Oxenfree Review

When I was first asked to write about Oxenfree from Night School Studio I wasn’t too sure what to expect I hadn’t heard too much about it. My first impression was it’s a point and click game, wicked! I loved the likes of broken sword so was very interested in playing this.

Loaded the game and my first impression was WOW this looks great, the visuals reminded me of an animated film I’d expect to see at the cinema, The narrative coming from Ren about Edward Island giving you a little run down about it. You play the part of Alex a blue haired teenage girl, who’s step brother Jonas is also along for the adventure. It isn’t long after you land on the island that all is not what it seems.

The story on this game is fantastic and something I put on not knowing what it really was about. I found the game had me very intrigued and sucked me right in, it made me wanting to know more and play more after 15 mins, I didn’t want to put it down. the Dialogue between the characters is very smooth and the choices you make when answering really do have an effect and make you feel part of the adventure. As the story progresses you start to learn more and more about the characters, also with the use of your FM radio you start to learn more about the island.

The game has a lot of mystery and you feel like you get to know the characters personally, you start to learn about each character’s history. The writer of this game has made sure they have covered all basis and you never left feeling that you don’t know what’s going on.

Once you land on the island you start to move around and take in the surroundings. The story develops and you learn all is not what it seems, after meeting some more friends on Edward Island, you start to explore a cave and it’s here where the game comes into its own and you get the first glimpse of the supernatural goings on.

The game’s atmosphere is fantastic and it has that jumpy feel at times especially when you encounter the supernatural beings, i always compare games of this nature back to F.E.A.R when you encounter the little girl as you’re climbing the ladder ( for the record jumped like anything there ).

Oxenfree is from former staff at Telltale games and Disney and they really work well together. The Script for the game bundled with the choice you make really complement each other.

As Oxenfree is a story based game, I don’t want to spoil the game for anyone as it really is one that will grip you. To start with you do think what’s going on and but after 30 mins you really cannot put it down. I’d recommend this to anyone and it’s reasonable priced too at £15.99 on the Xbox Store
Review copy supplied by Developer, Oxenfree is available now for Xbox One, PC