Oxenfree (LEAVE. IS. POSSIBLE.) (Gaming)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Sunday, March 19, 2017, 03:14 (2807 days ago)
edited by Ragashingo, Sunday, March 19, 2017, 04:11

So, Oxenfree came out for iOS the other day, and... If you haven't played it, do so. Or at least read cheapLEY's review here. If you have played it before... you know what, let's just jump straight into the spoiler tag...

DO NOT. READ. THIS. SPOILER. UNTIL. YOU. START. CONTINUE TIMELINE.

OK. The game was a nice level of creepy the first time through. I'm only a bit in on the New Game+ "Continue Timeline" version and it's like even better... and 100x as creepy. Alex is remembering things from the previous loop, the ghosts are static-ing in at completely unexpected points. I've been transported a few minutes ahead in the story at least once so far at a completely unexpected time. And Alex got possessed by the ghosts before you take the skyway lift thingy for the first time... which is way earlier than the ghosts could have done that in the original timeline!

I'm still playing through it but man oh man am I on the edge of my seat because I don't know what will happen or when now... even though the basic story feels like its going in mostly the same direction so far.

So, Oxenfree came out for iOS the other day, and... If you haven't played it, do so. Or at least read cheapLEY's... wait... didn't I just say this? Anyway, the game is a fantastic point and click-ish adventure with one of the most satisfying dialogue systems I've ever played with. Instead of being "cutscene" based like Mass Effect or The Witcher 3 or Life Is Strange, you and your friends move and converse in real time and when it's about time for the character you are controlling to speak or respond you get between one and three speech bubbles to tap on.

What's great about it is you can choose. You can not tap a bubble and stay silent and your friends will react to that. You can tap on them at the appropriate time and respond to a comment or questions after the other person finished talking. Or, a lot of the time, you can tap one of the bubbles early and interrupt someone and 90% of the time it changes the flow of the conversation or at least forces the other person to stop talking and hear what you have to say. And your friends will react if you cut them off sometimes. So not only does the game have multiple endings based on what you do and say, even individual conversations have mini-branches depending on both what you say and even when you say it!

And the voice work is good. And the story is very good. I'm having a blast playing this. I still have Mass Effect Andromeda and presumably Destiny 2 to play, but I can't imagine that Oxenfree isn't going to be in my top five games I've played this year.