Hello once again and welcome to Discussion: [indie game] (spoilers!), a series with a title that should be self-explanatory but which still prompts me to attempt further elaboration at the top of each and every piece.

If you like fairly rambling discussions about indie adventures with a story, you’re in the right place. Be careful, though, there are spoilers, so you might want to check out the game first.

Today’s item under consideration is Oxenfree, developed by Night School Studios, and released in 2016.

You are Alex, one of a group of teenagers taking an evening trip to Edwards Island, a local site of historical interest and venue for the annual illicit party of school leavers.

This year’s gathering, as it turns out, isn’t so well attended, and the kids instead choose to investigate rumours of spooky goings on, a decision which has… consequences.

Here’s a trailer:

Other than giving Oxenfree a broad recommendation, that’s all we want to say for now.

Here’s your ***FINAL SPOILER WARNING*** for the discussion below.

 

Talky, clicky, walky

Rik: So this one was your choice, I believe! And you had played it before.

Jo: It was! And yes, I played it a few years ago. Well, 2/3 years ago.

Rik: It was released in 2016, which I consider new in game terms but also a million years ago in all other respects. Any particular reasons for your choice?

Jo: I think it had been on my list to cover, but didn’t fit into the walking sim category, and I had fond memories of playing it. It’s a bit more talky, clicky, walky than, say, Neo Cab. But possibly more in that arena than the likes of Gone Home etc.

Rik: I think I had it down as more of a point and click adventure than it ended up being.

Jo: Yeah, there aren’t any inventory object puzzles which is possibly where it differs from point and click, but it’s got a very similar feel to it.

Rik: I prefer to go in cold with games in this series. Not that I think small details will spoil things necessarily, but even if I read about a game, or see a trailer, I kind of don’t become fully engaged in what it is until I actually get into playing it myself.

Jo: Yeah, I think I would say the same. I just want to know enough to be intrigued and then go in from there.

Rik: I read reviews or news pieces, think ‘oh, that might be good’, then forget about it all until I play the game. At the end of which I then obsessively seek out coverage.

Jo: Had you seen anything about Oxenfree before it made it onto the list?

Rik: No, just general applause and indie vibes. I think I got it free from GOG. They occasionally throw in free games during the sales if you sign up to their newsletter.

Jo: Oooh – good to know.

Rik: Which obviously means I get thousands of e-mails about sales. But, y’know, free game. The only cost is your SOUL!

Jo: Personal data pls… om nom …

Rik: Indeed. I guess I maybe knew that it involved teenage kids, and had a possible Spielberg/Goonies vibe.

Jo: Yeah it does. I like the whole idea of going to an uninhabited island while no-one else is there.

Rik: ‘Kids hatch daft plot that will almost certainly go wrong’. As a nerdy teenager, though, I definitely wouldn’t have liked their plan. I would have been forced to go, or not invited in the first place.

Jo: Oh no, me neither. I just like the idea. The setup is more that it’s a graduation-type tradition?

Rik: Yeah, so loads of people are meant to go, but then for various reasons, it ends up being just five.

Jo: Yes.

Rik: You get the impression there’s a ‘core three’, with your character, Alex, in a bit of a tug of war with your neighbour/friend Ren and new stepbrother Jonas. They’re doing the awkward, ‘hey we’re all friends here’ type stuff, but Ren is sort of trying to impress and/or not look too threatened by Jonas.

Jo: And it’s made additionally awkward by the fact Alex and Jonas have only just met.

Rik: It does all of that stuff very well, I think.

Jo: Yeah, me too.

Rik: It’s all fine at the start but you figure something will happen to open up some of those cracks. And it does! Then there are two other characters already on the island: Clarissa, who used to date Alex’s brother, and Nona, who Ren fancies. (Also I think it’s established fairly early on that Alex’s brother, Michael, died, which contributes to the weird atmosphere between her and Clarissa).

Jo: From the very beginning you can choose how you’re going to be from the dialogue choices. Like, are you going to be diplomatic or a complete dick to everyone, always?

Rik: It’s a system that takes some getting used to. It hits you with the choices quite quickly, and they come fairly thick and fast after that. You don’t have much time to choose, and sometimes you end up interrupting other dialogue.

