Oxenfree Reviews
Oxenfree spins a supernatural mystery with some truly brilliant touches, but without especially interesting characters or mechanics, it's little more than a spectre of its true potential.
If you can live with that, Oxenfree ends up being a great experience for modern adventure fans. It may have a lot more dialogue than puzzles, but it is so well written that you miss it in the silent moments. The interesting story is backed up by likeable characters, and the whole thing is wrapped up with a presentation that bleeds style. Unless you want to wait to see if the issues are addressed in a future patch, Oxenfree is worth checking out now.
Oxenfree is here to tell a story, and it doesn't lose sight of what contributes to making that story feel relatable and consequential. Alex and her friends are in a time when every move is called into examination from a jury of ruthless peers. Oxenfree responds not by accepting or escaping from resolution, but accurately relating the tension of a time when every answer is on one side of zero. Whether the context is supernatural or merely personal, Oxenfree makes it feel powerful.
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 isn't a horror game with a message, but it's still got lots to say.
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.
Oxenfree takes the best parts of supernatural 1980's teenage horror films and combines it with believable characters, beautiful set pieces, and a haunting VHS synth-pop soundtrack to create a masterpiece.
Oxenfree is a tight, well-paced thriller with characters that make you want to explore every inch of its creepy island.
Oxenfree was an unexpected delight for me. Atmospheric, beautiful and with the ability to feel real connections between its characters.
In a lot of ways, OxenFree is the first game in quite awhile that focuses on the art of audio and video to engage the player. Limbo comes to mind, a title that might be more expressionistic than this, but nonetheless both get under the skin. Also, like Limbo, OxenFree begs to be replayed beyond just the reward of multiple endings. What resonates most is that feeling of something that has passed by. Whether that's one's own nostalgia or solely heroine Alex, OxenFree won't be forgotten anytime soon.
Oxenfree tells a great horror story by taking its teenage heroes seriously
"Oxenfree" captures a mood (an eerie night), intensifies it (people get possessed!), and then efficiently wraps things up before anything becomes tedious. This analog, supernatural story unites its characters in a web of guilt and showers them in decorative static.
There's a haunting elegance to Oxenfree that's there because each of its constituent parts are working together to create it.
Oxenfree creates suspense and tension as the player experiences numerous unexpected events. This is Oxenfree's greatest strength. The slightly questionable dialogue mechanics and relatively short story are generally the only downsides here, but otherwise, you really might want to consider being part of this adventure, because you never know what might happen.
Oxenfree is a story about human interaction and how we choose to treat each other, all set against a backdrop of supernatural horror. It just feels really human in spite of all the weird stuff.
Despite its affinity for the supernatural, Oxenfree's soul is firmly planted in reality.
Some of the most natural dialogue ever designed for a video game – in terms of quality and interaction – helps to make a superior supernatural thriller.
Oxenfree is short, at around four-to-five hours, but like Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, it's the perfect length for what it is. It's not exactly challenging, and if you're stuck it's usually because you failed to spot something obvious – just check your notes or the helpful in-game map. That will be enough to write it off for a certain audience of gamers; the ones who don't think that games should be about the story or dismiss Gone Home and Everybody's Gone as 'walking simulators' (in which case you might label this a 'talking sim'). But if you're happy to get caught up in a rich, fascinating piece of interactive fiction, Oxenfree will keep you hooked throughout your first playthrough – and thinking through at least one more.
Oxenfree is truly unlike any other experience that you can pick up for the Xbox One right now. While it isn't heavy on gameplay, the narrative and aesthetics really build a superb atmosphere and give a great sense of weight to proceedings. It doesn't necessarily score a direct hit with every story beat and we could definitely live without the crashes. There's also an argument to be made that around four or five hours, the game is a tad short in the grand scheme of things. It feels shorter still when you pick up the controller to make a quick bit of progress late in the evening, then find yourself staring at the rolling credits at 3am with all the lights on because something just doesn't feel right.As we said, Oxenfree is an unsettling game.
Players will remain invested in a story that, if not entirely original, remains exciting and poignant in equal measure.