Oxenfree II: Lost Signals gets spookier and chattier

destructoid.com:

Oxenfree might be a scary game, but to me, it’s also a summer game. It’s about the in-between parts of your life, as you move from one major milestone to the next, and all the regrets and emotions that kick up in that time. So if Oxenfree was a summer vacation ghost story, Oxenfree II: Lost Signals is a haunted summer gig.

Set five years after the first game, Oxenfree II follows Riley Poverly’s return home to the coastal town of Camena. From the outset, it has a lot of summer gig vibes; you’re tasked with heading to designated locations in Camena to set up radio transmitters, so that scientists can gather data about the strange radio signals happening around the area.

Obviously, this doesn’t go so well. And what starts out as a chill job starts to feel uneasy and tense, until something paranormal and wrong ensues. Phenomena occur. Portals open in the sky. Is leaving even possible?

These are the spooky, supernatural, yet emotional and relatable feelings that drive Oxenfree, and seem to return for the sequel. While characters deal with strange occurrences, they also seem to be wrestling with their own ghosts, and navigating the former often means confronting the latter.

A big feature of Night School’s work has been its walk-and-talk gameplay. You navigate around Camena and its various locales, but all the while, characters still chat and respond to each other. Chat bubbles can pop up, and offer you opportunities to learn and develop as you move through the space.

Oxenfree II amps up the walk-and-talk with one of its new features: a walkie talkie. This clever addition isn’t just for wordplay, but for communicating with other characters at any time. In the demo I played at Summer Game Fest 2023, I was able to flip between