

The system's still not perfect, but it's certainly better. Later I confidently crossed a screen divide while the sailor talked about inexplicable nautical weirdness, only to be interrupted by a ringing payphone and never find out what he was going to say. At one point I stopped walking at the edge of a screen rather than enter a cave because I didn't want to miss out on some dialogue, and a helpful note appeared to tell me the conversation would continue. Like the first game, I recommend turning on subtitles so you don't lose track of what people are saying when spooky static starts intruding or voices fade over a loading screen. So yeah, it's still possible to miss things. I did miss out on befriending a radio DJ, probably because I didn't listen to her show at the right time, however.

I mostly spoke to a park ranger, a sailor, and my environmental researcher colleague, who all had their own storylines and added to a sense there was a whole world of paranormal phenomena going on and we could all help each other deal with our little bit of it.

If you need to hear a friendly voice while climbing a cliff (something else that works better now, with Riley less likely to re-mount a wall or ladder when you click to walk away from it than Alex was), you whip the walkie-talkie out and check in with one of the other people dealing with the area's latest set of mysterious anomalies. The walkie-talkie's an ingenious way of letting you fill quiet gaps.
