You can accept it to a degree after all, the character development up until the has been so strong that you could argue Oxenfree has earned its late-game indulgence. The narrative progression moves along so nicely for so long, so it’s unfortunate that Oxenfree’s plot sadly begins to unravel as the game enters the home straight, losing its winning focus on character to push the island’s mystery more forcefully. The story gathers pace in a very slow, methodical manner, teasing out the weirdness incrementally and never relying on cheap shocks and scares to deliver its supernatural elements. This conversation system feels quite inspired in the realm of games, and it’s why the interaction between the characters feels so natural. You can also amusingly cut people off mid sentence. Conversations flow naturally and if you don’t reply in time the chat continues unabated. You’re given a selection of up to three options to respond with and rather than pause the action until you’ve answered. There’s the odd puzzle-mainly involving tuning into radio frequencies-and a bit of clambering about, but the meat of Oxenfree is in its conversation system. You will spend the majority of your time having conversations about life beyond the island, as well as the events occurring on it. The art style is suitably gloomy and has a cartoonish painting vibe to it that gives the characters very defined looks, helping them to each look memorable enough to match their sharply-written dialogue. Oxenfree is presented as a two-dimensional adventure game that heavily focuses on the narrative, while feeding in the odd soft puzzle to switch things up. From here, the story becomes just as much a supernatural mystery as it does a teen drama. Up to this point, Oxenfree has the same teen indie film vibe as Life is Strange and it wears its influences on its sleeve (I won’t mention them because it’ll spoil the story), but things take a turn for the strange soon after you all sit around a firepit on the beach and have an awkward truth or dare session. As good as Life is Strange was at depicting some of the hardships of teenage life, it never came across as fluently in the dialogue. It was just well-written, well-voiced, and most importantly, believable. What made it even more effective was that they didn’t have to do anything dramatic or flamboyant in order to get there. I was more interested in the lives of these three teenagers after spending mere minutes in their company than countless other character-driven games manage in their entirety. It sets the scene perfectly by engaging you in these characters’ basic personality traits without heavily overselling it. It was the dialogue between three of the characters aboard a boat in Oxenfree’s opening that sold me on it.
Rocket League does it by showcasing its deceptively simple fun side immediately games like Fez show you how they subvert the norm and games like Oxenfree let their story do the talking. Having to rely on hitting you with that initial hook early so it can capture your attention quickly. The indie movement has been a difference maker in this regard. As titles become bigger, with more moving parts, it often takes longer to get to the selling point, the hook, the talking point. I’ve found that in gaming’s current era, having a game almost instantly captivate you is an increasingly rare phenomenon.
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