|
 The conversation-driven supernatural adventure game with a teenage blue-haired main character that isn't Life is Strange Developed and published by Night School Studio (a group made up of former Telltale and Disney employees), Oxenfree was released on January 15th, 2016. And as the game's website says, "Oxenfree is a single player game that’s equal parts coming-of-age tale and supernatural thriller. You play as Alex, a bright, rebellious teenaged girl who brings her new stepbrother Jonas to an overnight party on a decommissioned military island. The festivities are framed by a dangerous sneak to a forbidden beach, celebrating with friends and navigating prickly situations with enemies. But the night takes a horrifying turn when you unwittingly open a ghostly rift spawned from the island’s cryptic past. How you deal with these events, your peers, and the ominous creatures you’ve unleashed is up to you." Teaser trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGwz4ovskx4 The entire game is available now on Steam and Xbox for $20. You can pay extra to get the soundtrack too. I bought it yesterday and started playing. It's pretty good. It moves slowly and there's a lot of backtracking. I'd describe the vibe as creepy and unsettling rather than outright scary. The dialogue system is robust and it does feel like the choices you make shape the conversation, but I don't really quite know how it shapes the story yet. The major puzzle-solving mechanic is radio-based. Specifically, your character's radio allows her to find clues and secrets among other things. None of the puzzles have been super-challenging although there are time-based quiz puzzles that I failed at a bit spectacularly mainly because I wasn't paying close enough attention.  Oh yeah and the art style is lovely and the music is great.  I'll update this more with information about where to find collectibles and any other relevant information over time. Rosalind fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Jan 19, 2016 |
#
?
Jan 19, 2016 16:12
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 18, 2024 11:46 |
|
|
Rosalind posted:The dialogue system is robust and it does feel like the choices you make shape the conversation, but I don't really quite know how it shapes the story yet. I've done about two playthroughs, and as far as reactivity goes, it's more TWD-style. Everyone gets the same scenes, yet the conversations play out differently. No major branching paths (unless you count changing the character you're hanging out with), but there are multiple endings. Was a little disappointed that some of the teaser scenes seem to be removed from the game. I was hoping for more group dynamic stuff. The character dialogue is fun and worth experiencing. The game goes stale quickly when backtracking, though. I had to use a walkthrough to find the last collectibles because oh my god why are you so slow Alex. And if you want to make a save at a decision point and then reload later so you don't have to do the game over again to see the other options, lolnope. Only one autosave slot. It doesn't even let you carry collectibles through playthroughs. Brutal. LoseHound fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Jan 19, 2016 |
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2016 17:29
|
|
|
LoseHound posted:I've done about two playthroughs, and as far as reactivity goes, it's more TWD-style. Everyone gets the same scenes, yet the conversations play out differently. No major branching paths (unless you count changing the character you're hanging out with), but there are multiple endings. Was a little disappointed that some of the teaser scenes seem to be removed from the game. I was hoping for more group dynamic stuff. That's unfortunate to hear about the backtracking, but yeah I noticed sometimes Alex runs and sometimes she walks and I really wish when no one is talking to me I could just always be running or that there were a fast travel system or something. Maybe they'll patch something in. How was your feeling about the game overall? I'm reaching the tail-end of the game I think but overall my thoughts are very positive.
|
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2016 17:38
|
|
|
Would it kill you to put a link to the Steam store in the OP? It's too cold to type.
|
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2016 19:32
|
|
|
Rosalind posted:How was your feeling about the game overall? I'm reaching the tail-end of the game I think but overall my thoughts are very positive. The game is great. There's a bit near the end that I'm back and forth over on whether I like it because it's clever or dumb because it raises too many questions. Overall, it's good and learning new things about characters on a second playthrough is a cool mechanic. I'd recommend getting all the letters though. The ending just feels better when you know all the backstory. Also: Oxenfree will become a movie apparently? Perhaps this could be Uwe Boll's triumphant return!
