If I had to describe Oxenfree with one line, it would be: "it was nice."
Oxenfree is a game about a group of quirky teenagers getting trapped in an island alongside some kind of paranormal entities. A pretty common plot nowadays, but, despite it's maybe cliché synopsis... Oxenfree does what it tries to do very well, and has a surprisingly nice execution.
For starters, the visuals fit perfectly with the ambience and tone of the game. They can be heartwarming as ever when it needs it to be, and it can scare you or stress the f out of you when needed. Each scenario has a really distinct feeling compared to the rest, and, put together, they create the main setting of the game—Edwards Island—a really cool place to explore and uncover whatever mysteries lie there.
One of the other strongest points of Oxenfree lies in its dialogue and choices. The dialogue itself is pretty good, it picks your interest and you kinda become invested in whatever the protagonists talk about, and they're implented in such a way that feels so... Natural, without getting to the point of getting boring. There are some corny/weird delivered lines here and there, and sometimes the game tries to be way too conscious of its plot in some conversations, but all in all, the dialogue is pretty good, and rambling Edwards Island while hearing the characters rant about whatever was probably the best thing they could do to not make the traveling scenes boring.
Oh, and let's talk about the choices! Oxenfree has many things to do, and most of them can be chosen by us. Of course, you don't have infinite choices, nor can do whatever you want for the sake of the plot, but there are plenty of choices and dialogues you can pick to make the game interesting enough, even in a replay. Hell, even being silent—which is something most games like this just ignore—makes you unlock a lot of new scenes and even an ending by itself! It's just really well executed, although some dialogues choices will just play the same as the other ones, they're the minority and they're still cool since most of them are essential to develop your friendship with certain characters, or doing the exact opposite.
And, now... Let's get to the characters. The game focuses on the quirky teenagers I talked about at the start of this review, and they are: Alex, the character we control, Jonas, her new step-brother, Ren, her childhood best friend, Nona, Ren's crush, and Clarissa, Alex's dead brothers ex-girlfriend. These five, by themselves, aren't the best written characters, they're pretty one-dimensional & kinda simple, but they have a pretty decent dynamic when they're together, which carry the game for most sections of it. Although they aren't perfect, and this is where I kinda see the game falling down a bit.
Alex is a pretty good protagonist, her and Jonas must be the best thing of this game, added with Alex's flashbacks and the ending where we befriend Jonas and get to know him better. They are a pretty cool duo, and honestly, seeing them bonding over the course of the game is pretty satisfying when you reach the ending. Ren is just the funny and lovable idiot of the group, he isn't anything special but you get attached easily with him, and his bond with Alex is pretty cool, too.
However, my main problem comes with both Clarissa & Nona. First, Nona is a character practically made to end up being Ren's girlfriend at the end (or not) depending on what we choose and if we let both of them we alone enough times (which is fairly easy because in my second replay I left them alone once and they already were a couple by the end), and she doesn't really have much else to her character, although that might expand if you go with her in one or two parts of the game, they're totally skippeable and don't seem they add much to her character.
And, Clarissa was pretty much what dissappointed me the most in this game. At the start, I was curious to see why she was so antagonistic towards Alex, and I was expecting to get one of those "she's a bitch but she has her reasons/she gets redemption and becomes a better person by the end" character arcs, which we kinda did (she kinda has her reasons and she does get redemption if you want her to at the end) but we don't really see that character arc happening, she's just... Gone, for most of the game. You have a couple of scenes mid-game where she antagonizes Alex even more, and at the end, if you were nice to her... She just kinda becomes a better person? Honestly, I get the feeling they didn't knew how to handle Clarissa's character, and despite getting a little more background in Alex's flashbacks and specially with Michael, it's just left up there, it doesn't end in any point nor does seem to have any direction. I don't think she could've been an amazing character, but atleast they could've done something else with her, or expand her character a little bit more with what they had.
Oh, also I guess I have to talk about the plot. I don't want to get way more into the game's story or the entities reasoning for what they are, but they're decent. They fulfill their functions, and they do what the game need them to do, not much more. They're functional villains, and make the plot advance nicely. Not much to say about them.
Although I must admit I really liked the lore/background this game had, specially with the character of Maggie Adler, which add a lot to the story and I would recommend a lot to get all of them and get to know better all the secrets Edwards Island has.
Some of the things I liked/disliked about this game which I haven't mentioned yet:
.-The OST was pretty damn good, and adds a lot to the game's ambience.
.-Some of the endings can disappoint a bit since you don't see/explore some of the characters arc.
.-While cool exploration and setting, it can get somewhat slow when you travel.
.-Some plot-threads that don't get much closure/are left behind at the end.
.-The mechanics don't add much to the game and some of them are just there to filler some parts of the story.
.-Alex & Michael's part were amazing, specially the last one.
So, in conclusion... Oxenfree is a pretty cool game, the creators knew what they wanted to and did it pretty nicely, and while it doesn't excel at much, everything put together, it creates a pretty cool game that leaves you with a nice feeling.
