I played one runthrough of Oxenfree (not the true ending though), and my main gripe is that it makes me feel stressed.
Not the horror…the dialogue.
The dialogue in the game caused me the most stress and anxiety.
Oxenfree is a very dialogue-heavy game, but it doesn’t let you go at your own pace. No, instead there are voice actors that keep on talking, whether or not you want them to either go faster or slower. And if you want to get a word in edgewise, you gotta be fast and interrupt them. Three choices, four if you count silence, and barely a few seconds to process what you’re going to say and how the NPCs are going to react.
Personally, if there’s a lot of dialogue, I would prefer silence. This gives the players a chance to give characters their own voice, rather than having one already there. It’s a game, trying to figure out what “voice” will fit them, or if they’re quick readers they can scan through the dialogue quickly.
If you enjoy voices already in the game, and the thrill of having real-time conversation with people in a game, you have come to the right place. If you prefer controlling the speed of the conversation, Oxenfree may not be for you.
Don’t get me wrong, I found Oxenfree interesting. Perhaps the fact I was at the end of a game-a-thon and I had gotten up at 1 am with like four hours of sleep, and I started Oxenfree at like 2 pm with limited food and no liquids (#poorlifedecisions), made my experience that much worse and my judgement harsher.
it’s fine.
