#oxenfree (2016)

[edwardsisland]

in honor of the updates coming for behemoth games have this

[raccoonscity]

Games Played in 2023: Oxenfree (2016), Night School Studio

[oxensfree]

"Can I have like two real quick minutes with Alex for a second?"

OXENFREE (2016) OXENFREE II: LOST SIGNALS (2023)

[videogamepolls]

Requested by anon

[lakemojave]

Mojave's Top Ten Games of 2023 (3 of which actually came out this year)

I figured I should make a list like this at some point, but I didn't actually play many new games this year. Well, I played tons of games for the first time and loved so many of them, but few of them were new releases. At my current stage as a game critic, I'm playing a lot of catchup, trying to get context for current games, playing the classics and the seminal franchises of the medium. I do not have a game of the year pick. Even though I was behind the curve, I still wanna talk about the experiences that moved me this year.

Honorable mentions:

Baldur's Gate 3 (2023): One of the densest, fleshed out, satisfying narrative RPGs the gaming industry has seen in years. Immersive, well written and charming, no two people can have the same experience with this game because of how much variance and player choice is accounted for in the gameplay and script alike. It's for that reason it's not on the list though--not only have I not finished it, I'm also not doing it singleplayer, and am missing out on much of that juicy story content in favor of me and my group's meta-narrative.

Black Mesa (2020): The remake of the first half life is sharp, smooth, and immersive, combining what was visually and narratively compelling about Half Life 2 back into the original story. It has some of my favorite setpieces of the entire half life catalogue now, which is saying a lot. It's off the list in favor of the original.

Dead Space (2023): A triumphant return to the horrors of the Ishimura incident, with insidious twists to the game design and story that disrupt a fan's familiarity with the game world time again. It scared the fuck out of me so many times, but the bittersweet feeling I get thinking about the fate of the Dead Space franchise means RE4 gets its spot.

10. Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals (2023)

The long awaited sequel to 2016's Oxenfree caught me by surprise after playing the first game just before it. Playing the original teen horror, I'm struck by how grating some of the dialogue can be, how sophomoric and cheap it can feel without drinking deep of the content. What makes this version of teen horror so compelling, though, is that through sympathetic participation with Alex, you catch yourself from griping at the young characters for making foolish choices, which is very effective.

What's stunning about this sequel is that in the 7 year gap between games, it's not just the team and the audience that has matured, it's the writing all around. Your character, Riley, is in her early 30s, returning to her hometown and feeling very existential as she peers into the past, the future, and the unknown in between time and space. The world of Camena and Edwards Island is expanded on those lines, the thematic focus becomes resonant and emotionally devastating, and the dynamic with young characters, familiar or not, demonstrates how strong this second chapter to the oxenfree story really is.

9. Resident Evil 4 (2023)

Look. I love a horror game. 2005's Resident Evil 4 may be among the best of them, and it may be timeless in its own right, and it may be foundational to so many other games I love today, but god damn is this remake fun. With sharper visuals and atmosphere than the original, intricate new resource systems like knife durability and parries, and some updated character work, it's safe to say this is a categorically different game than the original. Plenty of material was cut from the main game, like the IT fight or the laser hallway, which found their way into the DRASTICALLY improved Separate Ways expansions, starring Ada Wong. It's not my favorite Resident Evil, and it's far from the scariest, but it's the one with Leon's spin kick, and there's nothing more satisfying than that.

I do maintain a lot of early gripes I had with the remake. When Resident Evil 8: Village came out in 2021, it borrowed a lot of mechanical, narrative, and aesthetic tropes from RE4, updating them to a new game in the wake of the remakes of RE2 and 3. Those remakes were truly transformational masterpieces, blending all of Resident Evil's best aspects to create new, distinct experiences. RE4, the original, didn't really need much updating, it's been ported to hell and back already and is so ubiquitous that there was no real need to bring it back into the zeitgeist. Nothing can really be gained by this remake except for a victory lap for Capcom.

Cynicism aside, FUCK YEAH, TWO CAKES!

8. Mass Effect (2006)

I should say that the version of Mass Effect I'm playing is not the one that came out in 2006. The Legendary edition does a bit of graphical and mechanical tweaks to update some of the dated aspects. That's kind of a shame, because the dated aspects are what's so fascinating about Mass Effect. Between Baldur's Gate 3, Disco Elysium, and now the early Fallout games, I find myself taken by classic CRPG design, which accommodates such a wide variety of player choice. Mass Effect doesn't have too much choice in it--the progression and ending are pretty much fixed from the beginning, you basically choose what flavor of the script that you want.

In that way, I like Mass Effect as a transitional piece--an attempt to bring the aspects of early CRPGS into the modern, console games market, with all the budget EA would give them. The writing and design are...satisfactory. The shooting could be more robust, the characters could have more personality, and to the series' credit those things do come about in Mass Effect 2 (which I'm sure I'll gush about when I finish it).

