Oxenfree was already a unique video game before Night School Studio brought it to consoles.
Yet, it became even better after that, with the developer adding something called a "Game+ Mode," which keeps players in the game even after it's over, warranting multiple playthroughs. After a player finishes the game, Game+ Mode adds new locations, dialogue options and extensions to the original story. It all works so well together that you'll want to play the game over and over and over just to see what happens.
In a way, that makes it similar to Stories: The Path of Destinies, but in Oxenfree, even when repeating certain behaviors, it never feels that way. Perhaps this is because the characters actually recognize that they've been there before, that they've done certain things and that they've had certain conversations, and that instills a creeping sense of dread in what is, essentially, a horror title.
Oxenfree takes place on a decommissioned military island. A group of teenagers visit the island after hours for a beach party, but things take a more sinister turn after a signal from their radio taps into something strange and supernatural. Weird things start happening, including characters getting stuck in time loops, and through the course of the game, it's up to Alex, the main character, to figure out what's going on and try and put a stop to it once and for all.
Gameplay involves solving a few puzzles, although most of the important stuff happens with dialogue, which begins to change after each playthrough. Alex carries knowledge of previous events each time the game starts again, and begins commenting on how she knows she's been there before, prompting her to try a different angle in saving herself and her friends.
What's wonderful about Oxenfree, though, is that it's probably one of the first games to ever handle this kind of dialogue and choices in dialogue while moving through the game. There are no cut-scenes, and players walk and talk as humans do in the real world. This often means interrupting others' dialogue, and it feels so natural that it really pulls you into the world of Edwards Island.
"The idea for the story and the idea for the mechanics kind of came at the same time, but they were separate," Night School Studio co-founder Sean Krankel said. "The first thing we wanted to do is make a game where communication is really sort of a key mechanic, but that people have more freedom than they do with all the other narrative-focused games. At its core, we wanted to never have a cut scene in the game, where you could walk and move freely and communicate with your friends, and even communicate with other beings and other kind of strange things."
Oxenfree is available now for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. PC players who purchased the game early on now have full access to the title's Game+ Mode. Night School Studio also recently formed a partnership for Oxenfree with Robert Kirkman and David Alpert's Skybound Entertainment to create more multimedia content based on the world seen in the video game.