Jo: I struggled with that. The first time I played, I actually googled it ‘cos I thought it was a bug.

Rik: You move Alex around with the keys but then have to click dialogue choices at the same time.

Jo: I read somewhere that the dialogue is designed to be more like how teenagers talk… and how conversations go just generally. Like, people don’t wait for others to finish, and conversations do wander. But that did make it hard to follow at various points. Like, sometimes I’d accidentally interrupt someone and then wonder what they were going to say.

Rik: It takes some getting used to. Also, you realise that saying nothing is an option, and also not every choice is crucial. Sometimes they are, but it’s more about a pattern of how you behave towards others.

Jo: Yeah.

Rik: Those core ingredients – kids, basic set up, dialogue system, going to an island (bad idea) are all covered pretty quickly.

Jo: Also the characters, and their relationships, too. Just straight off the bat, you get a feel for each of them.

Rik: Yeah, Ren/Jonas we’ve mentioned. Ren is kind of the nerdy neighbourhood kid, while Jonas is more of a bad boy (although not really).

Jo: Jonas seems to have something of a reputation that isn’t really accurate – you get the feeling the bad boy thing is more hearsay.

Rik: Clarissa is the cool, popular girl with attitude, Nona her quiet friend…

Jo: Nona is kind of arty…

Rik: This is an extremely relevant and contemporary reference, but I pictured her as the friend of Peppermint Patty in Peanuts. You know, the one who calls her ‘sir’?

Jo: Hahaha! Marcie?

Rik: Marcie, yeah! So you sort of get a flavour of them all, but then with the ‘party’ being a bust, they kind of go off in different directions. The girls stay on the beach, and Ren wants to show you the weird island stuff that he’s heard about.

Jo: I got the impression that it’s Ren who has organised the trip and rallied together a team of less enthusiastic people, who don’t really get on, and things seem to fall apart before they even get started. But regardless, he’s quite keen on witnessing this fabled creepy stuff in the caves.

Rik: And then Ren starts having his space brownies too. Which gave me flashbacks to being the deeply uncool member of the group stressed out by a friend deciding to do something mildly dangerous. That feeling of, oh great, he’s brought some weed brownies, can he handle it, do I have to deal with him if he can’t, no of course I’m not going to try one, etc.

Jo: Yeah, and you get the sense that Alex is the more responsible one of the two.

 

Is. Leave. Possible?

Jo: I quite like the whole back story of Edwards Island – that it’s part of the town’s history, and the kids wrote papers about it at school. By day it’s just a nice place to go and sit on the beach, it’s become a bit of a tourist attraction – or tried to be at one point – but then it closes at the end of the day, and no one goes there.

Rik: It’s also more plausible than, and not as annoying as, ‘let’s go to this spooky island for some ghostly antics’.

Jo: Yeah, exactly. There’s more to it than just going to creepy island for the sake of it. It’s more about going when no one’s there, to sit on the beach and have a last hurrah before school ends. But there does happen to be this sort of urban legend type story about mysterious goings on in the caves.

Rik: Which become the focus after the party is a bust.

Jo: I mean, they seem to fall out before anyone’s even finished their first drink – mainly because Clarissa and Alex don’t get on.

Rik: Clarissa decides to bring up Michael, which sours things.

Jo: So off we go to investigate the caves.

Rik: It’s a slightly clunky way of introducing the radio…

Jo: Yeah, there’s that bit on the boat, isn’t there – where Ren tells you to tune in to the school radio station?

Rik: Yeah, that’s the first slightly dubious explanation for bringing and using the radio. But I was thinking of in the caves, where he’s like, go over there and use the radio, now over here etc.

Jo: Oh, yeah with the stacks of rocks.

Rik: Then when weird stuff happens, he can’t even be bothered to go and investigate! I blame the space cakes.

Jo: I know! But it turns out Jonas is more than happy to go crawling around in there.

Rik: There’s big drama fairly early on. It’s not like creepy stuff happens gradually: you go in the cave and it gets weird, then you can’t get out.