|
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2016 20:09
|
|
|
Oxenfree was good poo poo, though the ending twist felt like a cheap twist for the sake of one depending on how you play. I think it only works if you save Michael, because it makes a good lesson of moving on from the past.
|
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2016 20:23
|
|
|
precision posted:Would it kill you to put a link to the Steam store in the OP? It's too cold to type. I'm sorry about your cold fingers, but I updated the OP.
|
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2016 20:32
|
|
|
Accordion Man posted:Oxenfree was good poo poo, though the ending twist felt like a cheap twist for the sake of one depending on how you play. I think it only works if you save Michael, because it makes a good lesson of moving on from the past. Yeah, I accidentally ended up getting that ending the first time and it was wonderfully unnerving how..off it all felt. The twist was perfect and I had it coming. But in any other ending, it just makes you question the "rules" at play, which given that this story's big revelation is EXPERIMENTAL NUCLEAR MAGIC GATEWAY TO RADIO HELL...yeah. Maybe thinking too hard about the rules is bad. I just wish Nona and Ren had more screentime. Or felt more connected to the whole Michael thing. They're almost tangential.
|
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2016 20:45
|
|
|
I'm trying to do Firestarter, and I somehow... failed to get it, even after intentionally being the biggest dickhead to everybody throughout the game? I said I'd sacrificed Clarissa, and that got everyone SUPER pissed, but then when I went in and actually sacrificed her, then it's as if Clarissa never existed and everyone's cool? I think I also saved Michael, maybe it had something to do with that? Some of the rear end in a top hat replies are hilarious, by the way.
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2016 02:47
|
|
|
My understanding of the ending now that I've beaten it: Alex is unhinged in time and doomed to repeat this night over and over again forever. Each playthrough by the player represents a permutation of Alex's attempt to break the time loop. In some of them she's really mean to everyone and tries to get them all killed hoping being the sole survivor will cause things to change. In others she saves everyone, even her previously dead brother, in an attempt to break the cycle. As she's gone through this loop over-and-over again she's become dissociated with herself and she perceives herself as a character controlled by someone else (the player). The oxenfree is her call to be freed, not the drowned sailors'. It's very Sisyphean. Overall I really liked the game, despite some flaws. Collectibles hunting was annoying and didn't seem to have a huge impact on the story even though the game implied that gathering them all would help unlock some sort of secret or nuance to the ending. Some of the characters seemed to not have much of a point, like Nona and Ren. You could have pretty much have had the same game if it had just been Alex, Jonas, and Clarissa on the island.. Overall I think the game was worth $20 and would recommend it to anyone looking for a Life is Strange/interactive fiction-esque game.
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2016 16:12
|
|
|
I enjoyed playing it (twice, to try to get a different ending) but I really hated the timing on the speech bubbles. Sometimes the bubbles would fade before the other person finished talking, but other times if you clicked them while the person was talking, it had the effect of interrupting them and losing whatever they were saying. The second time I played I was trying to hook up with Jonas, but he annoyed me so much I kept giving the wrong answers and that runthrough we wound up speaking only at thanksgiving! I wish I could court Nona; she's much, much more interesting than either Ren or Jonas.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2016 02:21
|
|
|
Arsenic Lupin posted:I enjoyed playing it (twice, to try to get a different ending) but I really hated the timing on the speech bubbles. Sometimes the bubbles would fade before the other person finished talking, but other times if you clicked them while the person was talking, it had the effect of interrupting them and losing whatever they were saying. Yeah, this was my biggest complaint with the game as well. That said, after beating it once I will say I quite liked it. On the whole I felt the quality of the writing and voice acting was quite, quite good. Am I right from understanding what you guys are saying that there's no way to avoid the end-of-game "twist" by doing other actions though?
