Oxenfree

 Switch
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 150 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 94 out of 150
  2. Mixed: 43 out of 150
  3. Negative: 13 out of 150
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  1. jpritcha
    Mar 10, 2019
    4
    The dialog and story are great, and I am completely fine with walking simulators that tell a good story. However, the following things killed the experience for me:

    1.) Slow pacing and movement speed The game is 4 - 5 hours long, but feels like it could have easily been 3 or less if the movement speed wasn't an absolute crawl all the time. Short games are fine, but drawn out games    The dialog and story are great, and I am completely fine with walking simulators that tell a good story. However, the following things killed the experience for me:

    1.) Slow pacing and movement speed
    The game is 4 - 5 hours long, but feels like it could have easily been 3 or less if the movement speed wasn't an absolute crawl all the time. Short games are fine, but drawn out games are not.

    2.) The zoomed out perspective
    While some of the backdrops are beautiful, I had a very hard time making out what things were a lot of the time. There are handy little bubbles that let you know what you can interact with, but they felt like an absolute necessity at times rather than a nicety. Also, I had a very hard time empathizing with a cast of characters that I saw as little more then a bunch of ants throughout the whole game. I feel the game would have been much better if the perspective had been zoomed in by 2x or even 3x, or even if it had zoomed in and out based on context.

    3.) The ABSURDLY long loading times.
    They are seriously on the order of 30 seconds or more between areas on switch. What the hell is this game loading!? Each area is little more than a static background, dialogue, and a few simple 3D models. They pulled me out of the experience completely to the point where I would leave, go do something, and come back to avoid staring at a mostly black screen for so long.

    In summary, the core part of the game is great. If you can put up with the flawed presentation and long load times, the story is well worth it. Unfortunately I found myself being pulled out of the experience too often to really enjoy it.    … Expand
  2. clone1
    Mar 4, 2018
    3
    I liked the way the game looks. That's about all the pros I can list. I did not like the storytelling. The pacing is too slow. The character's dialogues are monotonic, shallow and boring - I could barely sit through the first few scenes. Another issue was the music. Maybe it's just me, but I felt it didn't compliment the setting at all. I.e. the imagery brings suspense and mystery. And allI liked the way the game looks. That's about all the pros I can list. I did not like the storytelling. The pacing is too slow. The character's dialogues are monotonic, shallow and boring - I could barely sit through the first few scenes. Another issue was the music. Maybe it's just me, but I felt it didn't compliment the setting at all. I.e. the imagery brings suspense and mystery. And all you hear is dubstep-ish beats with happy arpeggios in the background. And boy, it was loud! Combined with the dialogue of one the main characters (I think his name is Ren), who talks non-stop it quickly becomes too much to bear. I first muted the TV and then quit.… Expand
  3. jcvandan
    Jan 31, 2018
    4
    This game is a 1 way ticket to Boreville. Unfortunately during your journey you will also have to sit next to a bunch of annoying millennials whining. Nice graphics and high quality voice acting though.
  4. tomphenom
    Feb 8, 2018
    1
    Infuriating backtracking, slow pacing and incredibly limited gameplay mechanics make this one an easy pass. I gave this game the patience I thought it deserved, but I ended up deleting it from my Switch before finishing. The one interesting gameplay mechanic was the use of the radio receiver, however, there was no development to this mechanic and it quickly became a mere formality. TheInfuriating backtracking, slow pacing and incredibly limited gameplay mechanics make this one an easy pass. I gave this game the patience I thought it deserved, but I ended up deleting it from my Switch before finishing. The one interesting gameplay mechanic was the use of the radio receiver, however, there was no development to this mechanic and it quickly became a mere formality. The character you control walks incredibly slow, and there is no run feature, so be prepared to spend most of your time holding the left joystick in one direction for long periods of time. That is the main gameplay mechanic. Worth $5.… Expand
  5. red_rum_horror
    Jun 21, 2019
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. oxenfree is a beautifully haunting experience of a game. the music perfectly blends with the chilled game play while constantly keeping you tense. when you finish your first play through you come to a brutally horrifying realization, you didn't stop the loop. so you play through again, and you stop it again. you play again and again until the story finally reaches a boiling point and you break the loop, at a cost.
    you never meet nona and nether dose ren, your brother is still dead and you never build your relationship with johnas. oxenfree is a truly amazing game and as I've said before, a must have for the switch.    … Expand
  6. Neatqt
    Nov 8, 2019
    4
    Cast: 7/10
    Story: 6/10
    Fun: 3/10
    Gameplay: 2/10

    Recommended
    ----------------------
  7. DouglasFir
    Jan 6, 2022
    3
    Although there were some elements I liked, I cannot recommend this game. Moving around the island, sitting through long loading times, and having so few moments where it felt like my choices mattered, made the experience a drag overall.

