In OXENFREE, that thing is walking and talking at the same time. Once in a while, a game comes along that does something that works so well for the genre that it makes me wonder why I haven’t seen it done before and wish that other games will follow suit. The main source of entertainment while you’re walking is the dialogue. But luckily the environments are a treat to look at and there’s plenty to keep you occupied while you walk from location to location. I have a terrible sense of direction, so I’m sure that played a part in it. On my first play-through I got lost quite a bit, despite glancing at the map frequently. But I’ll talk more about that later.Įdwards Island is fairly small but can feel bigger when you’re walking around on it. If you race through the game, you can actually miss quite a bit of the extras and even some of the main story and wind up a little confused at the end. As you play, you’ll be able to tune it to hear all sorts of stuff, some necessary to continue and others optional.
It’s useful for tuning in to the island’s radio station to learn about its history near certain landmarks, but it actually serves a much bigger purpose. To use the radio, you just tap the icon in the upper right corner and then swipe left or right to change the station. This can be talking to someone, inspecting an item, or continuing to the next area. There are white circles that indicate interactive spots and if you get near one, the option to interact will pop up. The controls are streamlined for touch screens, with either tap-to-move or tap-and-hold to lead Alex where you want her to go. You play as Alex, a blue-haired girl who is pretty good with radios and brought one with her. As you might guess, some weird things happen as they’re alone on this island, but I’ll let you discover that for yourself. They’ve also never spent the night until now. What I can tell you is that the story follows a small group of friends just about college age taking a trip to Edwards Island, a place some of them used to frequent as kids but never together as a group. But luckily, there’s plenty to discuss without spoiling that. I don’t want to say too much about the plot because that will ruin all the fun. But it ended up being one of the most enjoyable narrative, point-and-click adventures I’ve experienced in a long time. I had just come off a few dialogue-heavy games that I wasn’t enjoying and I was nervous about starting another one, especially if it was going to rush me. So when the game surprised me with an iOS release, I have to admit I hesitated just a bit before buying it again. With a mouse, this felt rushed and I wasn’t compelled to continue playing it just then. It starts off with lots of dialogue and my character, Alex, offered me three speech bubbles to pick from, which disappeared if I didn’t choose quickly. And from those first few minutes, I was actually a little worried I might not like it. I only booted it up to test the connection between my laptop and my new TV. Since there was no word on that ever happening, I grabbed it for my PC during a holiday sale, knowing full well I may never get to it because I don’t like playing games on my PC. I didn’t want to be spoiled, so I only learned enough about it to think that it looked like something that would play perfectly on an iPad. Night School Studio’s OXENFREE has been on my radar since it released on PC and consoles last year to accolades from both the press and players alike.