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2016 03:08
|
|
|
Brackhar posted:Yeah, this was my biggest complaint with the game as well. As far as I can tell that bit of the ending is always the same, unless there's something crazy nobody's discovered yet. I liked the game a lot, but the twist did feel a bit hackneyed. And if they're going to put collectibles in the game, there should be some plot-related reason you have to go back to the different areas. Without that you're just running along in silence. Either they need a motivation to explore the island or more random dialogue.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2016 17:15
|
|
|
Something that really bothered me in run two was that the ghosts told us we only had until dawn. My anomaly-hunting took up easily as much time as the rest of the game, but game-time never passed. I kept running into sunlit areas and thinking "Oh, my gosh, I've missed the deadline", but then I'd run into a dark area and realize that they'd only drawn one background for each area (sensible use of resources). When I ran up to the bomb shelter after collecting all the Adler letters, I was surprised that I was still on time for the end game.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2016 19:15
|
|
|
Argh! Just finished this, and I'm really frustrated. I decided to play this game with subtitles off, but for some reason I found the radio voices almost impossible to understand so I missed a lot of important information. Then I figured the anomalies were just collectables so they weren't important to the ending, but it seems like the old lady's letters actually are? Sure enough I got what I think is a bad ending, and what's frustrating about it is I get the feeling the game was doing cool stuff that would've made me feel very clever if I'd paid attention and done right. I want to get a better ending, but it's a drag knowing 95% of the game will be the same and it'll feel a little like a hollow victory. Just looking the differences up on youtube would be the hollowest, though. The only thing that's keeping me into the idea of a second run is the way the ending has that time loop so you're back to the start of the trip aspect, maybe I can pretend like this is a continuation of the first playthrough. I'm pretending the "start over" option in the options means there's a difference between a new game and a 2nd playthrough so don't correct me if I'm wrong. I should say, though, that I thought it was a great game and really well done. I wouldn't be so annoyed about screwing up if they hadn't done a good job with the writing and choices. Dolash fucked around with this message at 12:25 on Feb 17, 2016 |
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2016 12:23
|
|
|
Certain things are different or more fleshed out on a second go round, and it sounds like people aren't entirely certain there isn't more to be found
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2016 01:19
|
|
|
Ijuuin Enzan posted:Certain things are different or more fleshed out on a second go round, and it sounds like people aren't entirely certain there isn't more to be found Can you give an example of what's different in the second playthrough?
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2016 05:34
|
|
|
More stuff next month! https://twitter.com/nightschoolers/status/725340025928347648?lang=enquote:OXENFREE makes its PS4 debut on May 31st, with new storylines, locations, and endings.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2016 03:00
|
|
|
So does that mean a chance of an ending where you're not stuck in a time loop forever? There's a 0% chance I'll replay the game, but I'd like that to exist in the world because it just seems polite. Doubt that's the approach they're taking though.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2016 06:11
|
|
|
I sure hope so! There's new endings The video says something about talking to different timelines The game already has the breaking out of loops thing, hopefully this time it's on a larger scale Anyway, I will replay it just for the opportunity to do more walking/talking/walking while talking
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2016 02:21
|
|
|
I did NG+. It was pretty much exactly the same as the original timeline, with the addition of some new dialogue here and there, some time radio transmitters, and at least one ending where you end up not going to the island. The ending that I got was a bit unsatisfying. Just before facing off with the ghosts, I sent a message back to the past telling myself not to use the radio. After "leaving" the island, the game looped, like in the original, but this time I was sent back a bit further, before I had even left for the island. I received the message and everyone was freaked out and decided not to go to the island. Bit of a downer because nobody remembered what happened, Nona and Ren didn't get together, etc. Hoping that there is another ending. At the mansion, the ghosts say something like, "You've already failed sorry," which makes me think that there's some combination of the messages you can send that can help. I was freaked out by the chair thing. Also was gently caress/Marry/Kill in the original timeline?
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2016 02:36
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 18, 2024 11:46 |
|
|
abardam posted:Also was gently caress/Marry/Kill in the original timeline? Apparently? I was surprised to see it on my second go round, too. I slapped Ren the first time, I think that might have locked me out of it.
|
|
#
?
Jun 2, 2016 05:39
|
|
