Oxenfree is one of gaming’s greatest ghost stories. Granted, they’re a rare breed, the genuinely spooky video game, experiences that aren’t so much played as permitted to crawl across your skin, cooling the blood and yet quickening its flow. But Californian indie studio Night School’s debut production, originally released in 2016, is deserving of investigation by anyone delighting in disquiet. It’s mesmerising while it plays, and memorable long after it’s finished.
Not that you’ll see the real ending if you go around Oxenfree’s relatively brief running time of about five hours only the once. The game’s uncommonly palpable eeriness is filtered through a story of possessed teens and glitches in time, loops in reality that see a group of high-schoolers try to survive a night stranded on an island that isn’t quite as deserted as they believed. To dive into the particulars is to spoil a wealth of surprises, a raft of compelling beats that resonate with genre originality, that keep coming on a second playthrough – and even then, you might meet the credits with unanswered questions.
The mystery of Edwards Island – home to a decommissioned military installation and, until recently, a sole elderly recluse – can be unpicked to some extent by simply following the main story. This takes in a series of branches, directed by an excellent dialogue system that allows for player interruptions and very natural-feeling exchanges (and is made all the better by impressive voice acting), permitting the player’s character, Alex, a pronounced sense of agency in proceedings. Ultimately, the divergent plot narrows to a linear path for a high-stakes subterranean climax, at which point your earlier choices are going to have consequences.
Greater detail as to the island’s past, and how that’s impacting the night’s events, can be gleaned from discovering letters, scattered around the island during the game’s later stages – they go some way to describing a pertinent disaster that occurred not far from the island’s shores. There are also a number of photographs taken across the course of the night, by different characters, that contain clues; and audio anomalies, snatches of conversations from a time before now, that can be tuned into. Look, listen and learn carefully enough, and it all might just come together – but probably not on a single playthrough.
It’s through the use of a handheld radio that Alex – and by extension the friends, family and associates that accompany her to the island – can listen to strange signals. Some of these are songs, crackling and creaking as if weighted down by decades of dust. There are voices, some acting lines, others just groaning, screaming almost, in the static. Turn the dial slowly, and there’s often something that’ll stand out, like a lighthouse in the blackest night – except the feeling here is that the beacon is only ever drawing you closer to the rocks, and destruction.
The radio – which is later upgraded to one able to pick up many more frequencies – gives Alex and company a way to communicate with whatever else is on the island alongside them, a force that’s apparently all around them at all times, and yet unseen. A very clear malevolence can be felt, however, as the game delights in showing us, great detail and personality rippling through the diminutive avatars of the affair as their bodies are tested in ways that daren’t be spoiled. Nobody who took the last ferry the night before will return to the mainland quite the same.
But it’s not the visuals that really shake the player up – it’s the sound, and the music. The work of Andrew Rohrmann, aka scntfc, the Oxenfree OST is a cornucopia of uneasy avant-ambience, constantly getting under the skin of the player and forcing the hairs atop it to stand to attention. There’s a worn fuzziness to much of it, like its edges have blurred, its seams frayed; but there’s no warmth, even the more bucolic passages undercut by a distinct vein of dread. The resulting atmosphere is thick and sticky, then, and impossible to shake once you’ve set your Switch down to sleep. The compulsion to return, again and again, to the trials of these five souls is great indeed.
And you really should take a second trip to Edwards Island, to see those trials find a semblance of finality – and what with Oxenfree now on Switch, you can do that anywhere. It’s a game that neatly divides itself into explorable scrolling screens and set-piece situations, (admittedly somewhat lengthy) loading screens acting as markers between chapters. Portability is a great plus for a game that operates splendidly as a short-sessions experience – which isn’t to say you can’t binge on it, like the latest must-see Netflix show. The Switch lets you play it either way – and you can even use touchscreen controls, changing stick control for a point-and-click system, if you really must grease up your console like that.
Any Switch owners seeking supernatural encounters of the interactive kind should look no further that this otherworldly adventure. It’s not one you can “lose” at, whatever your decisions, and wherever the characters end up – but to miss out on it is to do your Switch a disservice.
Conclusion
A genuinely creepy creation, Oxenfree combines a clever story and smart dialogue mechanics with superbly sinister music to leave a deep and lasting impression on the player, one that should encourage an all-important second playthrough. Fans of Stranger Things and Poltergeist will love the direction this game takes – if not to hell and back, exactly, then absolutely to some other place where horrors abound, just waiting for an invitation into our world. It’s yet another Switch essential.
