In my most anticipated games of 2016 list I wrote about how this year will most likely be all about the ‘surprises’. It looks like we’ve already had our first. Oxenfree has had a fair amount of hype. Anyone here played it yet?
Our very own Hayley Williams played it and loved it, as did Patricia Hernandez. So I’ve been trying to find time for it ever since.
I’d love to hear your opinions on the game. Anyone here playing Oxenfree?
Comments
3 responses to “Community Review: Oxenfree”
i would be playing it, but for some reason a lot of games are not being released on xbox one or PS4 when they are supposed to be.
Must be because we live in a 3rd world country
The delay is because the developers (Night School) didn’t get the ratings for Australia done in time for release. Sigh.
https://twitter.com/nightschoolers/status/688093081132904448
Sounds like a good sale game, so probably in June for me 😉
I downloaded and finished a run through of the story the other night (~5 hours). It’s a slow burner, not least due to the just-too-slow-for-comfort speed at which the characters walk, but I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with it.
The art style is beautiful, the voice acting is top notch thanks to a solid script and excellent voice actors, and the conversation mechanic feels natural as it encourages conversation flow over long pauses where you painfully consider the choices and outcomes.
The story involving the mystery of the island had an interesting set up and was strong enough to hold my attention for the whole play through, but I felt that it did miss some of its emotional marks and the pay-off wasn’t as satisfying as I had hoped. However, the story that held my attention more so was the interpersonal relationships of the main characters, both learning about their backstories and how the events on the island bring them together or tear them apart, through the various dialogue and gameplay choices that punctuate the game.
While I feel like the game would lend itself to multiple playthroughs, I happened to stumble on the best ending so I don’t really have the desire to play through a second time just yet; not because I am bored by it, but because I know that any choices I make will result in a less positive ending for the characters I came to care about… Neurotic? maybe. Even still, despite only 5 hours clocked in, I still feel like it was worth the asking price – it’s a very polished little package. Your mileage might vary depending on how much you appreciate dialogue driven adventure games and how much game duration you expect for your dollar.
I’m on the fence on whether to even buy it. I saw the first 20 minutes or so, and it seemed like a lot of inane yammering and dumb teens reacting to things like dumb teens in an effort to seem relatable. I’ll give it a shot if it blows up like Undertale or maybe if it goes on sale.