Stats:
—Favorite Character: Alex.—
—Favorite Scene: "This is just a just-in-case package, okay? Just in case I'm not around."—
—Score: 3/5 = Decent (6/10).—
Oxenfree is a game about a group of quirky teenagers getting trapped in an island alongside some kind of paranormal entities. A pretty common plot nowadays, but, despite it's maybe cliché synopsis... Oxenfree does what it tries to do very well, and has a surprisingly nice execution.
For starters, the visuals fit perfectly with the ambience and tone of the game. They can be heartwarming as ever when it needs it to be, and it can scare you or stress the f out of you when needed. Each scenario has a really distinct feeling compared to the rest, and, put together, they create the main setting of the game—Edwards Island—a really cool place to explore and uncover whatever mysteries lie there.
One of the other strongest points of Oxenfree lies in its dialogue and choices. The dialogue itself is pretty good, it picks your interest and you kinda become invested in whatever the protagonists talk about, and they're implented in such a way that feels so... Natural, without getting to the point of getting boring. There are some corny/weird delivered lines here and there, and sometimes the game tries to be way too conscious of its plot in some conversations, but all in all, the dialogue is pretty good, and rambling Edwards Island while hearing the characters rant about whatever was probably the best thing they could do to not make the traveling scenes boring.
Oh, and let's talk about the choices! Oxenfree has many things to do, and most of them can be chosen by us. Of course, you don't have infinite choices, nor can do whatever you want for the sake of the plot, but there are plenty of choices and dialogues you can pick to make the game interesting enough, even in a replay. Hell, even being silent—which is something most games like this just ignore—makes you unlock a lot of new scenes and even an ending by itself! It's just really well executed, although some dialogues choices will just play the same as the other ones, they're the minority and they're still cool since most of them are essential to develop your friendship with certain characters, or doing the exact opposite.
And, now... Let's get to the characters. The game focuses on the quirky teenagers I talked about at the start of this review, and they are: Alex, the character we control, Jonas, her new step-brother, Ren, her childhood best friend, Nona, Ren's crush, and Clarissa, Alex's dead brothers ex-girlfriend. These five, by themselves, aren't the best written characters, they're pretty one-dimensional & kinda simple, but they have a pretty decent dynamic when they're together, which carry the game for most sections of it. Although they aren't perfect, and this is where I kinda see the game falling down a bit.
Alex is a pretty good protagonist, her and Jonas must be the best thing of this game, added with Alex's flashbacks and the ending where we befriend Jonas and get to know him better. They are a pretty cool duo, and honestly, seeing them bonding over the course of the game is pretty satisfying when you reach the ending. Ren is just the funny and lovable idiot of the group, he isn't anything special but you get attached easily with him, and his bond with Alex is pretty cool, too.
However, my main problem comes with both Clarissa & Nona. First, Nona is a character practically made to end up being Ren's girlfriend at the end (or not) depending on what we choose and if we let both of them we alone enough times (which is fairly easy because in my second replay I left them alone once and they already were a couple by the end), and she doesn't really have much else to her character, although that might expand if you go with her in one or two parts of the game, they're totally skippeable and don't seem they add much to her character.
And, Clarissa was pretty much what dissappointed me the most in this game. At the start, I was curious to see why she was so antagonistic towards Alex, and I was expecting to get one of those "she's a bitch but she has her reasons/she gets redemption and becomes a better person by the end" character arcs, which we kinda did (she kinda has her reasons and she does get redemption if you want her to at the end) but we don't really see that character arc happening, she's just... Gone, for most of the game. You have a couple of scenes mid-game where she antagonizes Alex even more, and at the end, if you were nice to her... She just kinda becomes a better person? Honestly, I get the feeling they didn't knew how to handle Clarissa's character, and despite getting a little more background in Alex's flashbacks and specially with Michael, it's just left up there, it doesn't end in any point nor does seem to have any direction. I don't think she could've been an amazing character, but atleast they could've done something else with her, or expand her character a little bit more with what they had.
Oh, also I guess I have to talk about the plot. I don't want to get way more into the game's story or the entities reasoning for what they are, but they're decent. They fulfill their functions, and they do what the game need them to do, not much more. They're functional villains, and make the plot advance nicely. Not much to say about them.
Although I must admit I really liked the lore/background this game had, specially with the character of Maggie Adler, which add a lot to the story and I would recommend a lot to get all of them and get to know better all the secrets Edwards Island has.
Some of the things I liked/disliked about this game which I haven't mentioned yet:
.-The OST was pretty damn good, and adds a lot to the game's ambience.
.-Some of the endings can disappoint a bit since you don't see/explore some of the characters arc.
.-While cool exploration and setting, it can get somewhat slow when you travel.
.-Some plot-threads that don't get much closure/are left behind at the end.
.-The mechanics don't add much to the game and some of them are just there to filler some parts of the story.
.-Alex & Michael's part were amazing, specially the last one.
So, in conclusion... Oxenfree is a pretty cool game, the creators knew what they wanted to and did it pretty nicely, and while it doesn't excel at much, everything put together, it creates a pretty cool game that leaves you with a nice feeling.
Stats:
—Favorite Character: Alex.—
—Favorite Scene: "This is just a just-in-case package, okay? Just in case I'm not around."—
—Score: 3/5 = Decent (6/10).—