Oxenfree Walkthrough, Guide, Gameplay, Recap, Reviews and Wiki
by Hemaasri | Updated Jul 19, 2023
Oxenfree walkthrough Guide
To fully complete all the achievements in Oxenfree, you will need to play through the story multiple times, as each playthrough focuses on a different style of interaction. Here are the details for each playthrough type:
1. Friendly Playthrough: This playthrough emphasizes kindness and positive interactions.
2. Mean Playthrough: This playthrough takes a more confrontational and unsympathetic approach. Select rude or "I don't care" dialogue options. Shift blame onto others and refuse to offer assistance.
3. Silent Playthrough: This playthrough focuses on minimal interaction and silence.
Remember to choose the order in which you play these different styles. Additionally, designate one playthrough specifically for collecting achievements related to finding collectibles. By completing all three playthroughs and following the outlined criteria, you will be able to unlock all 13 achievements in Oxenfree.
Oxenfree Characters
Alex (Erin Yvette): A teenager who embarks on a weekend trip to Edwards Island. She is the protagonist of the game and is accompanied by her stoner friend, Ren, and her new stepbrother, Jonas. Alex has a close connection with her deceased brother, Michael.
Ren (Aaron Kuban): Alex's stoner friend who joins her on the trip to Edwards Island. He is known for his carefree personality.
Jonas (Gavin Hammon): Alex's new stepbrother, who accompanies her on the island. He is initially seen as an outsider but forms a bond with Alex throughout the game.
Clarissa (Avital Ash): The ex-girlfriend of Alex's deceased brother, Michael. She joins the group on the island and has a complex relationship with Alex.
Nona (Brittani Johnson): Clarissa's best friend and Ren's love interest. She becomes part of the group and plays a significant role in the unfolding events.
Maggie Adler: The island's only permanent resident who recently passed away. Her presence and actions on the island are discovered through letters and conversations.
The USS Kanaloa Crew: The ghosts of the submarine crew thought to have been lost at sea. They seek to escape the dimension they were transported to and attempt to possess Alex and her friends' bodies to achieve this.
Anna: A friend of Maggie Adler who was absorbed through a rift while attempting to communicate with the Kanaloa crew.
Throughout the game, the characters navigate supernatural events, time loops, and possessive encounters with the ghosts. The choices made by the player determine the relationships and fates of the characters, including the preservation or destruction of friendships, romantic relationships, and the revival of Michael. The game's multiple endings provide varying outcomes for each character and allow for a continuation of the time loop if the player chooses to start a new game with the same save file.
Oxenfree Reviews
Oxenfree garnered positive reviews from critics, with each version of the game receiving "generally favorable" ratings on Metacritic. Wired commended the game for its insightful understanding of the relationship between players and games, considering it an auspicious debut for Night School Studio, the developer.
Destructoid praised Oxenfree for its ability to draw inspiration from classic movies while still establishing its own unique and non-generic identity. The review highlighted the game's heartfelt and special qualities, describing it as one of the best "horror" games in years.The audiovisual presentation of Oxenfree was widely acclaimed by reviewers.
Destructoid referred to the game's watercolor art style as gorgeous, while Electronic Gaming Monthly contrasted Oxenfree's traditional media aesthetics with the prevailing retro pixel art commonly found in indie games. The magazine, among others, emphasized the effective juxtaposition between the serene watercolor visuals of the environment and the eerie, digital effects of the supernatural elements, with Electronic Gaming Monthly deeming it a massive success and Destructoid noting the unsettling impact of the intrusion of digital elements within the otherwise soft visual palette.
The naturalistic dialogue in Oxenfree was regarded as a notable strength. Polygon praised the game for avoiding lazy or clichéd speech, and GameSpot highlighted the evolving interplay between characters as the narrative unfolded. However, IGN expressed mixed feelings, pointing out that certain characters, such as Ren, had dialogue that could be grating or stilted.
However, some reviewers, like VideoGamer.com's Tom Orry, felt that the script occasionally fell short in effectively conveying the characters' realistic panic or distress given their extraordinary circumstances. IGN's reviewer recognized that despite the player's best efforts, some dialogue choices unavoidably strained relationships, emphasizing the game's grounding of supernatural plot points in reality.
Game Informer, however, found the opaque consequences of choices to be occasional hindrances, as the outcomes sometimes felt contrary to expectations. Polygon honored Oxenfree by including it among the best games of the decade.
