Taking a look at the credits the name Erin Yvette stood out to me. You are a group of friends talking things over. Sure, the characters are informing you of where to go, and what to do next, but you never get a nagging feeling you’ve just been given a quest you must follow. It’s hard to describe the dialogue style used other than saying it’s always in the ballpark of phrases an actual human would say. It is a very active game, and, because of the constant chatter, you get the feeling anything can happen at any time. The constant chatter ranges from meaningful monologues to meaningless back and forth banter. The game is packed with spoken dialogue with great conversational flow. It’s not a huge difference but it is the key change that sets the game apart from its peers. Oxenfree succeeds at letting its players experience the story as it develops – rather than forcing them to continually ruminate in an effort to force the best outcome for all involved. As a result more natural choices can be made. The snappy dialogue comes quick and fast, with players forced into instinctive split second decisions. Whilst other games shine a light on choices – with timers and tense music – Oxenfree lets players make decisions naturally. What sets Oxenfree apart is the effort made to uncomplicate the act of decision making. As is the norm for the continually developing genre Oxenfree’s story leads down a set path offering players important choices along the way. Despite it’s 2D presentation I feel it has more in common with the newer takes on the genre (that rose to prominence earlier this decade), than the Lucasarts and Sierra classics that wowed during the 90s. Oxenfree is best described as an Adventure game. Much time is spent laying groundwork, and characters are allowed to flesh out their roles, letting you grow to care about their existence, before the bad stuff happens. It is more akin to an episode of your favourite supernatural drama than something you’d see on the big screen. Whereas Until Dawn reveled in the tropes of slasher horror Oxenfree goes down a story-driven supernatural route. Once you dig a bit deeper the differences between the two grows more apparent not just conceptually but in terms of content too. Predictably, neither outing goes as planned. The core premise of the two is much the same – both seeing a group of young adults congregate in an idyllic location with a fervent belief nothing could possibly go wrong. Oxenfree is very much of a kindred soul to 2015’s Until Dawn.
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