![]() ![]() Of course that’s acknowledging whether or not a strong horror atmosphere is what Night School was going for in the first place with OxenFree. If Night School Studio ever pursues a sequel, which I would be pretty excited if they did, I would love for them to create a radio that captures strange frequencies beyond the scripted moments, to really keep their nice atmosphere of horror going. It would have been nice if the game made for more moments of actual tension or just kept its own horrific momentum going. It’s a pitfall I’ve seen SOMA, A Machine for Pigs, Among the Sleep, The Park, and even Outlast stumble into. The terror itself also soon felt all too scripted, and I began to wonder if I was in any real trouble at all. It quickly became transparent as to when exactly I was in danger, or at least in for a fright, and when everything was going to be relatively chill and mundane. Unfortunately OxenFree falls into the same trap a lot of indie horror tends to fall into. Alex could repair or damage her relationship with her four other cohorts over the course of the game, all leading to different impacts on the narrative. ![]() Finally the game had a bit of a semi-hidden relationship system. The world would start to look all messy, scrape and tear like an old VHS cassette tape, and Alex would have to try and “straighten out” the world by adjusting giant magnetic reels found throughout the island. You could find yourself stranded as far as one year back on the island. You would often find yourself trapped in a “time loop” that would show you different outcomes of the same exact event. There is a time travel lite element to OxenFree as well. If I was attentive in class and took all the correct notes, I could ace the test easily, if I slacked off and went through the motions I was headed for a D minus. It really did feel like being pop quizzed in high school. Often the poltergeists on the island would challenge you to a ‘game,’ a twisted version of Hangman or Eye Spy where you would be quizzed on things the game already told you. A lot of them simply tested how much you’ve been paying attention to the game’s story and atmosphere. The puzzles scattered throughout the game felt just right. This is a wonderfully dark atmosphere, easily broken by the fact the protagonist barely old enough to drive is wise cracking her way out of everything. The title is generally dark, or at the very least has a whiff of sinister, not only in dealing with supernatural malevolent entities but in delivering a story that involves teen death and suicide. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say there was something very 80’s about that approach but it didn’t really feel like the most natural writing in the world, and there were times it badly scraped against the tone of the game. While I did have the freedom to craft some of Alex’s personality and backstory, there was plenty of scripted material that prompted her as your typical one liner busting, snarky teenage protagonist. I felt like I ended up with a kid who was adventurous, intelligent and just a teensie bit of a romantic. While there are definitely moments the story goes on auto-pilot with Alex and decides for me how she’ll behave, I was generally free to choose if she were a clever girl or a simple one, cynical or naive, brave or a scaredy cat. I felt like she let me do something protagonists haven’t rarely let me accomplish in awhile, and that’s crafting her past and personality. It was a cool little mechanic that both added a layer of gameplay complexity and amped up the game’s tension. There are intervals in the game where you would come across a sinister red light, curse under your breath, hold on to your ass and whip the radio out to tune into whatever evil had gripped the island. This small device is both your ticket to rescuing yourself from danger and placing yourself at death’s door. ![]() The player is given a really clear and controllable link to the realm of scary ghosts in the form of an old transistor radio. Wait, what?Įarly on the game most reminded me of Silent Hill 0, the online production Marble Hornets and films such as Paranormal Activity. ![]() What better way to get over the stresses of being an American teenager then a night of listening to music, getting tore up, shooting the shit with your friends, and opening a portal to the world of the dead. Preparing to transition from middle school to high school, thinking about college, getting over the loss of a family member and getting used to the idea of having a step brother. You take the reigns of Alex, a girl going through changes. Oxenfree is basically a Jay-tailored game through and through. 80’s Teen movies and spooky ghost stories. ![]()
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