Console Corner: Review of Oxenfree

There are many fans of the video game Firewatch. A Hitchcockian story built on a walking simulator, players traverse (and re-traverse, and re-traverse, and re-traverse) a national park, uncovering a mystery as they go. For many people the game is a hit. For me, it clicked only at the level of understanding. Satisfaction and enjoyment did not follow. There stories are different, but looking at Night School Studio’s 2016 Oxenfree I still see many similarities.

Oxenfree opts for classic horror/paranormal. It tells of a group of teens on a weekend trip to an island with an old military base, now abandoned. (Classic, yes?) Partying on the beach, they discover a nearby cave which is purported to have a supernatural vibe. And indeed, when the main character Alex tunes her radio to specific frequencies, weirdness breaks loose, followed by a blackout. The group of characters wake up scattered around the island, and it becomes the player’s job to reunite them and get to the bottom of the weirdness.

Wikipedia describes Oxenfree as a “mystery graphic adventure” game. That’s nicely accurate (so accurate I stole it). Gameplay is almost entirely narrative-based, putting Oxenfree in the gray area between game and not-a-game. Players spend the majority of their time walking around the island and talking. Occasionally some additional button pushing is required, either to activate Alex’s radio or interact with a piece of the environment. But like Firewatch, Oxenfree is overwhelmingly walk and talk. This naturally leads to the question: how good is the walking and talking?

Talking is the highlight of the two. The dialogue among the characters feels real, like actual teen talk, and for that the characters come alive. The mystery the teens uncover is vanilla science fiction, but the manner in which their conversations discuss and uncover the mystery is well done. I would also add, the additional layer of “gameplay” in which the dialogue options affect relationships gives the player a slight sense of agency in the talking.

Walking is not a highlight. While the journey from point A to B does give the characters the chance to bond and tell the story, it’s still a slog. Like your commute to work, it’s something you have to do but would rather not. This represents a real issue given that in-game the majority of time is spent walking. Night School did a good job organizing the map such that a minimum of backtracking is required, not to mention adding pertinent talking to the walking, but this only minimizes things. It doesn’t hide the fact there is still a lengthy “commute to work” relative to overall game length.

The game’s graphics are the game’s graphics. I would not describe them as poor or astounding. They get the game done in appropriate artistic fashion, i.e. teen graphic novel. Music and sound are better. The effects associated with Alex’s radio, particularly how they emanate from the controller rather than the speakers, is a nice touch. And the music, while sparing most of the time, kicks in at the right “horror” moments with synthesizers to provide effective mood. Aesthetically, it’s a solid package.

In the end, Oxenfree is not a game for me, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a game for you, or that it’s lacking in quality. If you’re looking for supernatural mystery in graphical, semi-interactive form, Oxenfree might be for you. The music and sound effects are well positioned and command the mood. And for a narrative/character-based game, the dialogue and voice acting sparkle. While these are of a younger generation, they nevertheless feel natural, real. I personally do not like to spend 70% of my gameplay hours sloooowly walking a character from point A to point B to push a button, then slowly walk them to point C to push another button, then… It just doesn’t work for me. Also uninspiring was the story. This blog is slathered in book reviews of science fiction and fantasy, and while the tale the game spins is not the worst such specimen I’ve ever encountered, I would certainly put it in the cheesy side of genre (something that really offsets the realism of the dialogue). All this being said, the game has many admirers—and for an indie game, it does shine. Perhaps you may be the next admirer?