Comments 63
I tried it on PC but found the whole story-based nature of it to be a bit too guided/scripted and slow-paced for me (lots of meandering around the map and selecting from dialogue options) to really bother after the first hour or so. I guess if you're not really buying into the story in these games then it's hard to truly become invested--it did start to get a little bit interesting but not enough to hook me before I quit--because it's not like they're genuinely fun to actually play. I expect I might enjoy just watching someone do a play-though more than playing through it myself--and this is why longplays and the like actually do have value (this bit is for those people who don't get the whole longplay thing).
I played this game on Xbox One. It's not bad but not a 9/10 game either. It is not especially frightening nor touching. It has nice visuals, most of all the landscapes, but it's also very short and the alternating endings aren't that impressive either. The only real "gameplay" feature, the dialogue choices, are unnecessarily accelerated.
I think I must have got this game in a bundle, 'cos it's already in my Steam library but I don't remember buying it.
I'd rather play it on my Switch, but not at full price.
Just finished this, and it is indeed a very emotional and eerie journey. Great review, captured the spirit of the game without giving too much away
It's a 7/10 game imo.
I came for the free oxes but leaving disappointed.
Okay so what do you do in it? Is it a platformer? A point and click game? Anything about controls?
@gcunit - I've got it in my STEAM library too, so it must have been part of a bundle, as I've only ever bought one individual STEAM game.
I probably would have got it on Switch, having seen the preview recently, but not really much point now.
This game is stupid, boring and pretentious.
"clever story and smart dialogue"
lol. This reviewer likes movies like Transformers. Only people who have bad tastes thinks that these pretentious games with boring stories are original and clever. smh
no oxen, no sale.
@AG_Awesome A point-and-click adventure that is fascinating for people that haven't reached (or overcome) the adolescence yet.
@Lina-MG What's wrong with Transformers? A generations-spanning sci-fi saga for the ages.
@Lina-MG was the game too much for you? Or maybe it is just not your thing. Does not mean that the game is boring. I am loving it until now, for the mechanics a la Tell Tale games and for the story.
@AG_Awesome You control Alex with the left stick. You lean left, she walks left. The usual, you know. You can (as it says up there) also use touch screen controls, but I wouldn't recommend it. It's easier to use certain functions with the Cons - like radio tuning, for example. Didn't get too in depth with this STUFF cos the controls, tbh, are very intuitive, very natural; the game's key strengths, a great dialogue system aside, are entirely narrative and atmospheric.
@MikeDiver I'm referring to the story of the movies. You can enjoy the movies, but you can not say that their scripts are good.
Wow, very strong review. I was curious about this one but the price (what with so many games competing for my limited amount of game cash) gave me pause. Your strong recommendation though may have just tempted me to pull the trigger. I'm always up for a good horror game for 🎃
@setezerocinco Well, the biggest point of this game is the story.
And the story in Oxenfree sucks hard. The characters were incredibly annoying, I couldn't sympathize with or care about any of them. It felt like every time I tried to be nice or supportive to a character it just blew up in my face. I never did more than one play-through because it was so off-putting.
@Lina-MG The Oxenfree script, so to speak, is very Video Game Good, IMO. I mean, that's the medium we're talking about, not movies. There's layers to it that can go completely unseen, if you're not looking - or, often, listening - in the right places. You need all the letters, all the anomalies, all the photos; and you need to play beyond the "end" of the game, first time through. Do that and you find a richness that, I admit, isn't there at the surface level - where we have snarky teens bitching at each other, freaking out and channelling their aggressions in divisive fashions. I really loved how it could be taken as This Kind of Story, and That, and some of the Two Mixed. It's a tragedy, a comedy, a horror story. And when you unpick the whole, you see how smartly it was all put together. IMO! Which is exactly what a review is, of course. x
@MikeDiver try again Maybe the choices you have made returned into not so pleasant answers or actions. Such game must be played more than once.
@Lroy FWIW it's not like BIG JUMP SCARE style horror... it's more a constant creeping dread that permeates proceedings, manifested more through effects and music than anything on screen regularly. So it's less Aliens, more Alien, if you like.
@MikeDiver (except it's nothing like Alien there are no aliens in it OR ARE THERE)
@MikeDiver Thanks for the info!!
