Metacritic Score: 79 (XBO), 81 (PC) The Verdict: This supernatural adventure game revolves around a group of teenagers who gather on a mysterious island and accidentally open a temporal rift to another dimension. A slow-building marvel of high-suspense, Oxenfree takes clear delight in tying the player's brain in knots over its short play-time, while presenting pleasantly understated visual design and a number of genuinely difficult moral dilemmas. The dialogue may come across a tad on the forced side at times (smacking of the same self-aware quirkiness that made Life is Strange a bit of a groan-fest on occasion), but overall, the air of intrigue, well-drawn characters and superb atmosphere (especially during the genuinely creepy supernatural moments) all adds up to a coming-of-age story like no other. Hopefully developer Night School Studio will adopt a similar approach for future games, because there's a terrific formula here for them to exploit if they so wish.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
