The Indie Title That Could Make or Break Netflix Games

The entirety of Night School Studio used to fit into a single room. The biggest bragging rights for its Glendale, California, office were that it shared the building with actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s media company, HitRecord.

In 2014, Night School, cofounded by cousins Sean Krankel and Adam Hines, was one of many independent studios cropping up as more game devs sought creative freedom from their pedantic overlords. Krankel—a former developer for Disney, charismatic, enthusiastic, and chatty—was a natural megaphone for the new company and its vision. His more stoic partner, Hines, was the established creative talent behind the beloved graphic novel Duncan the Wonder Dog. Hines was fresh off a stint at Telltale Games, then known as one of the best shops for narrative work. The pair rallied a handful of artists and designers, scrappy young talent who released supernatural thriller Oxenfree in 2016. Gamers loved it.

By 2021, Night School had released three more games, including a tie-in to the USA Network TV show Mr. Robot and another adventure game for consoles, Afterparty. It was working on a sequel to its debut title when it completely altered its own trajectory: In September of that year, Night School got acquired by Netflix as part of the streaming giant’s major foray into the game space.

This month, as the games industry watches Microsoft’s attempted acquisition of Activision Blizzard with held breath, Night School and Netflix will find out whether their alliance paid off with the release of Oxenfree II: Lost Signals. It will likely be a litmus test: a gauge of what the future looks like when large tech companies absorb smaller creators—and whether streaming services can provide a haven for indies.

For Krankel, it’s also a chance to see whether Night School’s games can reach mass appeal. Like the rest of Netflix, the games division is “striving to be ubiquitous,” he says, and soon the studio will know if Oxenfree II can reach that level. Netflix has hundreds of millions of subscribers, and not all of them are gamers, so it’s not about pulling in Squid Game levels of eyeballs but rather being a key part of Netflix Games, and Netflix broadly.

“It doesn’t mean every piece of entertainment works for every audience member. It means having so much choice on the service that anyone can find their next favorite movie, show, or game,” Krankel says. “So for us, we’re actually trying not to overthink it.”

Night School Studios’ games are, at heart, about growth. They tell stories about surviving different stages of life. Krankel describes the studio’s style as beyond just a bunch of branching little narratives: “It’s more like, how can we make a game feel like a personality test at times?” 

Oxenfree is a teen coming-of-age story set on a spooky island. Afterparty is a razor-sharp romp about two college kids trying to outdrink the devil in hell. It was comedy at quipped-up speed, with a goal of keeping players laughing every few lines. Oxenfree II isn’t as concerned with busting your sides—not a comedy, not completely drama. Hines says it’s meant to “really mimic the cadence” of real life, albeit in supernatural situations. Shock and horror call for appropriate reactions in the moment, but characters fall back on humor as a defense mechanism.