Ultimately, the divergent plot narrows to a linear path for a high-stakes subterranean climax, at which point your earlier choices are going to have consequences. This takes in a series of branches, directed by an excellent dialogue system that allows for player interruptions and very natural-feeling exchanges (and is made all the better by impressive voice acting), permitting the player’s character, Alex, a pronounced sense of agency in proceedings. The mystery of Edwards Island – home to a decommissioned military installation and, until recently, a sole elderly recluse – can be unpicked to some extent by simply following the main story. To dive into the particulars is to spoil a wealth of surprises, a raft of compelling beats that resonate with genre originality, that keep coming on a second playthrough – and even then, you might meet the credits with unanswered questions. The game’s uncommonly palpable eeriness is filtered through a story of possessed teens and glitches in time, loops in reality that see a group of high-schoolers try to survive a night stranded on an island that isn’t quite as deserted as they believed. Not that you’ll see the real ending if you go around Oxenfree’s relatively brief running time of about five hours only the once. It’s mesmerising while it plays, and memorable long after it’s finished. But Californian indie studio Night School’s debut production, originally released in 2016, is deserving of investigation by anyone delighting in disquiet. Granted, they’re a rare breed, the genuinely spooky video game, experiences that aren’t so much played as permitted to crawl across your skin, cooling the blood and yet quickening its flow. Oxenfree is one of gaming’s greatest ghost stories.
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