Reviews: Oxenfree
Spoiler free review of the game Oxenfree played on the steam deck OLED.
About the game
Oxenfree is a supernatural thriller about a group of friends who unwittingly open a ghostly rift. You are Alex, and you’ve just brought your new stepbrother Jonas to an overnight island party gone horribly wrong.
Margot’s stats
Device: Steam Deck Oled
Difficulty: One setting
Completed: yes - main story
Time: ~4 hours
Summary:
I had no idea what to expect. This game surprised me with its excellent voice acting and sound design. The story is atmospheric and just scary enough that it kept me on edge without dipping into horror. I recommend playing this with headphones on to really enjoy it. While the gameplay is simple like a point and click adventure, the story telling is well done and I was captivated.
Score: 8.5/10
Narrative and Gameplay
The story telling and gameplay are pretty linked in this game so I will combine these.
Oxenfree is a sort of “coming of age” story where a group of teenagers go to an island for a party but inadvertently set some creepy happenings in motion. The story is told via excellent voice acting and some branching conversations, which can result in different relationships with the other characters (I have only done one play-through so I am not sure if it also affects any storyline).
The main gameplay is like a point and click adventure, and you have a radio which you can use to tune into different frequencies, which will perform actions or reveal other secrets and storyline elements. I found that the addition of the radio made the gameplay a bit more interesting than just point and click even though this is such a small thing to use.
The sound design also helps to set the tone in different areas creating a spooky atmosphere. The noises and sound track that you encounter are just a great match to the art work. The art style is low poly and pretty with desaturated colours, although a lot of it takes place in the dark and early hours of the morning.
As the characters progress around the island they experience some sort of glitches or time travel events. Some of these are like memories or version of memories as well as time loops. This makes the narrative creepy and surprising, due to the sound effects and visual effects that signify that these experiences are taking place.
The 4 characters are easy to identify and their voices and dialogue choices help to form their different personalities. The dialogue design is really clever and I can see myself going back to make different choices.
While I was pretty on edge throughout the game, I did enjoy it on my sofa with a blanket and hot cup of tea. It felt cosy in a creepy way, a bit like settling down to watch the first season of stranger things. I actually felt that in terms of story telling and atmosphere these were pretty similar. If you like that sort of thing I can also recommend the series called “Dark”. It is slightly different but has that same thriller and creepy atmosphere.
Back to Oxenfree, while not a long game, I thought it was well structured and the length of the story actually encourages you to play it again to see what else might be going on or could happen, making full use of the branching conversation options.
I thoroughly enjoyed my first experience in the modern world with a point and click narrative game.
There is a sequel Oxenfree as well so I might have to check that out pretty quickly as well, while I roughly remember what happened to who.
Verdict 8.5/10
Overall I really enjoyed my time with the game and my first point and click adventure this year. It was a breath of fresh air for me and fascinating to see different ways of telling a compelling story. The sound design will stick with me for a long time. I don’t have any games to really compare this too but because of how much I enjoyed it and how well executed it was, I am giving it a really high score. Highly recommend.
Have you played Oxenfree or Oxenfree 2?
Another one I own but have never played. Adding it to my upcoming backlog schedule thanks to this review.
Such a sick game with great sound design. Great review and im still looking to play 2!