In the world of indie games, it’s rare that you see these single-entry games get a full-fledged sequel. Mainly because some developers view, a sequel goes against the idea of being independent and going with the AAA mindset. But you sometimes have exceptions to this idea, like the upcoming Hades 2 and the Amnesia games, and now we can add another game to this list, that being Oxenfree II from Night School Studios. It is a game that is a follow-up to the studio’s most well-known project and the start of Netflix’s entry into the gaming sphere as their first big “in-house” game release. But after two years of hype, and a bunch that are similar in nature to the first Oxenfree does the sequel work in the year 2023 since a lot has changed since 2016, and that’s saying something. From my perspective, yes and no, which is not a bad thing.
The best metaphor I can make when describing this game is you are given a nice steak, and you finished it, then asked for more, please, and you get more. However, the steak is the same but has some gravy poured on it; still, it tastes the same, but it has a different flavor to it. That is Oxenfree II in a nutshell, minus the meat metaphor. The gameplay is largely the same as the first Oxenfree, walk around and talk to people while trying to solve an overarching mystery. However, this time instead of the mystery feeling like something that felt unique, you can start to feel the Netflix influence on this game because it feels more like a Stranger Things game than anything else, even more than the official game on the Netflix game service. With that said, this has a more horror feel than the first one, which I loved since I’m into the horror genre more than most other genres, but you can have a really good story, and if that’s the only thing you changed with, that is an issue.
I say it’s an issue primarily in the modern zeitgeist of gaming because this was common back in the early days of graphic adventure gaming, which the first one was clearly a throwback to, where each new entry was the same gameplay slightly changed but with a different narrative. With that said, after noticing this has not changed anything from the first game, why did I like and enjoy this one more? Mainly because I found the story this time to be more interesting; like I said that Stranger Things influence is a great hook for newcomers to this series as it gives you this feeling of familiarity within the first five minutes. That and I thought the overall mystery was much stronger than the first, along with better characters and especially better writing, Night School has gotten a lot better with crafting more realistic sounding dialogue with each of their projects, and it has come full circle here.
That and there is a lot more player choice than with the first; as of this writing, I haven’t gone back and done a second playthrough with different choices, but from I have been able to experiment with it due to crashes and losing a tiny bit of progress, they do matter which is a breath of fresh air since the days of the Telltale game. They don’t feel binary is what I’m trying to get across; as for the story, that is a tough object to talk about because the game earns its sequel patch by being bigger and more expansive than the first game. But I don’t know if I would say it was better, more on par with the first. Also, it’s hard to talk about a story-focused game without spoilers, so there’s that warning if you have made it this far into the review, with me being as vague as possible.
So, should you play this one if you have never played the first Oxenfree? Yes, you should; you are going to have a great experience. If you have played the first one, should you play the sequel? That depends on what you liked in the first one and if you wanted to see certain aspects be expanded on in a sequel. That and if you are okay with pretty much the same exact gameplay with a better story, then you would like the sequel. But to mostly everyone who will discover this game when it pops up on their Netflix home screen, should you give it a try? If you like Stranger Things and wanted something similar but different, you would enjoy this short experience.
Score: 8 out of 10
Reviewed on PC