Jo: You definitely get the feeling that nothing good is going to come of crawling into that cave. Jonas is up for further exploration, and at this point you sort of get the option to turn back rather than follow him further into the cave…

Rik: But even if you persuade Jonas to leave, the entrance is sealed.

Jo: So you have to go further in to try and get out again. And that’s when things start to get really strange.

Rik: The radio makes spooky noises and triangles.

Jo: Yes, triangles that talk. ‘Is. Leave. Possible?’ has now become one of my sayings.

Rik: At work? IS [ANNUAL] LEAVE POSSIBLE?

Jo: Hahaha! Maybe I should try it in my next performance review… So, the triangle goes a bit weird after you talk to it and spits out Alex and Jonas elsewhere on the island. And you’ve now got to figure out what happened, and where the heck everyone else is.

Rik: It turns out it’s messed everyone else up too. Although it is sort of set out what you should do next: there’s a choice between trying to find Ren or Clarissa first.

Jo: Who did you pick?

Rik: Ren, obv!

Jo: Me too. Though I think on my second go, I just didn’t say anything in that part of the conversation… And still went to get Ren. (In my second go, I was trying to be more horrible…)

Rik: Yeah, that was my general strategy too: be nice first, then horrible just to see what happens!

Jo: Just going back to the radio thing again, because at this point you’re at the communications tower on the island, you start to learn that the island has a bit of a history with radios, plus there’s an island tour you can listen to at various points, by tuning in to a certain frequency.

Rik: I must admit I forgot about the history tour after a while. There are notice boards near certain buildings and landmarks, right?

Jo: Yeah, there are plaques by landmarks, and if you tune in to a certain frequency, you get a bit of explanation about them. But there’s also this whole history on the island with radios, with the military, and the radio-controlled locks. So I think there could have been slightly more interesting reason for Alex to bring a radio. Like maybe you could have picked one up off the boat to listen to the tour or something?

Rik: I guess that’s not why they’re going to the island really.

Jo: No, but the boat is to ferry tourists, so maybe they have them on board for people to take with them?

Rik: The explanation that’s given is a bit woolly.

Jo: Is it also implied that Alex has some kind of technical knowledge?

Rik: It’s implied but not really expanded upon.

Jo: Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is radios are kind of a big deal on the island, and I think possibly the two could have been connected slightly better.

Rik: Agree. I mean, do kids even have radios these days, or know what they are?

Jo: They don’t even have iPods!

Rik: The whole ‘lack of phone signal’ gets around lots of things here, although they do take selfies at various points.

Jo: Yes, and you can look at them from the menu, although I can’t say I’m really sure what the purpose of the photos are. Do they change depending on what choices you make?

Rik: I think possibly you can refuse to be in some? (But honestly not sure).

 

See you on the other side (of the screen)

Rik: It was at this stage I started thinking about a traditional adventure, and how different Oxenfree would be if it was one. I think possibly I was surprised how much it felt a bit like a 2D walking sim. Like, go here next, and there’ll be a conversation on the way. I guess my mind kept imagining a zoom out, Monkey Island style, or even to the map that you do have.

Jo: Oh yeah, I can see how that would work.

Rik: And then you would have a bit more freedom to approach what you do next. Not that I necessarily wanted that, but it sort of felt like a possible alternative.

Jo: Possibly, that’s my main bugbear with it. It almost gives the illusion that you can wander anywhere, as long as ultimately you do the next ‘task’ that moves the story on, but you can’t really.

Rik: You need to have the ‘next’ conversation with your companion. Which is why it felt more like a walking sim to me.

Jo: I was always in some kind of dilemma as to whether I should break off from the task at hand to explore other parts of the map, or just block it out and go with the flow.

Rik: I didn’t find it as interesting to wander around a 2D level, there’s not the same sense of exploration.

Jo: No, it’s a bit boring from that perspective.

Rik: Plus, there are occasional jumping bits, for some reason? Almost as if, because it looks a bit like a platform game, it needs to have a few jumps?

Jo: I found the mouse/keyboard controls a bit clunky, particularly where the jumping/climbing is concerned.

Rik: It feels unnecessarily ponderous at times.

Jo: Yeah, I agree. You can kind of forgive that more in the walking sims…

Rik: I mean, it’s a nice looking game, but not an especially interesting place to explore, I don’t think.

