Oxenfree - Time is not what you think it is

A group of friends have the tradition at the end of the semester to have a party at Edwards Island - an old military base. But this year a surprise is awaiting. In the game you take on the role of Alex who has to manage not only her personal problems such as her stepbrother and the ex-girlfriend of her dead brother, but she also has to fix the whole nightmare that is soon to be unleashed upon the group of friends. It sounds like a teenage mystery/horror movie and it is exactly that, but turned into an adventure game. Did Night School Studio managed to create something good from such a cliché? Let us see.

Tune in...

Everything starts really innocently with Alex's friend Ren taking her and her stepbrother to check out the nearby cave where at certain places if you tune to certain frequency, anomalies occur. Pushed by their curiosity Alex and Joshua go deeper in the cave where they tune in and cause a fracture into reality and even speak to ghosts trapped on the other side. Now, don't worry, this is like the first 20 minutes of the game so nothing's really spoiled. You'll come across this whatever you do. After your conversation with the ghosts your whole group is scattered through the island and now you have to get them back together and get out of there before things get worse.

Time and space are hazy terms in Oxenfree

Oxenfree is adventure game where you interact mainly with other characters through dialogues. Depending on what you say you will reveal different parts of the story, of their past and in general will provoke different emotions or reactions. All of this affect other's attitude towards you in future. 

The story goes around the sinking of an American submarine near Edwards Island and its now haunting crew. Why they have sunk, who did this, why are they back, what do they want? All those questions stand before you and you will have to find the answers if you want to save yourself, your friends...oh and your brother. What do you mean he is dead? Anyway!

Through the game you will be brought back in time, stuck in time loops, see your friends die, live, being possessed, transferred to other dimensions and in the end...the end depends entirely on your actions and decisions. I really want to tell you the story and all the secrets and hidden details but that means to spoil it for you and I don't want to do that. This will mean to ruin for you this great, tense, filled with mystery game. Oxenfree is one of those adventure games that when you finish them and see the ending you got you will think "But what if I have said this other thing..." and replay it again. Not to mention that with each playthrough  you will find more and more. And then there is even more, Night School Studios have hidden game related information even in this real world of ours. 

If you are into this kind of things, if you like to hunt for mysteries, hidden signs and talk to ghosts then Oxenfree is definitely for you. I haven't seen adventure game with so much to uncover in a long time. 

And that's it. It's worth it, it may have slow start but once the story get going you will finish it in one go, believe me! 

Where to find:

 Official site

 i8bit Store

 Humble Store

 scntfc store

 Steam

Quick Opinion - Stardew Valley, Rusty Lake Hotel, Secrets of Grindea, Dungealot Shattered Lands

Quick Opinion is something new that I came up with recently. The idea of these posts will be to tell you my thoughts on several smaller titles for which I cannot write a whole review either because the games are too small or simply because I don't have the time. This will not be a regular thing, but instead when small games gather up I will combine them in this Quick Opinion posts.

Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley as its creators describes it "open-ended country-life RPG." The story goes that you inherit a farm and the land with it. The land hasn't beed used for a long time and it is now your task to return it to its former glory. A lot of people say that Stardew Valley reminds them of Harvest Moon, game which I haven't played but if you have this is what to expect. To me Stardew Valley is a Facebook game without any of its negatives. No energy, no restriction, no paywalls - just the pure fun of farming, fishing, digging ore and talking to the people from the nearby town. If you like farming simulators and don't mind the retro graphics I think you will find your peace of haven in Satrdew Valley.

Official Site

Steam

Rusty Lake Hotel

I will be honest - I heard about Rusty Lake Hotel on a podcast that I follow and after short research I decided that it might be good. I got it and beaten it in like an hour. It’s a very short game yes, but is it worth it? It is if you like grim, morbid games, Grand Budapest hotel and point and click adventures. Your task is simple - secure dinner for the guests of the hotel, one that is worth dying for. Of course you will need to find the ingredients first...and I will let you find how on your own. I will only say that finding the ingredients is what makes this game grim and morbid...

There are also a lot of puzzles in the game and there lays the problem. Many of those puzzles are very unclear, vague and a lot of times I ended frustrated wondering what I have to do. There of course is the possibility that I was not bright enough for those, may be the smart people like you out there will like those puzzles and even find them easy, who knows? A quirky game...I'm a bit hesitant to recommend it because of its puzzles, but at the same time quite interesting with its atmosphere and artstyle. Your pick - I liked it.

Official site

Secrets of Grindea

Classical old-school, SNES RPG. So old-school that it doesn't even has mouse controls in the menus. In the game you are a young Collector (something like a Hunter from HunterXHunter if you have watched it) and you take your first steps in the vast and dangerous world. The story as always starts pretty innocent but quickly the plot thickens and soon you find yourself on the track of grand mystery. While investigating you will fight your way through various dungeons, stand against nasty bosses and find artefacts of great power...some of them living. There is a ton of collectibles and the secret to gather them is to grind a lot (you see what I did there?). May be the biggest pros of the game is its co-op mode as it a lot more fun with 3 more people not to mention quicker. Not exactly my kind of game, but if you miss your childhood definitely a game for you. Oh, the game is still in early access I almost forgot...

Official site

Get early access

Dungelot: Shattered Lands

It seems that this first edition of Quick Opinion will go under the mark of classically themed games. The last one is in very niche genre but also very big favourite of mine - roguelike. I doubt that you don't know what it is, but just to be safe - roguelikes are games usually turn-based dungeon crawls which extremely hard try to kill you. For this roguelikes heavily rely of RNG and dice-rolling mechanics. Well, Dungelot is all this but well mixed with good dose of humour and a lot easier progression curve than most roguelikes with unlockable classes and such. The game has a crafting system, a good amount of items, boosts and even a small "rest area" in which dungeon where you can rest, recover a little and continue with slightly better chances. If you are like me into the genre I think you will enjoy it.

Official site
Steam
Google Store
iTunes Store