There are no puzzles or anything to impede the player, just the choices and consequences built into the interplay between Alex and the four other characters. And that witty, interesting back and forth is what’s at the center of Oxenfree. As the group explores the empty island and discovers/unleashes a paranormal terror, they talk. Players step into the shoes of Alex, a teenage girl who is headed to an island for a party with her friends and her new stepbrother, Jonas.

A notable design choice from the onset, the zoomed-out view manages to give the gorgeous painting-esque background more of a focus, and emphasizes the real important aspect of the game, the dialogue choices. So far back in fact, it doesn’t even matter whether the characters mouths are moving when they talk, because you can’t see it one way or another. Oxenfree takes the same narrative adventure genre and approaches it from the other side of the spectrum.Īs non-cinematic as a graphical game likely can be, Oxenfree is a 2D sidescroller in which the camera is pulled far back. On the ‘yes’ side there are the distinctly cinematic games, like the titles Telltale has become known for. Some say yes, while others say no, games should be like games. Once the credits rolled however, it left me wanting more, but, sadly, not in a good way.įor years now there’s been a debate in the world of video games as to whether or not games should try to be like movies. It’s hard not to admire what Oxenfree is trying to do.

Oxenfree game review gamespot