I don't know if this is something for everyone. I saw a bit of a lets-play and I found it to be very boring!
I play this type of game on the computer. Switch is not the right platform.
@MikeDiver Cheers for the response fella. Sounds very appealing to my palette when it comes to horror. I'll definitely keep an eye on this one and no doubt 'hit buy' before the month is out.
By the way, are you reviewing another of October's Switch horror eShop releases - The Mummy: Demastered? Imagine I may be faced with a choice between the two at least for now depending on how well that game reviews.
This is probably one of the best reviews I've seen at capturing what the game is like and about.
I suppose the question is do you want to play a game primarily about atmosphere and teenagers talking to each other, and if not, maybe this isn't the game for you.
It was one of my favorite games of last year. I've bought it twice, once physically, and find myself still thinking about buying it on Switch again.
Surprised by all the hate. I thought this game was great. You might want to grab the game on iOS/Android where the game is much cheaper, but this is worth playing (and not just watching a playthrough so you can make your own choices).
The ad line for Nintendo Switch really does need to be: how many games can you handle? My wallet empties so quickly due to so many bloody fabulous games!!!
@Lroy As I said above, it's not a bad game, but if you expect an horror game you are going to be disappointed. The story is somehow depressing but it's not scary. It's not as deep as I expected either. I don't want to spoil it, though.
Using the radio is purely cosmetic just to trigger the next event. Moving Alex is not real platforming but going from A to B and collecting a few letters depending on your desire to backtrack and read them. The real gameplay is the dialogue choices and taking a few photos (almost automatically) but the consequences and different endings aren't that connected or impressive either.
@BlueOcean Did you play through it more than once? The second playthrough is totally connected to the first. Explicitly. Like, they're two chapters of the same story - where the beats are similar for the most part but the singular aspects really stick out, and everything begins to tie together. I mean, yeah, it's a bit depressing, I guess, if you leave the characters as they are at the end of the first playthrough. Also: there's much more than "cosmetic" value to the radio - it's used to discovering collectibles (necessary for getting The Full Story), and you can tune into all manner of weirdness that the game never tells you to. Just twist the dial and see what comes out. Sometimes it's sweet; sometimes, anything but.
(Not to be That Guy but, yeah. Sounds like we had wildly different experiences. I enjoyed this game a lot more now, studying it closer, than I did with a more cursory playthrough last year. It benefits from being that bit more invested and taking the time to go slow, find every little story element, and then weave the lot together.)
I played through the story a few times, the biggest difference regarding the story you know what it is but I can't say it without spoiling everything. It's related to what you do with you-know-who. You can feel a bit bad or not about your decisions or, more accurately, reactions. That's it. Everything else is just average and random.
You might be right about the radio, there might be "things" I haven't dialed, but most results I got were unimpressive. It's not that I think the game is bad, but it's not that good either. It sounds harsh but as a game is mediocre, and I love horror games and films and don't need action or blood to "enjoy" a horror game.
I do know the reasons and forces that are "behind" the events.
Man I am addicted to this game on the Xbox one (it was free for the month) and I was thinking 'they should bring this game to the switch to play it on the go.... And in short bursts' and the other day I saw it! I'll definitely be buying it and playing it for the Switch, I didn't get far but I am liking what has happened so far. So mysterious
I’ll be waiting until this has its price slashed significantly - in reality I’ll probably never buy it. I don’t have the attention span for a game like this. It is pretty though.
Yeah, the Stranger Things allusion cements this for me. I will go in fully aware I'll be bored by the gameplay, however, but that's something I'm willing to endure every now and then in name of a great story (hey there, Night in the Woods).
Had this on my «to buy list» for the PS4 for the longest time, but removed it from said list for one reason or another (can’t remember why, exactly).
Sounds cool. Ive always seen it in the app store but the art style of the characters turned me off a bit. I'm gonna get it now that I understand what's really going on. Good review.
Sounds creepy! It’s free on XBL at the moment so I’ll try it there, but this sounds like a creepy good addition to the Switch catalogue as well.
This game should be titled 'An American Corpse Party + Eternal Darkness', good for Halloween.
Just went through the first playthrough and about a quarter of the way through the second and this new run is vastly different and I love how everything ties in from the first. Very creepy & atmospheric. The story was definitely original in the landscape of video games and it's just a really well made game all throughout. I have to disagree strongly with a few people here. It had me hooked all the way through and I couldn't wait to find out what happens the more I played. Depressing most definitely comes to mind but hopefully this second playthrough comes to fruition in a less depressing manner lol.
