April 01, 2020

084: Oxenfree

1 hour 27 minutes

We experience John Hughes’ version of Goosebumps in Oxenfree.

Developer: Night School Studios | Publisher: Night School Studios | Initial Release: January 15, 2016

Jacob, Mike, Moe and special guest Kam Konek from the New Entertainment System Podcast try and remember what it’s like to be a rebellious teen, explore a cool/freaky deserted island and talk a lot about fate.

Technical note: Mike knocked the cable out of his microphone partway through recording, so we are using a back-up for his track. The audio quality is a little bit lower than usual.

Players: Jacob McCourt (@JacobMcCourt), Mike Ruffolo (@ruffolom) & Moe Murtadi (@mmurtadi)

Special Guest: Kam Konek (@TheKamdyman)

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SHOW NOTES:

2:00 Kam tells us about the New Entertainment System Podcast

3:15 Fast Pitch: Oxenfree Edition

4:55 What did you know about Oxenfree before we started recording?

6:55 What platforms did we play Oxenfree on?

7:35 What is the gameplay of Oxenfree?

9:40 Mike compares the game to Night in the Woods, Jacob compares the game to coming-of-age movies like Perks of Being a Wallflower and the Spectacular Now and Moe talks about Unity

11:55 The game’s characters

16:05 An explanation of the game’s multiple endings and “Clarissa [expletive] sucks”

18:10 The start of Oxenfree and Mike explains the dialogue/speech bubble system

22:25 The game’s big spooky twist [major spoilers start here]

25:45 Comparing Oxenfree to a VHS player

28:15 The game’s music and scenery were tranquil, but the lack of fast travel made Moe rage

30:45 The map is frustratingly hard to use

32:05 Bugs

34:45 What the heck is actually going on?

37:30 “What did you all think of the dialogue and writing?”

42:55 The game starts funnelling you towards the end of the game

50:00 We compares Oxenfree to Stranger Things and Interstellar

54:05 The final choice and time loops?

1:04:15 “Is leave possible”, New Game+ and the Oxenfree ARG (the ARG documentary that Jacob mentioned)

1:08:00 Other players entering your experience?

1:10:10 Mike brings up Nietzsche and Amor Fati… Moe brings up Frozen

1:17:00 We cap off the episode with some sound talk and our final thoughts

1:24:30 A solo version of the Left Behind Game Show and a blooper

Thank you to @jacobdekk, @storyeverpod and @LudonarrativeFM for the questions!

NEXT SHOWS:

A Short Hike w/ Jacob, Moe, Mike: April 15th

The Last of Us w/ Jacob, Moe, Mike and Matt Storm (aka Stormageddon): April 29th

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