But even that sort of wish fulfillment comes at a price-bringing back Alex’s brother means that she never met or will know Jonas, her step-brother, who she bonds with over the course of the game (if, as always, the player chooses it). One ending sees Alex’s brother brought back to life, even. Oxenfree offers that wish fulfillment, though, with several different endings to the game. At the beginning of the game, Alex has clearly repressed this past to some extent, casually talking about her brother’s death (if you choose those dialogue options), but parts of the game force her to literally relive moments with her brother, which is more painful than I-with no experience of losing a sibling-can imagine.ĭuring these scenes, Alex seems caught somewhere in between enjoying the time with her brother and regretting that she can’t do more to change the past. Alex’s past and the ghost of what her brother’s future could have been haunts her. Alex’s involvement with time becomes even clearer once the player realizes early in the game that her brother died in a horrific drowning accident before he was supposed to go to college. Alex does receive some new dialogue options in these replayed scenes, mostly variations on “Oh no, we’re stuck in a time loop!” and “It’s happening again!” These limited new options show that Alex is aware of the past and that it influences her future. You can’t really do anything about these time loops, at least not until the game lets you, and you’re forced to relive the same scenes over and over-to the point that I once thought the game was broken.īut really, that’s the whole point. During these scenes, the thing the player feels most is frustration. Certain parts of the game are looped over and over, forcing Alex, and the player, to cycle through the same dialogue options and scenery while the screen becomes more and more distorted, with lines jagged and moving across the screen like an old VHS tape. One major difference in Oxenfree is that Alex can’t control time. There are a few key points this game covers, all of them favorite plot tropes of mine: The very intricate plot that gets slowly revealed over the course of several hours. The meat of this story isn’t the gameplay mechanics or the puzzles-it’s the plot. If this summary seems vague, that’s because it is. The crew begins encountering some spooky things once Alex tunes her radio to a weird frequency and soon Alex begins a quest of self-discovery and memory and healing. The game follows Alex, a high school senior who’s going to a semi-illegal beach party with her best friend Ren, his crush Nona, Alex’s new step-brother Jonas, and Clarissa-whose relationship to the group becomes clearer as the game progresses. The game feels different now in a way that’s hard to explain, but for this post I’m going to try to. Since I first played this game I’ve finished my comprehensive exam, immersed myself in my dissertation, moved, got a new cat, had some personal life changes, etc. A year is a considerable amount of time in some ways. I played the game when it first came out, and loved it, but I’ve recently picked it up again on the Nintendo Switch. Oxenfree, a 2016 game by Night School Studio, released to positive reviews, but quiet fandom about a year ago. I won’t reveal any big plot points beyond the basic premise of the game, and I encourage you to play it to find out what happens for yourself! I will, however, be discussing central themes and mechanics of the game, so if keeping those things secret would make the game more enjoyable for you, save this post for after you finish playing. I want to preface this post with a disclaimer that I’m attempting to be as spoiler free as possible.
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