Was waiting YEARS for this game worth it? [SPOILERS]

[kale]

The first Oxenfree game holds a special place in my heart, and it has for SO long. I remember getting the game on a whim on my Xbox One and immediately falling in love with the story, the characters, the art, and just EVERYTHING!

I remember putting so many hours into the game; something about it was so intriguing and I wanted ALL of the achievements. When I found out that there would be a second game coming out, I was so excited and anticipated the day it would release.

The day finally came, and... I don't have much to say. I, quite honestly, only managed to play for an hour straight and closed the game. I got back to it the following day for another hour or two before I closed the game AGAIN. I only managed to finish it today.

This is the first stark difference between the two games. Oxenfree II just didn't feel as compelling to play, meanwhile, I can genuinely play the first Oxenfree game for HOURS straight.

Next thing I want to address: I liked Riley & Jacob, they're an interesting duo. But in comparison to how I felt when I played Oxenfree, I LOVED all of the characters and they just felt so much more... personal. Don't get me wrong, I felt bad for Riley after slowly uncovering her backstory and her fear of the future, and I thought Jacob's personality was awkward & quirky in a cute way! But something that Riley, Jacob, and the other characters in Oxenfree II lack in comparison to Alex & her friends is their connections with one another & how it plays into the story.

The best comparison to Riley & Jacob would be Alex & Jonas, in terms of addressing how Oxenfree II just didn't do the same thing with their characters. Alex & Jonas, similar to Riley & Jacob, only met each other the same day when the games take place. Why was I more inclined to build Alex & Jonas's relationship? I honestly feel like the characters in Oxenfree were much more thought out and had more depth. I felt like I spent soooo long listening to Jacob talk to Riley, and most of the time I was only paying half attention to it. The way that Riley & Jacob spoke to each other just... didn't work for me.

The other characters in Oxenfree (Nona, Ren, Clarissa) also just felt way more personal, and it is because 1) they are PHYSICALLY there with Alex & Jonas and 2) they all become affiliated with one another in some way as the story progresses.

The walkie is a cool mechanic added to the game, but the relationships that Riley can make with Evelyn, Shelley, Nick, etc. don't really do anything for me. Not to mention, Olivia, Violet, & Charlie are barely considered to be part of Riley's relationships/friendships. This game just felt so... lonely?

But with that being said, the game was still cool to play. I liked how Riley's experiences with the time jumps have to do with her fear of the future, whereas Alex dealt with her struggles & trauma from her past. I thought it was interesting walking around Camena, although I definitely was annoyed with the dead ends & so. much. more. walking. The world looked beautiful & when they went back to Edward's Island, it was bittersweet seeing how overgrown the town looked.

My overall rating of the game: 6/10
I would say I like the game solely because it is the sequel to the first game, which I love dearly. But other than that, there is no other reason for me to play this game over again. Anyway, I'm gonna go replay the first Oxenfree for that great feeling of nostalgia!

[Emilio]

I made a similar thread to yours and I agree.
It's a shame after all these years it never really hit the peaks that 1 did.

[Sad Robot]

It can be tough, trying to create a followup to such an insanely popular game. If you make it too similar, you get called out for doing nothing new. If you make it too different, you get this, players disappointed that the new game doesn't have the same vibe as the first.

I wasn't expecting to be blown away. Much of the mystery of the first game had dissipated completely over many play-throughs. But it can be seen as a fully fleshed out resolution to the first game. Think of it as NewGame++ or epilogue for Oxenfree.

I really enjoyed my first play through, and picked the self-sacrifice ending. I'm going to enjoy exploring all the endings and permutations to this story that exist within this game, and look forward to playing them both back to back, again and again. Fun times!

[lilalur]

Agree with you. I felt this game is less clever than the previous one.

First of all, there is no group dynamic you need to maintain and this was the best part of the previous game. You only have interaction with Jacob and he is a friendly guy who can't shout up and you have nothing in common with him beside you can decide if you go with the flow or just leave him hanging. Would be great if Evelyn, Shelley, Nick and hell yes Rex (as your kid) is with you and you need to balance the group to keep everybody alive and in an acceptable relationship while there is a long maze of different outcome depend on who did what with who. Where you can jump in and diffuse conversations before the situation get out of hand, or contrary jump in with some well targeted words to escalate a conflict.
Because its all missing you left with the moving around on the map and occasionally picking up some story element or solve a light weight puzzle and these never been strong part of the game.

Music also not that strong and there is no reason to continue the game either after you finished it. I cant remember a single track from this and I just played with it a half hour ago, while still chill my back some of the iconic parts of the original and I haven't touched it since ages.

[Mig_Hospitalier]

Absolutely not. I keep wondering how the quality of the writing could've dropped so hard.

[dysamoria]

I'm on my second play-through right now and have gone from disappointed to irritated. The first play gave me the start of a side-quest for the lighthouse, which was interrupted by another game script, and it never finished. The same thing happened with Rex's "game" out near the crescent beach. This time, I never got the lighthouse radio call AT ALL, Rex's game worked, but the radio call-in stuff with Maria never started at all.

Each play-through has been bugged on TOP of this game just being... a retcon follow-on, to appease Netflix's greed to be in the game market. After getting the ideal/best possible ending in the first game, this game feels like... when seeing Alien 3 after watching Aliens. What was the point? Hollow. Occasionally has its own good moments, but it just defeats everything that made the first one worth replaying as many times as I did to GET that ideal ending (and then I wanted to LEAVE it like that and never go back into it, since apparently the player is "part of the problem"). This one... It's all retcon and echoes of what made the first one so good. The bugs... it's leaving me ANGRY now.