Jo: I enjoyed wandering through the woods in Firewatch, or through the house in Gone Home, but with something like this you’re just like ‘get to the frickin’ other side of the screen!’ It is very lovely, visually, but not interesting to spend 2 – 3 minutes watching Alex slowly walk up a winding path to the top of some cliffs. I guess, those long paths sort of work ok while ever two characters are in conversation, but otherwise it’s a bit long-winded.

Rik: I had some ‘get on with it’ moments, which isn’t like me really.

Jo: Yeah, same here. Even if there had been a sort of ‘double-click to run’ option, I think I would have preferred it.

Rik: Exactly.

Jo: Was there anything else that made you feel point and click adventure-y?

Rik: I think the thought just got into my head: how it could have been done that way and how it might have been different. Maybe even with a Maniac Mansion style switching between characters feature.

Jo: Oh yeah, that could have worked.

Rik: Anyway, I wasn’t obsessed with it, it just kept coming back to me at various points. I possibly had the idea it would be more different from other games we’ve played than it was.

Jo: Yeah, I know what you mean. I had the same thought about the Monkey Island type map.

Rik: When I actually had to do something, or deal with the time loop, it felt weird to not just be blindly directing your character to walk across the screen. When time keeps looping, I was like, am I meant to try something different here, or will it just do what it’s going to do regardless?

Jo: Yeah, I don’t think I worked that one out even after repeat plays.

Rik: There’s not a lot to interact with generally, but occasionally you do have to do something. Otherwise it’s mainly using the radio.

Jo: No, it’s mainly, walking, dialogue choices, radio. There’s a sort of puzzle with the ‘anomalies’ in that whenever you spot a pile of rocks elsewhere on the map, you tune in the radio and it gives you some dialogue, but I don’t know what, if anything, it relates to.

Rik: I must admit that I didn’t feel motivated to really explore extras here for some reason. There are the [deceased last island resident Maggie] Adler letters which I found it hard to really care about. And I didn’t do the tour bits or look out for other goodies.

Jo: The Adler letters were what really threw me off. By the time you’re done at the Adler House, you’ve got another task, which is to go to Catbird station in the woods. But the Adler letters quest thing suggests you need to go back, all over the island, to find the letters. On the one hand, it suggests you can go wherever as long as you make it to the Catbird station eventually (to allow the main story to continue), but actually, you can’t.

Rik: Oh really? I just focused on what the kids were supposed to be doing next, which is basically trying to find various ways to get off the island, and find each other.

Jo: I think that’s the better way to play it. I kept finding that – it gave you the impression you could go wherever, but then some paths would be blocked off. Like, early on in the game, you use that bridge ferry to go to the Campgrounds, but then you can’t go back on it because it’s broken after you use it. But then later, you can use it again. There were other points where you just can’t go back from where you just came from, but didn’t seem to have any reason why.

Rik: I wasn’t motivated to explore much. Which sounds negative. But it was more like, oh, okay, so we’re mainly along for the ride and making choices, and I’m into that too.

Jo: I think just sticking to the main story is the best way to play it, because I can’t say that the anomalies or the Adler letters really added much, and just kind of upset the general flow of the game. You know me, I like exploring and trying to find absolutely everything out so I have all the details.

Rik: I think I was keen to see if there were different outcomes and things based on the narrative choices you made. And there are, despite what negative reviews say.

Jo: I had totally forgotten about the ‘choices matter’ thing, I don’t know why. It was only after I got to the end of my first playthrough, and it gave a load of stats about my choices that I realised.

Rik: I think, as we were saying, there are so many dialogue choices, they can’t all mean a totally different game. But that’s not to say you can’t steer things in different directions.

Jo: Yeah, you have more options than possibly it first seems.

Rik: There’s one obvious BIG CHOICE. Which is the ‘sacrifice Clarissa’ dilemma.

Jo: I still managed to save Clarissa during my second go, despite trying to bin her off to the ghosties.

Rik: I binned her off the second time.