    To get the "full" story you have to go around the island to find bonus things (weirdly phrased to not spoil?) and although I really wanted to know more,    Although there were some elements I liked, I cannot recommend this game. Moving around the island, sitting through long loading times, and having so few moments where it felt like my choices mattered, made the experience a drag overall.

    To get the "full" story you have to go around the island to find bonus things (weirdly phrased to not spoil?) and although I really wanted to know more, I could not get myself to slowly (really slowly) walk and climb around the island again to get to these locations. Not to mention sit through long loading times every time you leave a location.

    The coolest part of the game is the radio mechanic, and I liked using that whenever I could, but a lot of the other 'gameplay' moments feel decontextualized and out of the blue. They don't do much to establish the stakes of what you are doing in some of these sequences, and I also wasn't sure how my actions in them mattered once they were finished.

    The story is intriguing at some parts and infuriating at others. Some of the characters are so annoying, that I was shocked when something would happen that would make it seem like I was supposed to care about them.

    I would normally want to replay a game like this to explore other paths, but the loading screens and super slow traversal guarantee I won't pick it up again.    … Expand
  8. Asumberger
    Jul 6, 2020
    4
    I really wanted to like this one but many things weighed it down.

    Negatives 1) The camera is so zoomed out making it really difficult to see the characters in any sort of detail. This made it feel less intimate to me. 2) The speech bubbles pop up and disappear so fast giving you barely enough time to read, consider, and select a response before it's too late. I have read that people    I really wanted to like this one but many things weighed it down.

    Negatives
    1) The camera is so zoomed out making it really difficult to see the characters in any sort of detail. This made it feel less intimate to me.

    2) The speech bubbles pop up and disappear so fast giving you barely enough time to read, consider, and select a response before it's too late. I have read that people play it either "mean" or "nice" or "strong silent type" which I'm guessing means you are selecting the same type of response (same exact button selection) for each choice. I didn't want to play it just one way and wanted more time to consider what I was going to say but it felt very rushed to me.

    3) There was a glitch while walking that persisted throughout the entire game and that got annoying.

    4) Walking across the map was a chore.

    5) The time loop thing was kind of cool at first but got old pretty quickly.

    6) Most importantly I didn't really like the story all that much and I never really connected with the characters.

    Positives
    1) The voice acting was pretty good

    2) The radio was pretty cool.

    3) Graphics are very nice

    4) Atmosphere was cool

    Conclusion
    People seem to love this game and I am happy for them, but for me I just never really cared about the characters all that much. At a certain point in the game I honestly couldn't wait for it to be over. I have only played one other "Story driven" game... and that was 'Night in the Woods" and I absolutely loved it. I mean it was not without its faults but I feel it is a far superior game with deeper characters and a more meaningful story. Like i said...this game seems to be very beloved and maybe you will love it too but for me it was nothing special.    … Expand
  9. Ghosthorseman
    Jan 1, 2022
    0
    This isn't a game. It's an interactive story. Folks wanting to play a game will be disappointed. Some thoughts:

    1) The experience presents a lot of meaningless choices. The selections you make about what to say don't matter much. In fact, you can not respond at all and the conversation just continues as if you weren't there. The game cares so little about the player, that it hardly    This isn't a game. It's an interactive story. Folks wanting to play a game will be disappointed. Some thoughts:

    1) The experience presents a lot of meaningless choices. The selections you make about what to say don't matter much. In fact, you can not respond at all and the conversation just continues as if you weren't there. The game cares so little about the player, that it hardly seems to notice that I'm trying to play.

    2) Often characters in the story are having angsty dialog while you're trying to go somewhere, when that happens, you walk very slowly around a large scene. It's the worst kind of walking simulator. It makes walking a joyless drudge.

    3) The load times on the switch are unbearable. No one should release content like this.

    There is a certain kind of person that doesn't like video games. And these people tend to want experiences that aren't like video games. Oxenfree is that kind of experience. It's a slow-moving story that unfolds largely without your interaction or enjoyment. If you've ever enjoyed a video game, you will probably not like Oxenfree.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

36
#36 Best Switch Game of 2017
30
#30 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2017
62
#62 Most Shared Switch Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. Universo Nintendo
    May 19, 2018
    85
    Oxenfree is a good game. With amazing history, music and dubbing, anyone who likes the "walking simulator" genre will enjoy the game.
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  2. FNintendo
    Nov 13, 2017
    80
    Thanks to its remarkable character development, well written dialogue and overall quality of the plot, Oxenfree is certain to strike a chord with fans of story-driven games, even if its length is rather short but that ends up being minimal when faced with the game's surprising developments.
    Read full review
  3. Vooks
    Oct 30, 2017
    70
    It’s an intriguing story, and one I feel is worthwhile experiencing so long as you’re not put off by a lack of moment to moment game-like elements. It’s just a shame that Oxenfree’s design genius is at odds with its pacing.
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