Oxenfree Reviews
If you're into digital narration and you love Amblin movies from the eighties, maybe with a bit of John Carpenter in them, you should not miss Oxenfree. If you hate games where the main activity is talking, stay away from it.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Oxenfree deals with some heavy topics in just a few hours, and manages to do something genuinely interesting with them. A phenomenal conversation system anchors most of the experience, but there's many mysteries for dedicated players to solve. Oxenfree is a game that rewards players that go the extra mile, and how much you get out of it is directly tied to how much you put in.
There's a haunting elegance to Oxenfree that's there because each of its constituent parts are working together to create it.
It may be brief, but Oxenfree has elements of greatness and stands out as an excellent example of video game storytelling. It's also a beautiful and intriguing game that draws you in from the very start and makes you want to see just how deep the rabbit hole goes. Unfortunately, the situational narrative is let down slightly in the final third where it confuses even itself and fails to merge with the far stronger and more prominent social narrative.
So much of Oxenfree is an utterly heavenly experience. The conversation options knocks other games out of the water, and the characters are relatable and well-realised. The story is well-paced for much of the fairly brief play time, but sadly things unravel by the time the finale arrives, making a potential stone cold classic into something that's merely great.
Oxenfree is whole heartedly one of the best experiences you can have playing games. It is a cornerstone example of how stories can be told in an interactive media, and how to build a supernatural tone around 'average' characters without exaggerating everything.
Players that love a good story, some nice reveals, and lots of character driven dialog will eat up Oxenfree. It personally reminded me at times of Goonies, Donnie Darko, and X-files, all thrown in a blender together and spat out. It's a game with a great amount of heart, and one scene in particular, while it didn't have me in tears, I couldn't help feel touched by that moment.
Oxenfree is everything that is right in the indie development scene. It tells a great story, has really unique gameplay that's almost completely dialog driven, and has some of the most subtle horror elements I've seen in a game. This is one of those games that you shouldn't sleep on, make sure you check it out.
With an enthralling mystery to solve while trying to survive a supernatural event, Oxenfree challenges you to solve a mystery, care about the characters, and make you want to play through the story again and again.
Oxenfree is a tight, well-paced thriller with characters that make you want to explore every inch of its creepy island.
Oxenfree 2 casts off adolescence in a bid to explore the trials and tribulations of adulthood, featuring authentic dialogue that packs an emotional punch.
Despite being rather short, it's a memorable game and one which will make the players feel responsible for their choices, as the answers given during the dialogues will have direct consequences on the overall development of the game's plot.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
In Oxenfree, Night School Studios has used simple mechanics to great effect establishing and building on its small cast of characters, and keeping players engaged with its creepy tale of paranormal dread. It's a shame then that it doesn't quite stick the landing, seeming to rush to its conclusion without offering a sufficient pay-off. A small number of minor (dialogue for the wrong character playing) and major (two complete crashes) glitches also hold it back. It's undoubtedly a stylish and unique game however, that we hope does its part to usher in a wave of games that take a similar approach to storytelling.
Although light on challenge and gameplay, Oxenfree offers rich dialogue options and an intriguing story that unfolds over multiple playthroughs while following characters that are easy to become attached to.
Besides those two slight issues, Oxenfree is a compact, fresh experience that introduces lovable characters, a phenomenal soundtrack, and one of the no doubt dopest endings this year.
Night School's creepy teen horror more than succeeds at being a chilling supernatural tale, but its real strength lies in its rough, earnest, truthful account of five teen lives and the ways that they grow and fracture under the worst, most unearthly kind of pressure.
Night School Studio has delivered a shining example of narrative excellence with Oxenfree. The story, the characters, the look, and the sound all come together to create an unforgettable series of wonderful moments.
In traditional adventure games, even if the experience amounts primarily to dialogue choices and walking through the story, the action is also punctuated with cutscenes. Oxenfree lacks this element, so a second playthrough to experiment with different choices will require a lot of slogging through the same wide-angle shots and simple interactions with the environment that I doubt would change the second time around.
Players will remain invested in a story that, if not entirely original, remains exciting and poignant in equal measure.
Oxenfree is a gorgeous and artistic adventure game, which demands attention. It is, however, kept from greatness due to some unfortunate technical problems that can lead to a lot of frustration.