Wells, that is dedicated to bringing players inventive, artful and compelling games from independent developers around the world.
Set five years after the events of the original, OXENFREE II: Lost Signals features an all-new cast of characters for a supernatural mystery-thriller they will shape in unexpected ways with the choices they make. Players will follow Riley Poverly, an environmental researcher who returns to her hometown Camena to investigate mysterious radio frequency signals causing disturbances in electronic equipment throughout the small town. She soon discovers a long history of ghostly happenings on the nearby Edwards Island and becomes entangled in a frightening, supernatural mystery. Featuring Night School Studio’s signature, naturalistic dialogue system, OXENFREE II: Lost Signals gives players more agency to shape their experience in unexpected ways.
Gameplay Preview Thoughts and Questions
The notion of a choose your own adventure game is always appealing to me. Oxenfree II Lost Signals is supposedly just that with players experiencing different endings based on the decision that they made throughout the game. Each time rift allows the player to choose how they want to handle each situation.
After the demo was done, all media was allowed to ask questions. All questions had to pertain to the demo and anything outside was ignored.
Interview Questions
Q: Will the Walkie Talkie be the game’s breakout mechanic like the radio? How will it work with side missions and puzzles?
A: It is the biggest addition to the communication mechanic. The walkie opened things up to conversations with people in different places. Each character has their own complete storyline.
Q: Will the game be localized?
A: The game will be in English for Voiceover. We will have subtitles in French, German, Russian, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese at launch.
Q: Was the glowing portals strobing showing the time left to escape?
A: Some portals and time tears have a limited time to explore.
Q: Are there plans to have an Xbox release at a later time?
A: Similar to languages, we want to bring the game to as many platforms as possible. Nightschool is doing all of the work to launch platforms.
Q: The One Word Story is a lovely idea. Did that come from a personal experience of anyone on the team?
A: Douglas came up with the idea and Jacob had to use this childhood game to keep calm while in the cave. It is one of the most insanely large script parts of the Oxenfree II Lost Signals scripts.
Q: So Riley and Jacob know about time travel but are they aware they are stuck in a loop?
A: In regards to time loops, those are the most 4th wall breaking and the characters are not aware of what’s going on.
Q: How will the Switch version be compared to other platforms? Can we expect the same frame rate and resolution?
A: Targeting 4k for PCs and Consoles. The Switch version is expected to run at 60fps.
Q: What appealed to you most about returning to Oxenfree‘s world?
A: It was the opportunity to tell a new coming of age story. A story where the characters have progressed in life since the previous events. The characters are experiencing new things in life and having to deal with a much bigger looming problem.
Q: How many endings will the game have?
A: Good Question, the original had different endings. Oxenfree II Lost Signals will have a similar style of endings but the choices the player makes throughout the game will affect the ending. You will also have the ability to make certain choices at the end as well. It is more than the original but has a similar structure as the first game.
Q: How important will exploration play in the story’s narrative and ending?
A: Definitely a bigger piece than the first one, the player can choose how they want to approach how they explore the island and stop a portal from being opened. Events taking place in other locations will still continue to happen. As the night progresses, more time tears will appear. Exploration and the walkie take on a bigger world this time.
Q: Will there be any connections to the first game’s storyline?
A: The first game took place a few years before the events of Oxenfree II. The overarching villain is trying to undo what Riley did in the first game.
Q: Can the time tears and portals change based on the player’s actions.
A: It definitely can. Not to spoil too much. Choices will have a lasting impact.
Q: Will save data from Oxenfree carryover and will it change things.
A: No, but there are lots of little fun things we’ve been trying to sneak in. For us, we’ve been updating the first game on steam with events from Oxenfree II Lost Signals taking place in Oxenfree.
