The idea of a suspenseful horror mystery game in a two-dimensional, cartoon-ish animation style doesn't sound like it would work out too well, but Oxenfree manages to pull off an eerie atmosphere with great effect. An indie game from 2016, it has generally fostered positive reviews for accomplishing so much with so little. Some might find it a tad slow and boring, but it executes a number of things really well.
Playing a bit like a teenage coming-of-age movie, the primary focus is the narrative. Five young adults go onto this abandoned island for a night of celebratory drinking and rabble rousing. Along the way, they discover strange radio signals that, when picked up using a radio, distorts reality. For a while, it is unclear what exactly is happening. Is it ghosts? A tear that connects to a parallel universe? A time loop? Friends get possessed, situations and conversations repeat, and new mysteries and backstory about the island are uncovered.
Oxenfree is a game easy to recommend to fans of Telltale games like The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones. In fact, one of the co-founders of this game's studio specifically worked on The Wolf Among Us. The influence is obvious from the core mechanic of the game: making choices through dialogue options. What's nice about Oxenfree compared to other decision-driven games is that conversations occur without interrupting. Players can walk and talk at the same time, no longer beholden to cutscenes or restricting conversation sequences that trap players in that moment until the talk is over. Speech bubbles appear above the protagonist's head, adding to a cohesive art style as well. It looks a bit comic book-like, so the speech bubbles enhance that.
The downside, however, is the same as it always is for these types of games. As intriguing as the story might get, there still isn't ultimately that much for the player to do. There is even less to interact with in the world of Oxenfree than that of a Telltale game, or Dontnod's fan-favorite Life is Strange. While Telltale has made efforts to expand a bit beyond the basic mechanic of choosing and Dontnod introduced time rewind powers to the formula, Oxenfree offers little else beyond walking and, well, talking.
The flip side: it handles decisions more organically. One of the problems with something like The Walking Dead is how unnatural some of the dialogue is, and how "gamey" it feels once you go from walking around, pointing and clicking, to engaged in conversation with a character. They also get pretty obvious when you are making a choice clearly meant to impact the story. In many cases, decisions are pretty binary as well. Save Doug, or save Carli? While some of the writing and voice acting in Oxenfree is less than stellar (undoubtedly connected to the fact that it is a small studio indie game), dialogue and choices are presented in a more realistic fashion, with a more natural flow. The best choice-driven games don't make it so obvious when you're making key decisions. Oxenfree doesn't completely avoid this trap, but it manages to create a more honest mechanic.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the game is how unsettling it is. One would not expect a side-scrolling, 2D walk-and-talk game to create a disquieting atmosphere, but Oxenfree manages to do so through audio design and some image distortions to great effect. The use of radio and television static is surprisingly efficient at crafting an eerie environment. It can be startling to be playing a game that suddenly cuts out and starts looking warped, as if something has possessed your television and the game, just as the other beings possess the friends. "Terrifying" isn't an accurate way to describe it, but it is shockingly off-putting.
It is a little tricky determining who to recommend Oxenfree to. It isn't so amazing that I would recommend it to anyone and everyone, the way I would, say, Little Nightmares or Horizon: Zero Dawn. At the same time, it does things a little more subtly than something like The Walking Dead and has fewer mechanics than Life is Strange, so there might not ultimately be a ton of crossover there (although, certainly, if you are into Telltale games, you will likely be more receptive to Oxenfree). The pacing is a little inconsistent, and it takes a little while before the good, weird stuff breaks out in earnest. Even then, many might still find it a bit boring. If you're into narrative-driven games with choice-based mechanics, however, and a single, cohesive style and spooky atmosphere, then this is a game you might want to check out.
REDUCTIVE RATING: Pretty Interesting / Worth Checking Out
Available On: PS4, XBoxOne, Nintendo Switch, Steam, iOS, Android
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