It's the presentation I love here. Mass Effect has maybe one of my favorite sci fi settings I've ever seen. A vast array of alien civilizations, a rich history filled with interesting lore, a competent portrayal of intergalactic politics, all delivered by characters that are deep and interesting. The voicework is also some of the best I've ever seen, and although there are many standouts, Jennifer Hale's Shepard is just tremendous. Actually playing Mass Effect may be a slog, completionist play might require some of the worst loot grinding I've ever seen, but that is all secondary to the way I was captivated by Mass Effect's version of the final frontier.

7. Half Life (1998)

I did a whole ass 5 hour video essay about Half Life, and I don't wanna belabor how much I like this game and series too much more. I loved Half life 2 and the portal games for years, but it was only for that project that I actually got around to playing this. It's a real bonafide classic, containing so many tropes of modern immersive action games WAY ahead of their time. The setting of Black Mesa is deep and engaging, the environmental storytelling is strong, and the voicework is natural and believable (for the most part.) Sometimes as a game critic I have to give some allowances to an older game for some of its jank and some of its rough edges, let myself see the thing just for what it is without all my modern hangups. I don't have to do that with Half Life like I do for other games. There's parts of it that are rough, like the Interloper and On a Rail chapters, but Half Life feels just as good to play now as it did 25 years ago.

6. Dredge (2023)

There's an old tumblr post that proposes a fishing game that's secretly a horror game. That post imagines a game that starts out normal and comfortable, but as the game goes on the player would catch stranger species of fish, soon finding monsters lurking in the deep and hidden secrets. It got a lot of peoples' imaginations going and engaged a lot of fan artists and even more comments riffing on this idea.

Dredge is that game. I was so gleefully surprised to see this game go through every single one of those steps in the first region alone. The game has a strong atmosphere and great art, leading to some real weird and nasty fish to catch and fill out the weird and spooky encyclopedia. Fishing at night gives you different and weirder fish, but it also raises your panic meter, which can cause hallucinations and open you up to monster attacks. It's a pretty ambiently scary game for the most part, and I almost chalked it up to being more horror themed than actual horror, until this one lagoon where a giant tentacle suddenly shot up at me out of a sudden drop in the ocean floor. I fuckin yelped, actually screamed in a way only two other games have gotten me to do this year.

5. Alien: Isolation (2014)

I have never, in my life, felt more powerless in a game than when I played Alien: Isolation. I'm used to games like Resident Evil, where you have a toolset for survival that is limited, but allows you to give actual pushback towards the zombies trying to get you. I played Amnesia: The Dark Descent this year too, the opposite of this dynamic, where you have NO means of resistance whatsoever, and the binary outcomes of monster encounters of that game completely broke my immersion.

Alien: Isolation actually gives you myriad crafted tools to overcome your obstacles, from human scavengers to androids to the xenomorph herself. Yet, the impossible speed and predatory senses of the monster means that one slip up means instant death, and the death animations are pretty brutal. Through cunning and cautious play, you can slip past the Alien enough times to where you get a flamethrower, which will repel her in a pinch. However, her AI is advanced to the point where she will learn your habits between deaths, look for you in lockers if you hide in them a lot, resist certain tricks like noisemaker bombs or flares. It's in keeping with how the 1979 movie presents her: a perfect killing machine. In fact, its the way so much of the Sevastopol resembles the aesthetic of that early film that not only helps the atmosphere, but makes the alien's power more believable. Immersive and terrifying, Alien: Isolation is a horror triumph.

4. Undertale (2015)

Yeah that's not actually a joke. I really did only play Undertale this year, and I was really actually completely blind going into it. Of all the games I'm happy I got to experience fresh, it was this one. Undertale seems tropey in its game design, story beats, and writing style 8 years later, but that's because so much of its design has been cannibalized by indie developers going after this aesthetic. As a bullet hell, it's...fine. As a meta commentary on retro RPGs and on the act of violence in video games in general, it's incredible. It legitimately gave me immense joy to reach the end and have my stubborn insistence on pacifism challenged even further, and then rewarded in the best possible way. I got to experience it on stream, too, with some friends who had played it previously and one who did not, and we all did the common thing and did funny voices for everybody. It's created some real cherished memories for me, memories that wouldn't have hit as hard if I did not wait to play Undertale.

3. Metal Gear Solid (1998)

Now here's a game I truly thought I'd never get around to. I'm a big fan of the Metal Gear series and when I learned that konami was releasing the master collection pack of the first 3 games, I was fuckin' stoked. If there's one other game that dictated the trajectory of storytelling and presentation of modern games like Half Life did, it's this one.

