Oxenfree 2 made me cry. Who am I kidding, I’m a trans girl on hormones, so everything makes me cry nowadays. My cat rolled over and meowed at me when I walked into my flat yesterday which was enough to set me off. Despite being an emotional whirlwind, I’m still able to comprehend the stories and characters I consume which mean a lot to me and, more importantly, the stories that mirror my own life in their thematic intentions.
The sequel follows heroine Riley Poverly, a 32-year old woman returning to her hometown of Camena to take up a contract gig on behalf of a mysterious local organisation. She also has ambitions to reunite with her estranged father after years apart. As a character, Riley is clearly lost, unsure about where her life is going or what steps she needs to take in order to find not just a sense of happiness, but to feel content with the cards she’s been dealt. Getting old sucks real hard.
Riley is asked to spend a moonlit night trekking across Camena in search of high points to plant transmitters designed to tap into an ethereal frequency polluting the airwaves. It turns out said signal also contains ancient ghosts from a sunken ship trying to break free of their time-inflicted purgatory by possessing local teenagers swept up in a controversial cult, two developments that Riley and newfound friend Jacob go along with, because what else can they do in a small town like this? Cue a spooky, heartfelt adventure on the meaning of life.
Oxenfree 2 is a coming of age story for people in their thirties, and shows no reservations exploring the paralysing nature of growing older and needing to figure out where your life is going. Society teaches us to feel guilty for failing to settle down with a family or establish a career in our twenties, and daring to still figure your shit out years later is a recipe for ridicule. I’m at that step in my life myself as I continue my gender transition and start to uncover the person I’ve been hiding away all this time. I’m making up for years lost in the closet, and revel in making mistakes and having fun at my own expense because that’s the joy of living. Bad things happen, but good stuff goes down too, and those are the moments worth sticking around for. You gotta keep on going.
I’m in the same position with my professional career. When I look back at what I wanted to achieve as a university student, I’ve only gone and done it. Now I’m realising new goals or ambitions I want to fulfil, and must take whatever steps required to get there. I’m still young, and so is Riley, which is a truth Oxenfree 2 is never afraid to make clear. Time may run away from us, but there’s nothing stopping us from reclaiming it and falling in love with life all over again. Where I go from here is for me to figure out, and there shouldn’t be any pressure.
Oxenfree 2 is an exploration of that period in life as Riley and Jacob become fast friends while embarking on a journey that will eventually see them save the world. Bearing your souls in situations like this is unavoidable, and you’re free to be as public or private as you desire with dialogue options that might disguise Riley’s true feelings or expose them for all to see. Either option is valid, and paves the way for a future you will need to decide when the time comes. I loved my honest interpretation of the character that still maintained a prickly exterior that would only let those in she really trusted. Even Jacob, who is also dealing with similar dilemmas, was a man I didn’t open my arms to until the time was right.
I’m wary of revealing Oxenfree 2’s more intimate revelations in fear of spoiling heartfelt moments tinged with emotion and tragedy that bring home the central message of people and their inner fragility. Riley and Jacob share secrets amidst a moonlit sky in cold bouts of hopelessness, ruminating on a battered past while never giving up on what the future might hold. It’s heartwarming, but also blunt in how it encourages us to seize the moment and not let society define us, since the only way to enact change is to grasp it with our own hands and keep on moving forward. Riley wants to remain stationary, but through her nostalgic journey through Camena’s supernatural underbelly she emerges as a different person. It made me more optimistic about my own future, and the prospect of growing older.