Oxenfree

1. Ardwinna

   Oct 13, 2016

   10

   Oxenfree is the second game I've purchased from Steam, and despite my Mac being a little too slow for it, I loved this game!! Yes, it's short,Oxenfree is the second game I've purchased from Steam, and despite my Mac being a little too slow for it, I loved this game!! Yes, it's short, but it has a really great story, great dialogue, the characters are great and the soundtrack is amazing. I even love the painterly background.
   
   If you get to play this game, don't play it once and then stop. Play it again right away. The supernatural stuff you saw during your first playthrough "bleed through" to your second "timeline" and the story goes deeper still. Not to mention that you can get multiple endings based on your play style. ;) Those hidden trophies are there for a reason.
   
   I just love this game so much despite the massive bugs I got, but I'm a full time video game tester, and I attribute most of these bugs to my mac just being too slow. I don't generally game on my mac so it's forgiven. Give this game a try, it's a diamond in the rough.… Expand

   • 3 of 5 users found this helpful
2. Bengatore

   May 22, 2018

   10

   I have played hundreds of games over my lifetime. Some of them made me emotional, some of them stayed with me long after I finished playingI have played hundreds of games over my lifetime. Some of them made me emotional, some of them stayed with me long after I finished playing them, and some of them I deeply enjoyed. However, Oxenfree is one of only four games I have played that I not only enjoyed, but loved.… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
4. agurczuk

   Jun 15, 2017

   9

   A narrative experience with great eerie story and not much gameplay.
   
   I absolutely loved it. The game has a great story about youngA narrative experience with great eerie story and not much gameplay.
   
   I absolutely loved it. The game has a great story about young teenagers going to an island for a party. They bring a radio with them that's able to pick up strange transmissions throughout the island. And just by mistake with the radio they're opening a rift to the ghost realm. And now they have until dawn to figure out what's going on.
   
   First thing to note about this game is amazing soundtrack and superb voice acting. The visuals are pretty decent but it's the audio layer that makes this game.
   
   The main mechanic of Oxenfree is the dialogs. As the game revolves around the characters interacting with each other you get limited time to select a dialog option - if you don't decide the characters continue talking as if you decided not to talk. The writing is pretty clever and feel natural and your choices do matter in the end. Depending on them a game can end up one way or another - and that does not mean necessarily difference between good and bad - just different.
   
   Apart from that although you control directly the main character you have little choice. You know basically where you need to go - and though you can take different paths - it does not really matter. So your only job is to get from one place to another and trigger another dialog sequence. It's cool that you can still move while in dialog but it doesn't do anything. The other in game puzzles are so simple it's hard to call them puzzles. It's just a matter of tuning the radio in the right spot. Everything other is pretty obvious.
   
   I feel there are some hidden stuff in the game - things I didn't really bother to look for but the whole story is quite interesting and details placed here and there make it feel even better.
   
   Overall it's just an interactive story with dialogs choices that make a difference but do not matter in the grand scheme of the story. With a great atmosphere - that reminded me for some reason of the "Stranger Things". Loved the experience and the story.… Expand

   • 1 of 2 users found this helpful
5. mertdost

   Jan 26, 2019

   8

   If you like Life is Strange, you are definitely going to like this. Beautiful indie game with well written story. Must Play.

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
6. dandalis

   Oct 27, 2016

   7

   Pretty neat indie game. Love the hand drawn srt style, its really gorgeuous. Narrative is also pretty well done and feels conventional likePretty neat indie game. Love the hand drawn srt style, its really gorgeuous. Narrative is also pretty well done and feels conventional like its actual people going through these mysterious bonkers events. For some reason game runs really bad on my system which makes no sense considering its 2.5D. Also would like a second or two more for dialogue choices cuz it feels too fast and i cant make a proper choice many times.… Expand

   • 2 of 2 users found this helpful
7. Winko

   Dec 24, 2017

   7

   Good:
   - The script is well written and the performances throughout are pretty solid
   - The game does a good job of letting the player createGood:
   - The script is well written and the performances throughout are pretty solid
   - The game does a good job of letting the player create their own narrative
   - Handful of interesting sequences
   - The game does a good job of setting up an ominous tone
   - Interesting art style
   - Seamless transitions back into story-centric dialogue after the player character interrupts by examining items; seamless transactions when you load up a save
   - The ending was satisfying enough
   
   Mixed:
   - The game is very short but it’s obviously meant to be played through multiple times to get multiple endings
   - Tuning the radio seemed like a feature that would be utilized in interesting ways, but that didn’t turn out to be the case
   - Revisiting locations to find optional letters using clues is a neat concept, but the clues are borderline useless because they are so easy to find; the radio resets channels every time you enter a new area, adding some unnecessary tedium to the “challenge”
   - Some dialogue options disappear way to quickly, but it does make players go with their gut reactions for a lot of important choices
   
   Bad:
   - Gameplay is very basic, boring, and repetitive; walking around the island is tedious; the game would have worked better as a point-and-click adventure
   - Soundtrack is unremarkable
   - A rewind feature or flow chart would have been a great feature and it’s a shame that no such system is implemented… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
8. aristotle61

   Dec 20, 2017

   0

   If you like this game, and games like this, I strongly suggest you get a Commodore 64 because the games are on approximately the same levelIf you like this game, and games like this, I strongly suggest you get a Commodore 64 because the games are on approximately the same level technically, but the overall quality of Commodore 64 games is better. Seriously, when is this barrage of amateur games that are often not even games going to stop? Are we going backwards now?
   
   You have to use w,a,s,d keys to move around in this walking tour. You can't even use the mouse accept to click on the endless conversation bubbles. Hey, here's a cool idea, let's go back to an MS-DOS interface, wouldn't that be trendy and cool?
   
   Everything about this game makes it clear that the developer's entire focus was on how they could make a "game" with as little effort as possible, and as quickly as possible. The game is very short and yet still spends a lot of time dragging things out to try and convince you that it really is a game, and not a comic strip. It seems like one person could have made this game in a short period of time. If this trend keeps up no one is going to want to make real games anymore. Why bother when you can quickly crank out amateur garbage by the truckload and make just as much money by releasing "indie" games in much bigger quantities.
   
   If you like this game, check out Zork. It's just walking around and text, similar to this this game without the childish graphics, but definitely better entertainment with better writing.… Expand

   • 0 of 13 users found this helpful

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