Having played the first two metal gears, the 2D ones from the late 80s, I was struck by how much of the basic design beats of Metal Gear come directly from the early titles. Seeing them translated into 3D is just incredible--all the prototypical stealth design transcribed so seamlessly into a much more legible visual language to me. The shooting may feel like ass and the bosses may have healthbars the size of Alaska, but the moment to moment sneaking in this game is so intricate and thorough that you really do feel like a tactical master as you go about it.

None of that touches on what's most memorable about Metal Gear Solid, and that's the presentational aspects. The animations and models might be worse than Half Life's, but the writing and voice acting is just world class. David Hayter as Snake, Cam Clarke as Liquid, Christopher Randolph as Otacon, and Patrick Zimmerman as Ocelot (hell even an early Jennifer Hale role) are astounding performances, even today. The cutscenes and dialogue are certainly oversaturated and long, but goddamn if I don't like watching and listening to them. I love this damn game.

2. Bloodborne (2015)

Bloodborne has been more of a myth and less of a game for me. I played some bits at a friend's house in 2017 and never owned a PS4 so I never thought playing it would be possible for me. I obsessively watched lore videos and playthroughs which got me into Dark Souls 3, then Sekiro, then Elden Ring, which has fueled much of my activity on twitch and as a game critic in general. It was only this year that that same friend lent me her PS4 and I played Bloodborne 3 whole times until I 100% the game in a matter of months. The experience was so meaningful to me that I ended up scrapping my first bloodborne video and starting from scratch, this time with Bloodborne Kart dev Lilith Walther as a guest.

I have never been more immersed in a game world than I have been in Bloodborne's. Yharnam is not only such a dense and intricate city, it is drop dead gorgeous in such a grotesque and macabre way. Many words and many writers have already described the surreal hypergothic smokescreen shrouding the insidious cosmic beings steering the terror and bloodshed from out of sight, so I won't repeat them here. You don't forget the sights and sounds of Bloodborne--they linger in your imagination, the visual language shapes your own ability to conceive of images and ideas in horror fiction, twisting the familiar into stranger shapes and forms.

Plus it just feels so fucking good to play. I like From Software titles and their style of combat, and I like how fast combat works in Sekiro and Elden Ring, but neither of those games accommodate brutality like Bloodborne does. You're meant to attack recklessly, cravenly, no blocking, just press the attack again and again until you're drenched in the gore and blood of your foes. You feel like one among the beasts--after all, what difference is there between a predator and the man that hunts them?

1. Signalis (2022)

I have not stopped thinking about Signalis since I played it the first time. The game is like a fucking honeypot for me. It's got Resident Evil style tank controls as an option, with similar combat and inventory management, themes and presentation similar to Silent Hill, and a sci fi flourish akin to Dead Space. So what, it's every great horror game jammed into one retro style amalgamation? Sounds like a great time for me!

That's just the surface, the hook of it all. While the game certainly uses this familiarity to pull you in and make you comfortable and excited for its own terrors, there's a creeping feeling of unease as you continue to revel in the horror and gore that's taken over these halls. Your character, Elster, is a special ops android in a fictional fascist regime, who has abandoned her post to search for her human partner, whose identity eludes her as she slips into delusion. After reaching the depths of the first area, where the space mine turns into a hall of flesh and viscera, the very walls pulsing and dripping, the world suddenly resets, and you find yourself back in the very first zone, now covered in the same blood and gore. The characters cry out in pain at you, begging you to stop, to turn back, to stop prolonging their hell with your own pursuit of an ending. A chalkboard in a classroom with a pretty frivolous note early on now reads "YOU'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE."

If I go on I'm gonna spoil the whole game, but that part there is the essence of Signalis to me. Many games will challenge your own enthusiasm for playing, question the time you spend in the game rather than like, going outside or something. Few games will actively blame you for prolonging the suffering of the game's inhabitants and creating a self contained digital hell. Few games will ask you "why do you want terror?" in the way that Signalis does.

Signalis is a triumph of horror game design. The imagery is horrifically cryptic, the worldbuilding is dense, the monster design and soundscapes are creepy and effective, the gameplay feels desperate and every bullet fired feels like a scream for help. Signalis is my favorite game I played this year, hands down.

[digirainebow]

things that are (probably) true now that we have canon birthdates for the oxenfree characters

the events of the original oxenfree take place on june 4th, 2016. if taken into town, nona reveals that her birthday is in 3 days. since we now know that her birthday is june 7th, and that lost signals takes place 5 years afterwards in 2021, we finally know the exact day the first game happens. yay!

clarissa's birthday happens to fall on the same day that anna was killed. as maggie writes in adler letter 9, april 4th is the day in 1952 that she and anna tried to bring the sunken back.

last year, ren went to the movie theater and watched oppenheimer with nona (and clarissa) because she wanted to see it, even though he wanted to go see barbie, and it was his birthday that day.