 

Conversations with ghosties

Rik: I mean, we’ve been a bit negative, but it’s worth saying again how good the dialogue between the characters is. The casual cruelty of teenagers masking hurt and vulnerability. Like, Clarissa is a bitch to Alex, but she’s also a young person who’s experienced loss.

Jo: The characters are all very well realised, you have a good sense of who everyone is straight off the bat, and their dynamic. And while the dialogue takes a bit of getting used to with the interruptions, etc. it’s all pretty natural.

Rik: Even though Alex is a quite level character as written, I wondered if as a teenager the more natural thing to do would be to take the selfish and horrible course of action and then regret it later.

Jo: Yes, absolutely. Especially if you were really scared.

Rik: Another thought I had: did the ghost people make Clarissa more horrible so Alex would be more likely to sacrifice her?

Jo: She was pretty mean before the ghosts got her.

Rik: Yeah, you’re right. But with all of the time-jumping stuff, I wondered if it was possible that she wasn’t herself even before you fiddle with things?

Jo: That’s a good point… Because I suppose she and Nona are already on the island by the time Alex, Jonas and Ren get there.

Rik: There’s that moment where she’s suddenly having a go at you and blaming you for your brother’s death. I wondered if that was real or not.

Jo: Yes… but they also talk about that later, even though it looks, and feels, like a time loop thingy.

Rik: I guess it’s not even a fully formed theory… but did they perhaps possess Clarissa first so you’d be more likely to say yes to their proposal?

Jo: Potentially. Though, is their aim to take all of them?

Rik: Well, I suppose I should say at this point that I didn’t follow the conversations with the weird ghosties very well the first time. But yeah, that does seem to be their aim. Although then why do they make the offer to you [to sacrifice Clarissa and save the others]? You’re not really sure what they can and can’t do. They bluff you about not being able to change anything, but panic when you try.

Jo: It’s actually really hard to tell who they are and what they want. I think that’s why I went after all the extra bits, and I guess it sheds a bit of extra light, but not much. They feel robbed of their time, and want to come back.

Rik: No, I didn’t follow any of that so well. First time, I didn’t really get the stuff about the ghosts being lost souls from the submarine. [Wiki: ‘scattered letters left behind by Maggie Adler reveal that Adler mistakenly interpreted scrambled messages from Kanaloa as an enemy transmission, and the submarine was sunk by friendly fire. The crew was not killed, but transported to another dimension due to the sub’s experimental nuclear reactor. Adler and her friend Anna had attempted to communicate with the Kanaloa crew via a radio, but Anna was absorbed through the rift. The Kanaloa crew intend on using Alex and her friends’ bodies to escape the dimension, keeping them on the island long enough for their possession attempts to be successful.’]

Jo: No, I don’t think I got all that either. The letters explain that Maggie misinterprets the message and then brings Anna on board, but I don’t think I understood – even with the letters – that they got transported to another dimension…

Rik: I think I got the gist, but didn’t take it all in. I saw it all more in the context of, the radio makes weird stuff happen, any time you’re in trouble, use the radio. And try and get off this island!

Jo: The radio is all you really have, so when the other characters are like ‘can’t you do something’ all you can do is tune the radio until something happens.

Rik: Yep, I’ll do the only thing I can in the game!

Jo: I quite liked how Alex would be like ‘is this even helping?!’

Rik: Yeah.

Jo: I also liked learning about the history of the island, and the military base, and how they were trying to make it touristy.

Rik: I wondered if they could have done more of that in flashback with Michael.

Jo: Yeah, possibly. I think the flashbacks were a good way of looking into Alex’s relationship with Michael (and Clarissa) before he passed away. It was quite interesting to see the island by day – that people just went there for something to do.

Rik: Yeah, that’s why I thought there could have been more island stuff in flashback under those circumstances, not when you’re trying to leave in a panic.

Jo: Yeah.

Rik: You have that weird experience of Clarissa trying to be nice to you. And you wonder, is this her being fake, or was she actually nice once? And do you be horrible to past Clarissa because of what future Clarissa is doing?

Jo: Did they actually get on ok or was she just being nice because it was important to Michael?

Rik: You can’t tell, like you can’t tell whether she only hates you now because Michael died while he was with you.

Jo: I thought there might have been a flashback to that, to the last time they were together.