Oxenfree Recap
Alex, a teenager portrayed by Erin Yvette, embarks on a weekend trip to Edwards Island with her friends Ren (Aaron Kuban) and Jonas (Gavin Hammon). The group encounters Clarissa (Avital Ash), who was the girlfriend of Alex's late brother Michael, and Nona (Brittani Johnson), Ren's love interest. The island, once a military base, holds rumors of supernatural phenomena associated with certain radio frequencies.
During their exploration of the island's caves, Alex inadvertently opens a dimensional rift by tuning her radio. The teens experience visions and lose consciousness. When they awaken, Jonas and Alex find themselves near a communications tower, while Ren is elsewhere on the island and Clarissa is at a decommissioned military fort.
Strange events unfold in the woods, including Alex's reflection communicating with her, objects moving autonomously, and time looping. The loops reset when Alex plays a reel-to-reel tape. They encounter Nona, who claims to have witnessed an alternate version of Jonas and Alex. After another time loop, they rescue Ren from a ghost's possession by creating another rift with the radio. The group reconvenes at Harden Tower.
At the military fort, Alex's reflection guides her through a mirror and engages in a conversation. They encounter a ghost that possesses Jonas, revealing themselves as the crew of the USS Kanaloa, a submarine thought to have been lost at sea. Alex creates another rift to free Jonas from possession.
They discover Clarissa, but a time loop forces her to jump to her death and vanish. Nona, Alex, Jonas, and Ren reunite at the tower, where Ren suggests finding the key to Maggie Adler's estate, which holds a boat for their escape. At Adler's estate, a possessed Clarissa communicates with Alex.
Through conversations and scattered letters left by Maggie Adler, it is revealed that she misinterpreted scrambled messages from the Kanaloa crew as enemy transmissions, leading to the submarine's sinking due to friendly fire. The crew was transported to another dimension because of the experimental nuclear reactor. Adler and her friend Anna attempted communication with the crew using a radio, but Anna was absorbed into the rift.
The Kanaloa crew seeks to escape the dimension by possessing Alex and her friends, requiring them to remain on the island long enough for the possession to succeed.The group discovers Adler's plan to fix the rifts by crossing over and tuning the radio on the other side. Alex experiences time loops, revisiting past conversations with her late brother Michael.
A ghost possesses Jonas, offering a deal to spare Alex and the rest if they leave Clarissa behind. In the caves, Alex enters a rift and encounters a possessed Clarissa. The ghosts warn Alex of her death if the rift is closed and inform her that Clarissa will be kept with them if Alex leaves through the rift.
Alex can choose to leave alone, erasing Clarissa from existence; close the rift, trapping herself and Clarissa with the ghosts; or, with enough letters from Maggie Adler, appeal directly to the crew to let both Alex and Clarissa go. The reflection guiding Alex is revealed to be her future self. Time resets.
Back on the ferry home, Alex wakes up with the others. Jonas informs her that the rift has been fixed, and everything is back to normal. They agree not to disclose their experiences to anyone. Nona takes a final group picture.During the epilogue, Alex reveals the fates of the characters, which are influenced by the player's actions throughout the game:
Alex also shares her own plans, such as attending college in or out of her hometown or taking time off. However, the screen flickers, indicating that time is still looping.If the player initiates a new game with the same save file (New Game Plus), Alex can receive a message from her future self on the island.
After the epilogue, a scene unfolds at a supermarket where Alex, Jonas, and Ren are preparing to buy alcohol before boarding the ferry. By tuning her radio, Alex receives the message from her future self. Depending on the message and the player's response, Alex, Jonas, and Ren can decide not to visit Edwards Island at all, breaking the loop.
Oxenfree Walkthrough Wiki
Oxenfree, created and published by Night School Studio, is an immersive adventure game that was initially launched in January 2016 for OS X, Windows, and Xbox One platforms. Subsequently, versions for PlayStation 4 and Linux were released later in the same year. The game further expanded its reach with the arrival of iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch versions in 2017.
In this captivating experience, players assume the role of Alex, a teenager who embarks on a weekend getaway to a nearby island. However, as supernatural occurrences unfold, Alex and her companions find themselves entangled in a quest to uncover the island's hidden mysteries. Oxenfree served as Night School Studio's inaugural venture, driven by inspiration from timeless teenage films and coming-of-age television shows.
