Oxenfree II: Misplaced Alerts performs one thing like a thematic flip of its glorious 2016 predecessor. The place the unique recreation adopted a teen named Alex and a gaggle of her pals on a coming-of-age journey that had the group confronting a nebulous future, Misplaced Alerts finds 30-something Riley Poverly feeling caught in maturity and returning again to her childhood house, the mining city of Camena, so as to “begin over.”
It’s an fascinating 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 precise decisions in life, in addition to questioning the affect 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Riley and her outdated highschool acquaintance, Jacob, are given the project of going round Camena and inserting antennas to trace the unusual alerts which were interfering with digital gear all through city. No sooner do they place the primary one than one thing unusual occurs on Edwards Island, the setting of the primary recreation—they usually go to analyze. Though Misplaced Alerts is meant to be a standalone story, I’d extremely advocate enjoying the unique recreation first so as to perceive why Edwards Island is so vital. In any other case, you would possibly really feel misplaced proper off the bat. (Even Camena was briefly seen within the authentic recreation’s secret ending, although it’s enormously expanded on right here.) Technically, sure, Riley’s story is her personal. Nevertheless, it’s filled with references to the occasions of the primary recreation, and characters from it make appearances as properly. You’ll miss a lot context for those who don’t no less than play the earlier recreation as soon as.
All of this performs out in scrolling 2D gameplay, as you navigate Riley by way of the attractive hand-drawn environments of Camena and past. You’ll sometimes have to unravel easy environmental puzzles by tuning Riley’s radio to match sure frequencies, and the occasional alternative to enterprise off the overwhelmed path in the hunt for collectibles lends the motion a little bit of an journey platformer vibe.
Nonetheless, Misplaced Alerts is arguably extra of a visible novel than an journey recreation, and also you’ll spend a lot of your time partaking 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 might sound minuscule, the way in which 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 crimson eyes seem abruptly out of nowhere, talking in cryptic messages and fragmented sentences, with phrases separated by static, invoking an uneasy feeling everytime you encounter them.
Naturally, witnessing such inexplicable horrors places them on edge, and I cherished the nonchalant dialogue between them as they tried to maintain themselves from shedding their minds. It’s shocking how entertaining it’s to listen to two folks simply discussing whether or not libraries ought to convey 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 totally 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 way in which 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 tip. The conversations stream extremely properly—all of them sound pure and lifelike, due to the wonderful script and phenomenal voice appearing.
Misplaced Alerts can be a lot better paced than its predecessor, with occasions delving far more rapidly 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 recreation 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 pals riffing off of one another within the authentic.
One small however vital enchancment over the primary recreation is the consumer 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 Alerts, 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 Alerts makes glorious use of time-travel components as properly. Like Alex within the earlier recreation, Riley will expertise time loops all through the story, giving us a glimpse into Camena’s darkish previous. Misplaced Alerts typically has puzzles the place Riley should tune her radio’s frequency to match a tear in space-time, ripping it open and entering into the previous. A caved-in tunnel would possibly block Riley’s path, as an illustration, however by turning again time, she will be able to leap 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 have been used extra typically.
The brand new major antagonist, a cult known as Parentage, tries to take advantage of Camena’s supernatural phenomena like time journey and house portals for its personal ambitions. As a result of Misplaced Alerts’ tone is extra unsettling than scary, Parentage isn’t engaged within the sorts of actually grisly enterprise you would possibly get from one thing like Resident Evil’s Umbrella Company. In actual fact, 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 inquisitive about astrology and seem reasonably innocent.
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. Slightly than simply being unhealthy for the sake of being unhealthy, Parentage finally ends up being a vital avenue of delivering Misplaced Alerts’ themes of loss and craving. Parentage’s targets act as a distinction to Riley’s. Whereas Riley is grappling with the implications of her previous choices and combating the right 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 again and again.
Whereas I gained’t go into spoilers, these themes are exemplified properly within the recreation’s totally 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 turned clearer over the course of the story, I truly discovered myself sympathizing with its members. Ultimately, I truly wound up giving them what they wished.
Maybe it was my want to return and relive my youthful days that made me facet with them. Many video games function sympathetic villains, however I by no means would proactively facet with them. Nevertheless, Misplaced Alerts succeeded in making me accomplish that.
Whereas Oxenfree II: Misplaced Alerts isn’t an overhaul in comparison with its predecessor, it didn’t should be. It tells a wonderful story with a forged of well-developed characters, and the smaller modifications are what assist outline the sequel. Higher pacing, smoother controls, and extra fascinating 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.
