Oxenfree (2016)
Oxenfree is a 2016 role-playing (rpg) video game made by Night School Studio.
A group of teenagers ferries out to Edwards Island for an overnight party, a stretch of abandoned military coastline with no cell signal. Alex brings her new stepbrother Jonas along, hoping the night loosens the awkwardness between them. Then a radio picks up something on the empty frequencies, and the island stops behaving. Night School Studio builds the whole game around talk: you steer Alex's conversations in real time, choosing when to speak, joke, or stay quiet as friendships bend under pressure. The mood borrows from Stand by Me and small-town ghost stories, wistful and uneasy at once.
Quick answers
What is Oxenfree about?
A group of teenagers ferries out to Edwards Island for an overnight party, a stretch of abandoned military coastline with no cell signal. Alex brings her new stepbrother Jonas along, hoping the night loosens the awkwardness between them. Then a radio picks up something on the empty frequencies, and the island stops behaving. Night School Studio builds the whole game around talk: you steer Alex's conversations in real time, choosing when to speak, joke, or stay quiet as friendships bend under pressure. The mood borrows from Stand by Me and small-town ghost stories, wistful and uneasy at once.
When was Oxenfree released?
Oxenfree was released on 14 January 2016.
Who made Oxenfree?
Oxenfree was made by Night School Studio.
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Explore Oxenfree guides
Oxenfree in our writing
- Companion guide: Coming of Age
- Companion guide: Magical Realism
- Companion guide: Small Town Secrets
- Companion guide: Supernatural Teens
A few thoughts on Oxenfree
Fans of that late-teen unease should read The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton's story of kids sorting out loyalty and class with no adults to help. For the same trapped-on-an-island dread, try FROM, where a town nobody can leave turns nightfall into a threat. Stranger Things pairs the two: 1980s kids, a radio-static menace, real friendships.
Friend-group nights that start ordinary and curdle into something strange
Oxenfree sends Alex and her new stepbrother out for one overnight party that a stray radio signal turns uneasy, and these picks share that same slide from ordinary to unsettling. Stand by Me and The Outsiders send teens on a trip that turns rougher than planned, Lord of the Flies strands castaways until the group turns on itself, and Stranger Things, From and Supernatural trap towns inside something answering back.