Rik: In a way I was glad there wasn’t. I was surprised that Michael can be saved though.

Jo: Yeah, I was! Is it just by being routinely horrible to Jonas?

Rik: It’s by telling Michael not to leave the area after graduating, I think. (Although I thought it was by telling him *to* leave, which is why I failed again second time around).

Jo: I thought I just had to be horrible to Jonas.

Rik: Saving Michael isn’t something highlighted as a possibility by finishing the game once, i.e. in all the pie charts showing who made the same choices as you. Although that does show you some other options, if you hadn’t figured it out yourself. You can be more horrible to Ren, encourage Ren and Nona to get together (or not)…

Jo: I was horrible to everyone second time around. But not horrible enough to get the achievement!

Rik: You can apparently keep Michael alive either with or without his relationship with Clarissa also surviving. But I *think* time keeps looping regardless? Even if you warn Alex and the others not to go to the island, it’s only a version of them that doesn’t go.

Jo: Can you warn them not to go?

Rik: Yeah, so in your second playthrough, there should be a few opportunities to contact your past self. If you do it, then there’s an epilogue where the guys are planning to go to the island but then Alex hears herself through the radio, and they go get pizza instead. (Although what happens to Nona and Clarissa in this scenario, I don’t know).

Jo: Really?! Huh, I did not know there were all these variables.

Rik: The number of choices in the game overall makes you think you don’t affect much, when actually there are quite a few different endings.

Jo: Hmmm. As I said, I’d forgotten about the potential for making different choices until the end, when I saw all those pie charts.

Rik: So you didn’t see that epilogue at all then?

Jo: No, neither time.

Rik: It’s only possible the second time. Did you get a slightly different game when you restarted, with Alex occasionally realising that she’s done it all before?

Jo: No, perhaps that’s where I went wrong. I finished first time, and then just quit.

Rik: You definitely need to finish once then start again and ‘Continue Timeline’ But I don’t think you have to do it immediately?

Jo: I had noticed the ‘Continue Timeline’ thing, and then clicked it. They were back on the boat, with a slight nod to the fact they’ve done this before, but then it just continues.

Rik: Although even if you get the epilogue, you still have the option a third time to play again which seems to imply the loop isn’t closed?

Jo: Hrmmm. Maybe I need to give it another go?!

Rik: Or just watch that bit on YouTube. I think it’s perhaps a bit on the long side and slightly more of a pain to play again than other narrative games with choices that we’ve covered. Mind you, I played it twice with no worries. But even though I know there are things I haven’t done, three is a bit much.

Jo: I think I could probably do it quicker a third time, without trying to do all the extra bits.

 

Creepy Triangles

Rik: I think I’ve probably ticked off most of what I wanted to say, except maybe that we haven’t mentioned the spookiness of it all, which is really effective.

Jo: The first time I played I was really jumpy! And the creepiness made me quite tentative in where I went and what I did.

Rik: It’s not really scary, but it’s got a few jumps and surprises, and the graphics and sound really come into their own at those moments.

Jo: I really like the visual style – almost looks hand-painted in places. And I also loved the music – reminded me a bit of Boards of Canada.

Rik: I now find triangles a bit creepy.

Jo: Especially if they talk. IS. LEAVE. POSSIBLE? This and Edith Finch made me wish we lived in proximity to islands we could go visit.

Rik: Not Dear Esther, though?

Jo: Haha, no!

Rik: Was there anything else you wanted to mention? Overall feelings perhaps?

Jo: Overall, I like it a lot. I think the best way to play it is just follow along with the story and not bother with the anomalies and letters, which detract from the main action and general flow of the story.

Rik: Yes, I really liked it. Possibly I’ve given the impression that I didn’t.

Jo: I know, I feel like I’ve been quite negative about it, even though I actually liked it a lot. We can fix in the edit. Just add lots of exclamation marks, that’ll make us sound more positive.

Rik: Yeah!!!!! Great idea!!!! Was there anything else you wanted to mention?

Jo: I don’t think so. There’s a second one coming out at some point, so that will be interesting to play in about 5 years’ time…

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Oxenfree is available on Steam and GOG for around £7.