We Are OFK

We Are OFK is a musical narrative experience that perfectly justifies its genre-defying position; the music is hot, the cast are hotter, and not only will you care about them, you’ll care about hearing the next thing they do. It’s exceptional.

It’s not a great representation of in-depth gameplay, but it’s just a well-told story, plain and simple. I’ve heard some people say that the series looks like nothing more than an ad for OFK’s EP, and if that’s the case, it’s the best ad I’ve ever seen in my life. Even if it feels out of your comfort zone, it can say with absolute certainty that We Are OFK is a fun time… if you lean into everything that it is.

We Are OFK is a truly multimedia experience. The game is enough, however, consuming the music in my day to day life, kind of forced me to write this review even almost two weeks after its release. Go ahead. Try this adventure. Or at least listen to the music - if you enjoy the sound, you will definitely want to "play".

The developers of We Are OFK don’t even pretend to care about making a traditional video game. It’s clear that instead, the entire goal here was to tell a story, and that’s incredibly well done. Not perfectly so. I don’t love where We Are OFK leaves one of their characters in particular, and the ending feels rushed. After spending hours with these four characters, setting up conflict, it feels like a lot of things get pushed aside to get to where the game needs them to end up, almost like the development team ran out of time. With deep character writing, fantastic voice acting, and killer visuals, though, I’d recommend We Are OFK to anyone who is okay with this being a story first, a vehicle for releasing music second, and barely a game at all.

We Are OFK offers a spectacular audiovisual experience for music lovers, with a stunning art style and charming voice acting. The choices don't have as much influence over the events as I would've liked, but the execution of the game's episodic nature made for a touching yet thrilling narrative.

Give OFK half a chance, and just as their tunes will burrow into your brain, their stylishly documented journey may yet see them sneak under your skin, too. [Issue#375, p.116]

The focus on the band at large in later chapters also takes away from the more personal stories that make We Are OFK great. As a portrait of individuals struggling to reconcile their corporate and artistic identities, We Are OFK succeeds in the strength of its writing. But as a vehicle for OFK the band, this undercooked visual novel can’t quite strike the right chord.

The combination of a simple gameplay loop with great music has been proven to work in the past; two Australian titles immediately spring to mind in The Artful Escape and Video World. Both titles feature engaging storylines, compelling characters and enough actual gameplay to bolster their music; We Are OFK sadly falls short — or at least doesn’t consistently deliver — on some of those points. That’s a real shame too, because the music found within is superb.

An uncomfortable blend of vulnerability and brand consumption.