The developers aimed to create an engaging narrative-driven game that eschewed conventional cutscenes, granting players the freedom to explore the immersive environment at their own pace. The visual aesthetics of Oxenfree blend elements of darkness, organic motifs, and analog designs with vivid, geometric shapes, and digital elements.
To enhance the atmosphere, the game features an evocative soundtrack composed by musician scntfc, skillfully combining digital music production techniques with the utilization of vintage analog tape recorders and receivers.Upon its release, Oxenfree was accompanied by a range of supplementary materials, including development documentaries, an alternate reality game, and a collector's edition.
The game garnered predominantly positive reviews from critics, who lauded its captivating presentation and well-crafted characters. However, a few reviewers expressed a desire for more content. Oxenfree received multiple award nominations, notably including "Best Narrative" at The Game Awards 2016 and "Outstanding Achievement in Story" at the 20th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. Building upon its success, a sequel titled Oxenfree II: Lost Signals was released on July 12, 2023. Additionally, an adaptation of the game into a television series is currently under development.
Oxenfree Gameplay and Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DYoNSz-WXo
Oxenfree, a 2.5D graphic adventure game, immerses players in a world where three-dimensional characters navigate two-dimensional environments. The protagonist, Alex, is a teenager embarking on a visit to a nearby island alongside a group of friends. However, a series of unintended events unleashes a supernatural force upon the island, compelling Alex and her companions to uncover the nature of this force and find a way to put an end to it.
The gameplay revolves around a unique "walk and talk" mechanic, which replaces traditional cutscenes with speech bubbles appearing above Alex's head. Players are presented with two or three dialogue options, allowing them to choose their responses while freely exploring the game world. The conversations in Oxenfree dynamically unfold, with players able to interrupt, remain silent, or wait for others to finish speaking.
These choices can impact the relationships between characters, represented by thought bubbles appearing over their heads.Interactive objects in the game world are indicated by small circles, and puzzles are solved by tuning Alex's handheld radio to the correct frequencies or manipulating tape recorders.
Notably, Oxenfree does not feature any "game over" conditions. Instead, the player's choices and interactions shape the multiple possible endings they can experience, ensuring a personalized narrative journey.Night School Studio, founded by Sean Krankel and Adam Hines in 2014, sought to create a game that merged free movement with engaging communication and exploration.
Drawing inspiration from various media, the developers aimed to strike a balance between a sense of wonder and supernatural elements, rather than delving into pure horror. The character development and story were influenced by coming-of-age tales such as the film Stand by Me and the television series Freaks and Geeks.
Oxenfree's development utilized tools like the Unity game engine, Adobe Photoshop, and Autodesk Maya. The game's visually striking artwork, created by Heather Gross, employed a two-dimensional style with parallaxing backgrounds to convey multiple characters, dialogue bubbles, and expansive environments.
The audio, composed by Andrew Rohrmann (scntfc), achieved a nostalgic yet timeless feel by blending analog and digital techniques, including the use of vintage recording devices.The game's promotion and release included teaser trailers, a collector's edition, and development documentaries. Night School collaborated with Skybound Entertainment to produce additional media content exploring the creation of Oxenfree.
Platform-specific enhancements were implemented, such as utilizing the DualShock 4 controller for the PlayStation 4 version and releasing an iOS version. Additionally, an alternate reality game (ARG) was crafted, engaging players through cryptic messages and real-world scavenger hunts.Oxenfree stands as a testament to Night School Studio's innovative approach to storytelling, intertwining gameplay mechanics and narrative in a captivating and atmospheric adventure.
Oxenfree Walkthrough - FAQs
Three playthroughs are required, each focusing on a different style of interaction.
Choose kind dialogue options, keep Jonas by your side, speak positively about Ren and Nona, reject the major proposition, and keep everyone alive except one.
Select rude dialogue options, drive Ren and Nona apart, accept the major proposition, and ensure all characters survive.
Avoid speaking by letting dialogue options expire, except for interacting with objects or characters using cn_A. Say something during the final choice at the end.
Oxenfree was initially released for OS X, Windows, and Xbox One, followed by versions for PlayStation 4, Linux, iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch. The gameplay features a "walk and talk" mechanic, with dialogue choices shaping the narrative and relationships, and puzzles to solve using a handheld radio.