The stipulation on the realism of conversation makes Oxenfree feel more like a film, particularly those it takes inspiration from. Likewise, instead of pausing the narrative to choose certain dialogue options from time to time, Oxenfree is relentless in how many dialogue choices are given to the player, having the opportunity to interject or respond frequently. Instead of being faced with dialogue boxes that wait for the player/reader to finish reading, Oxenfree is voice-acted to make it more real. The time constraints make Oxenfree’s dialogue mechanic more like a conversation. Silence, though not made visually evident, is also a choice available to the player/reader, and it turns the default state of not picking into a viable option. The stipulation in the realism of dialogue, however, does not take away from Oxenfree’s state as a visual novel, since the mechanic of the choice-making moment is still there. The player/reader, then, has to be engaged with the narrative to know what to say, or if they should say anything at all. Dialogue choices appear and, given enough time, disappear, making silence the result of not picking.
Oxenfree puts a twist on this system: it does not stop for the player/reader. The player/reader clicks through dialogue boxes to read the story without much input, but eventually the flow of the narrative stops, and the game offers different choices for the player/reader to make, and the choice has repercussions on how the story plays out. Instead of using other mechanics to progress through the game and using dialogue to establish the game’s world, visual novels turn the game into dialogue and text.
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Most of the dialogue, however, could be considered world-building: it does not add much to the game itself, but it helps players understand its world.ĭespite having other game mechanics (like puzzle-solving and relatively free movement through the island), the core of Oxenfree lies on picking what to say from choices given to the player/reader, which puts the game, at least on a mechanical level, within the realm of the visual novel, a form that abandons most mechanics in place of dialogue. So the player needs to get the form and the signature. A mechanic offers his help, but needs a signed form from the boss. Sometimes these conversations have some relevance to the puzzles, so, for example, in the beginning of the game, Manny needs a driver. It will not be uncommon for the player to have more than 3 dialogue choices with every character Manny speaks with. The main character, Manny, will say his thoughts about whatever the player interacts with. It fits the object-oriented model of the adventure genre, but it has an abundance of dialogue. Think, for example, of a game like Grim Fandango. This is not to say that adventure games do not have dialogue, they do, but it is dialogue of a different kind. Where Oxenfree diverges from adventure games is in its reliance on dialogue. It is worth pointing out that, in recent years, the adventure genre has de-emphasised collecting items in favour of free-form exploration, particularly with the boom of so-called “walking simulators” like The Fullbright Company’s Gone Home (2013), Campo Santo’s Firewatch (2016), or Giant Sparrow’s What Remains of Edith Finch (2017), as well as non-item-driven adventure games like Infinite Fall’s Night in the Woods (2017). While Oxenfree has its own puzzles, they do not rely on item-collection. Adventure games typically rely on solving puzzles, particularly using items: as players explore the world of the game, they find items that they can use to solve puzzles elsewhere. And yet, the label of “adventure” does not quite fit Oxenfree. It is categorised as an adventure game, next to the likes of LucasArts’s Grim Fandango (1998), Amanita Design’s Machinarium (2009), and Sierra’s/The Odd Gentlemen’s King’s Quest franchise (started 1980, latest release in 2016). But what, exactly, is Oxenfree? I called it a visual novel earlier, but this is not usually how the game is categorised.
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