izigame.me

ok so I loved OXENFREE. I loved its unique dialogue system and artstyle. I loved its characters, and I loved its story, especially the ending!
and idk, but it just had these vibes that I rly resonated with. It was just a game that I could load up and just feel so immersed in a story that was literally designed to be played again and again. I mean there's stuff that I didn't even know was possible until I looked up alternate endings in preparation for OXENFREE II!
so yeah, I was rly rly looking forward to the sequel to one of my favourite games of all time, and it just left me completely cold. I didn't particularly like its characters, its world didn't feel anywhere near as immersive and 'real?'; it honestly felt just too large with large stretches of nothingness. It also didn't feel like the nothingness was rly there on purpose; the conversations still complete before you reach the end of an area, and while I rly appreciate that they aren't cut off anymore, I wish that the first game's loading screens sort of...didn't exist anymore? Like they're probably to make sure certain conversations trigger at the right times and the world can be changed, but some conversations just override others at certain points, so maybe it's a technical limitation?
it just feels like the game itself hasn't rly moved on in at all since OXENFREE in 2016. And while I think Afterparty super overstays its welcome, it felt fresh and new and unique in a way that OXENFREE II just...doesn't. I know it's difficult to make something in a similar world feel unique, but Before The Storm felt fresh compared to Life is Strange despite taking place in the exact same town, so idk, maybe it's just that the story didn't rly resonate with me at all.
it all felt so...contrived? It's like, yeah, you have to put up these transmitters or the triangle will do something rly rly bad, but you know the entire time that it's kinda pointless? You know that once you close the triangle, the game won't just..end. There has to be some grand ending, some...closure, that thing that all stories have because they're stories and maybe it's because while the goal of OXENFREE is as simple as 'let's get off this spooky island', and there's so much that happens along the way, the goal never changes. And yeah, in the end it's all for nought, but that's what makes the first game so interesting in a way that OXENFREE II sort of fails to capture.
and gods, the ending (s)? of OXENFREE II are...strange. It feels like there's one objectively 'good' ending; it's the only one that gets specific voice acting and just seems like the entire game was built with the idea that this is the 'canon' ending that choosing anything else seems kinda insane. And the way the final choice is presented is just kinda disappointing; it reminds you you're playing a video game as you stand in front of the 3 options like we've done in Life is Strange and Deus Ex Human Revolution and most every 'choices matter' game ever.
it's just so...annoying? I don't know if it's just that I'm misremembering the end of the first game, but it seemed so much more ambiguous in how your 'ending' was determined. I got different outcomes every time I replayed it, with unique dialogue and entirely different sequences, and never felt like I was standing in front of the ending-a-tron 3000.
so i don't rly know if the reason I feel so cold is because Riley's struggles and experiences don't rly captivate me in the same way that Alex's did, or if the central goal felt so 'false', or if it was just that OXENFREE was lightning in a bottle, and expanding upon its mysteries or trying to recapture its magic was so difficult that it'd ultimately have been better to not try at all.