Though it's been hit with a bit of a delay, Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals is scheduled to come out next year, and fans of the first one won't want to miss out. It features similar but expanded gameplay elements including Night School Studio's iconic dialogue option system and enhanced time travel mechanics. Though it'll be with a new pair of protagonists than Alex and her quirky friend group—if they can be called that at the beginning of the game—Oxenfree and Oxenfree 2 will overlap in interesting ways.
Instead, players will assume the role of Riley Poverly on a brand new island called Camena. However, it's not far away from Edwards Island, the setting of the original Oxenfree, and it's close enough that some transmissions are shared between the two games, hinting at some of the issues Riley and Jacob may face on their quest in Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals.
New Oxenfree Content and Radio Transmissions
Night School Studio has been adding a bit of new content to Oxenfree ahead of Lost Signals' release in the form of Patch 3.1.1. The notes for this update say that "Signals are breaking through" the game, tasking fans with replaying the first installment to beat "whatever is invading the radio waves." After downloading the patch, folks can walk around the island and tune into various stations to catch new recordings or transmissions.
Like Riley and Alex, the voices seem to be investigating whatever is haunting the area. It even sounds like one or two female voices become possessed or cross the boundary of an open portal. One can be heard saying she's lost but doesn't "want to be found" seemingly after this happens, and her two friends stop looking for her but continue their investigation. These three could likely be the beings shown in the trailer for Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals.
Whatever is going on in the transmissions, the implication is that it connects Alex's story to Riley's in this upcoming indie game, and Riley somehow discovers the spooky events happening on the neighboring island, tangling the two storylines together. While Riley was successfully able to keep the portals to another dimension housing these ghosts closed, Riley runs into Parentage, an organization that's trying to open them back up. One of the women in the transmissions mentions that the history of Parentage is unfinished, and says "tonight, we climb," implying that they are setting out to finish what Parentage started.
As expected, the horrors that Riley and Jacob are up against are somewhat of a mystery, though some things were revealed in the recent Oxenfree 2 hands-off preview. The sequel takes place five years later, so the events aren't occurring at the same time. Also, the premise state that Riley is returning home to Camena to investigate the strange radio signals. Could it be that what Alex and her friends hear throughout the course of Oxenfree are somehow related to Riley? While it's unlikely one of these voices is Riley herself, perhaps the man heard in the transmissions is a younger version of Jacob. Or it could simply help reveal what Parentage has been up to.
It's not quite clear as of yet, because of course, it's just a simple teaser to get hype for the sequel going. Luckily, Oxenfree isn't a long game; most playthroughs take less than six hours, though finding every single transmission will take a few hours more. Still, players have plenty of time to do so, and it would help to add some context to the sinister events happening in Oxenfree 2.
Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals releases in 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, and Switch.
