

However, when I booted up Oxenfree, I encountered perhaps the most broken gaming experience I’ve had since my original God of War: Collection PS3 copy completely froze after Zeus betrays Kratos right at the beginning. Though I’m not someone who truly believes in the concept of luck, as it feels like a simpler way for humans to deal with the scary thought that this planet might just be loaded with explainable coincidences, in a sense I was one of the lucky ones. When I played through Fallout 4, I didn’t have any of the game-breaking bugs that so many users reported, nor did I encounter as much Bethesda jank as most of the player-base did.
#Oxenfree switch users Pc#
Aside from texture streaming issues on yellow power boxes, my experience with Batman: Arkham Knight on PC was absolutely fine. Granted, these two points alone are not enough to completely ruin a game, but when everything seems to break down technically for some users, all hell breaks loose.Īs someone who writes about games, it’s always odd to hear about technical issues that you never face personally.

On top of that, in a game where you basically walk and talk, it suffers the same problem with walking speed that was made famous by Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. With that said, Oxenfree has faced criticism for having a beginning and end, but seemingly lacking a meaningful middle to its story (criticism that I absolutely agree with). Alex, as a character, almost feels more realistic than Life is Strange’s Max, and the opportunity to choose from a number of grounded dialogue options around every turn does provide the backbone for a pretty decent narrative experience. In Oxenfree, you play as Alex, a snarky teenage girl sporting some pretty awesome blue hair who brings her newfound stepbrother Jonas to a mysterious island for a night of debauchery with some of her quasi-friends. Despite its first and last episodes featuring some questionable voice-acting performances and an ending whose final choice is nothing short of polarizing, Life is Strange captured the spirit of being a teenager in the real world better than any game in recent memory. Combine Scooby Doo with the vibe of Life is Strange and then throw that into a 2D “walking simulator” (yes, this term is awful, hence the quotations) set on an island with a supernatural presence messing with time and character consciousnesses. Yes, there are things that Oxenfree has done quite well, but the console version suffers from major problems that made attempting to go through the three-to-four hour campaign a nightmare that persisted over the course of a week.įor those of you who have no idea what Oxenfree is, it’s actually rather simple. Oxenfree served as a personal reminder that a great deal of titles might seem awesome when you go in blind, but once all is said and done, you wonder if it was worth it to play in the first place.

One can only judge a game based upon what they encountered, and when game-destroying scripting bugs and technical issues are sprinkled on top of a game whose story actually underwhelmed you, it’s natural that disappointment will ensue. It’s worth noting that this article is purely based on my experience with Oxenfree on the Xbox One, so if you’re someone who didn’t encounter a single bug or issue and absolutely adores this ghostly adventure title, then you’re well within your right to disagree with the points below. A combination of nightmarish technical difficulties, issues with story pacing and the actual speed of the walking mechanics, however, turned Oxenfree from a game that could have stolen my heart to what amounts to the biggest personal disappointment of the year so far. I’m not alone in wanting Night School’s Oxenfree to have been a title I screamed to the heavens in praise of, that much is certain. Granted, there are some downright awesome AAA games that I’ve enjoyed more than the aforementioned titles, with all three Witcher games immediately coming to mind, but it’s hard to ignore when a certain group of games gets you super excited. Whether it’s Her Story, Gone Home or, most recently, Firewatch, there’s something about bizarre story-heavy independent games that finds a way to capture my attention unlike most anything else. If you’ve read my reviews in the past, you’ll know that narrative-heavy quasi-mainstream indie titles hold a special place in my heart. Confession: I did not enjoy Oxenfree one bit.
