But the voice acting is so good that these certain exclusions never detract from the character development. You can’t see any of their facial and body expressions outside of a few minor gestures and movements like headshakes. Oxenfree heavily relies on the cast’s voice work because the characters are quite tiny onscreen. The voice cast - which features the talents of Erin Yvette, Gavin Hammon, Avital Hash, Britanni Johnson, and Aaron Kuban - does a wonderful job of bringing the characters to life. They all play an equally vital role in the game’s plot, and you’ll quickly grow to love and appreciate all five of them. This is where the Freaks and Geeks inspiration stems from. Nona is down-to-earth and a bit shy, and Clarissa is a bully with a huge attitude problem. Jonas is a troubled individual with a dark past. Ren is a total nerd who’s very talkative and has a secret crush on another character. Alex is a sympathetic protagonist who’s trying to cope with her brother’s death and her parents’ divorce. All of the teenagers are nuanced and quirky. The voice acting, writing, and characters are just as great. The whole affair more closely resembled real life than just some dramatic video game moment. However, my relationship with Ren and Jonas deteriorated.

I ignored the two guys and chose Nona instead, and I quickly bonded with her in the process. Ren and Jonas were arguing with each other, trying to persuade me to pick one of them. For example, at one point I had to decide which one of my friends I wanted to take with me to find a certain item on the island. But your choices will still affect the plot in a major way. It’s a little in-your-face, and it’s the polar opposite in Oxenfree.Ĭharacters will continue to talk, you can continue controlling Alex, and the story rolls on. Everything stops before you make a choice in those games, with the camera dramatically panning on your character. The way these choices are presented doesn’t feel overly dramatic or grandiose like it generally does in most Telltale experiences, for example. You have to press either the X, Y, or B button on the Xbox One controller to make your pick or simply choose not to say anything at all. Three dialogue bubbles appear above Alex’s head whenever a choice can be made. It’s very subtle in Oxenfree and feels way more natural than in every other game that employs the same type of mechanic. While the exploring bit isn’t all that special or different from any other adventure game - just move your character around with the analog stick - the way you make dialogue choices definitely is. All you ever do in Oxenfree is explore the island and make dialogue choices.

Alex oxenfree cosplay