@TossedLlama Yes, both Oxenfree and Gone Home are currently available for free with Xbox Gold.
Does this run at 60 fps? I wish there was a website that listed frame rates for all games! No one anywhere posted Metroid Samus Returns' framerate. I bought Overcooked on PS4 before I found out it tops out at 30 fps. I just want to know!
You guys really need to chill out with the inflated review scores.
Tried it on Xbox One (for free, thanks to MS actually understanding how the modern gaming industry works) and found it kinda meh.
@TossedLlama MS for the win.
@BlueOcean I don’t normally do this but I couldn’t help myself because you said it at least twice - The word you’re saying...... is ‘especially’.... not ... specially. ... damn..I feel better now!
@BlueOcean Thanks for the pointers. Like all things, games are subjective and I guess I'll just need to play it to decide for myself. Might be this month, might wait for a discount. Plenty to play at the moment in any case.
@FTL Sorry for messing up with those words.
@Lroy No problem, just don't expect a horror game because, honestly, it is not.
@BlueOcean Just couldn’t help mentioning it - I’ve seen far worse don’t worry
vocabulary.com gives some good examples of the differences.
I’m ‘especially’ good with vocabulary.
I’ve been ‘specially’ trained in writing.
@FTL To be honest, sometimes I don't pay enough attention, when I read that paragraph again the thing that annoyed me the most was that I was repeating the same adverb. So, thanks for that and feel free to correct me anytime.
The conversation everyone is having right now reminds me of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. It wasn't the scariest game ever but the story made more sense the more you played. If you combined the various endings you would get a better understanding of the main character as a whole.
@gatorboi352 Guy, singular. Just my verdict, this - and it's an easy 9 for me, in the current climate for narrative games. For comparison, the new Life is Strange, that's an easy 6. Edith Finch? A 9. Everything that's come out of Telltale since The Wolf Among Us: 5, mostly.
@brandonbwii I have Shattered Memories on Wii. As I said yesterday, I don't need blood or action in a game. Oxenfree can't hold a candle to Silent Hill Shattered Memories. Oxenfree is superficial, hollow and light compared to Shattered Memories. The impact that the latter makes on the player is massively bigger. Shattered Memories is not only a survival horror game but also a psychological horror game and a good game. Oxenfree is none of these three things but a short supernatural story where you are given a few reaction choices regarding a teenager's tragedy.
I bought this game yesterday and played for about an hour and its really good. When I finish work I'm going straight to it its starts getting creepy pretty fast and the way the dialogue works is very fresh in my opinion. There's always tension and quick thinking while conversing. At least as far as I've played. I was glued to my ipod touch after buying it.
This is £3.99 right now, so definitely buying it
@vswil did you pay £3.99?
Just reading this review to judge a purchase. It's on sale at 75% off. For £3.99 this looks like a great purchase. Will give it a go.
Yep, can't turn this down for £3.99. Bargain.
I picked this up for £3.99 and was initially left underwhelmed on my first play-through. I read the new game+ was better, so figured I'd give it another shot. It was definitely an improvement on the first time around, but I still don't feel it was worth the extra time ultimately.
The story and characters were the main problems for me, weak and unlikable, respectfully. Also, the two endings I got weren't dramatically different from one another, which was disappointing. The game has some distracting slowdown that is fairly frequent throughout. The OST and sound effects are great though, and that's really where the game's atmosphere lies.
At £3.99 I can't complain too much, but had I payed full price I would have been pretty annoyed.
@PinkSpider I paid like $9.99 almost double
Got this at 75% off and just started getting into it this week. Beautiful game. Love the atmosphere and voice acting and music.
I just completed OxenFree and my first thought was to post on here. This game is worth every penny. I got it 75% off and it was an excellent purchase. For what is effectively a walking simulator, the voice acting, music, eerie tone and dialogue options are superb. I found myself changing the way I approached the game as time went by as I wanted the best for the character which really struck me as a finished the latter stages. Give it a go!
Just bought on sale and used my gold points, so have only paid £1.80. Bargain. Can't play until tomorrow though
I just finished playing through this game (the first time), it was fantastic. The writing and voice acting was really good and felt realistic. I enjoyed the atmosphere. Recommended to listen to with headphones if you're playing on the go. The music was good too
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