Oxenfree

Pros. -A dramatic story -Good graphics -Great soundtrack Cons -Letters are hard to find

"When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not..." Five youths spend a night alone on an island. What starts out as a somewhat lame beach party goes horribly wrong when they unwittingly awaken the ghost of a WWII tragedy. Never heard a plot like that before, right? Honestly, it was the pretty visuals that made me buy this, walking those tiny characters through those surreally beautiful landscapes. But it's actually a great narrative game all around. In response to another review, the conversation system is the best part of the game in my opinion. One to three speech bubbles appear over Alex's head. When a response or decision is expected of her, the bubbles stay on the screen, but if she's just going to voice an opinion or make some clever remark, they will fade, indicating that the right moment has passed, the conversation has moved on. Don't you ever wish you had thought of that witty one-liner two seconds sooner? Like this, the game really keeps you on your toes: You start talking as Alex without knowing the first thing about her. You really create her by being her, discovering her and everyone's story as you tell it through her mouth. At the same time, you have to keep up with the general repartee and define your place in a heterogeneous group of friends. Though most of the dialogue choices seem inconsequential, I restarted the game five times in the first hour to get what I felt was the best possible Alex- but in the absence of savegames, you eventually just have to live with who you are and keep going. While this all sounds like coming-of-age commonplaces, it ties in beautifully with the outer plot: One fatal miscommunication decades ago set all of it into motion. Can Alex, equipped with her trusty pocket radio, open the literal and figurative doors to fix the dialogue choice another radio-woman made in the distant past? Most dialogue choices in life are inconsequential, too, but you don't know which until at least some part of that game is over. Can Alex use the mysterious time loops they encounter to fix some of her own unadmitted guilt, clicking the right speech bubbles for her former self? Oxenfree is not Dear Esther (the tentative link here being that both are short, largely linear games set on lonely islands with comm towers, focused on reaching out to the past), but while its attempts at youthful banter may occasionally seem a bit strained, it does pack a surprising amount of substance into an entertaining teen-mystery shell. (I feel the current full price is justified too, not least with the beautifully drawn graphics and the huge amount of voice acting.)

This is a very nice experience (though I can only call it a video game in the broadest sense). The story is interesting and it's rare to find an adventure-style game that allows you to roleplay as someone else. As to that, a warning: If you do not want to play as someone else, this game may leave you a bit dissatisfied. It's not Mass Effect levels of frustration as to how useless some of the dialogue options are, but it can get annoying if you want to play yourself in the game. I would go far as to say that if Mass Effect had paid as much attention to the impact of it's dialogue choises as Oxenfree certainly does; I may have actually finished the series instead of stopping an hour and a half into ME2. But, just to reiterate, decisions available are the decisions of Alex (the main character) not the player and that is very obvious almost immediately. Speaking of the dialogue system, there is a time limit on choosing an option and, depending on the situation in which the dialogue becomes available, the selection window can be very small. I read fast, and I even missed a few (though one was because I didn't actually expect to get an option so I wasn't focused on it). Still, the dialogue mechanic is the major mechanic and Night School really did a great job focusing the game around it. The other mechanic necessary to the game is the use of a radio, slowly flipping through channels to find the one that will solve the current puzzle or open up the next area. I found that it was a really nice mechanic and it added a lot to the atmosphere of the game; especially the strange transmissions that would pop up every now and again as you were looking for something else. It's a rare mechanic that acts as a puzzle device and as a mood enhancer. Now there are some negatives, but they are very minor. On occasion the game will have a problem with NPC placement, they get stuck or can't follow, but they do catch up for the dialogue and story moments, so it's not game play effecting, but it does pull you out of the game. There is also a slight inconsitancy with the radio receiving a signal; at some times you can hit the right signal as you spin through the dial and it will register, and sometimes you have to go slow; again it's aminor inconsitancy, but one that can break the mood and turn the interesting radio mechanic into a chore. Beyond that, I love this game; well written, well plotted and planned and with an interesting story that demands more playthroughs; expecially for all the changes that happen on the second playthrough.

It's like being inside a story! I really enjoyed it! Good, interesting characters and realistic dialogue. There's lots of chatting in the game as the characters wander the island, If you're looking for a story, it's great. If you're looking for action, move on.

It’s a great way to spend 4~5 hours. The story is interesting and the characters aren’t annoying, which is what I expected when I read it was about teenagers running around some island. Grab if you can, it was a nice experience.