[feralnonbee]

Day 2: Mirror @bluerubystudios

A redraw of fanart from 2016 for OxenFree🧡 Again, I would HIGHLY recommend this game if you like horror games with an amazing story.

Original:

[oliolioxenfreewrites]

"All the Outs in Free" - OXENFREE (2016)

one of my favorite video games ever; the creepy-ass edwards island still haunts my dreams. 😭 if you were curious about where my tumblr handle inspo came from :)

[jokersenpai-thenavigator]

Why You Should Play: Oxenfree

*Spoilers for an 8yo game!*

Oxenfree’s story isn’t terribly complex. It takes maybe 4 - 6 hours to beat, depending on how much of the collectable content you’re aiming to grab. Game play primarily consists of walking around the island, talking to your friends, and fiddling around with your pocket radio.

But DAMN does Oxenfree do well in its execution.

The aforementioned radio, as your primary means of interacting with the island, is an amazingly implemented mechanic. You can go through the entire game, only using it for its intended purpose, and it is entirely valid.

But.

If you take the time to scroll through the radio stations in different locations - even outside of the “anomaly” areas - you’ll get little pieces of information and world building.

Music stations exist, though they only play music from the 1940’s.

Certain stations in certain places will broadcast messages in Morse code, which, coupled with the opening call signs from the anomaly stations and the freaking beats in the game’s main music track, led to an ARG back in 2016 when the game was released.

Sometimes, you’ll get clips from old interviews.

And sometimes…you’ll hear yourself. Having conversations that haven’t happened.

And that’s just the radio mechanic.

Another main gimmick of the game are time loops. You’ll occasionally get stuck in a loop, only able to escape once an old magnetic tape player appears, allowing you to break through the frequency of the loop. The time loop will visually appear on the screen as almost VHS quality static, like the world around you is physically being paused and rewound each time you make it to the edge of the loop.

The screen distorts with static, gets flipped upside down and your dialogue choices reversed, still images of nautical blueprints and old photographs flash for a brief second. In the background, seemingly innocent trees and stones will twist and distort into towering monsters, eyes glowing bright against the darkness of the island, there for only a second, leaving you to wonder if you actually saw something, or if it was just your imagination.

There are moments in the game where Alex’s reflection will speak to her, giving her advice. At the moment, the information seems…strange. Nonsensical. You tell yourself to let Jonas speak to his mom - who is dead. You tell yourself to let Michael know to stay with Clarissa - despite Michael having died years ago.

The information doesn’t make sense…until you approach the end of the game. And then you have to decide whether or not to believe your reflection, and make your choices, until at the very end of everything…after everything that you’ve experienced in your play through, everything you’ve learned…you have to tell your past self what to do. The entire time, it was you.

The game ends, your futures are set…and then, as Alex is narrating her closing statements…the audio distorts. Alex says that she has to pick up Jonas for Ren’s trip to the island. The screen gets staticky, and goes black.

And then fades in on Ren, describing the history of Edward Island.

You are on a boat.

At the beginning of the game.

And you are aware that you’ve been here before.

**Link to information on the ARG, because HOLY SHIT I WISH I COULD HAVE BEEN THERE FOR THIS!!! https://wiki.gamedetectives.net/index.php?title=Oxenfree#:~:text=The%20Morse%20code%20in%20the,to%20go%20to%20Edwards%20Island.

[zannolin]

—on siblings (and losing them)

shazam! fury of the gods (2023) // antigonick, anne carson // the haunting of hill house, e3 // ginger snaps (2000) // the x-files, s1e4 // the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe (2005) // the haunting of hill house, e3 // star wars: episode iii — revenge of the sith (2005) // antigone, sophocles // the scorpio races, maggie stiefvater // ready or not (2019) // shazam! fury of the gods (2023) // oxenfree (2016) // arcane, s1e9 // "killing flies", michael dickman // shazam! fury of the gods (2023)

[lefinx]

Oxenfree - Review

Although my weekly post was focused on my recent fixation with the new Zelda, i've been enjoying my spooky series and did not want to stray to far away from it, so heres a bonus post with another game for the season!

Follow Alex and her new step brother Jonas as they meet up with others for a night of partying and alcohol on a forgotten military island. However, things take a dark turn when they accidentally open a ghost rift. Will they work together to solve the mysteries of this forgotten island? or will they succumb to an unknown presence.

Oxenfree is a graphic adventure game developed and published by Night School Studio. It was originally released on January 15, 2016. The game was later made available on additional platforms through 2017.

In Oxenfree you will control the character Alex as she explores the island alongside various characters. The majority of the game focuses on walking and choosing dialogue, with only a few segments featuring other gameplay elements. The game has multiple endings, making your dialogue choice crucial to achieving a desired outcome. Often, you will be given three options to respond to characters, which will influence how they feel about you and who accompanies you on your journey. These options aren’t always the nicest and instead of representing the player, they provide insight into Alex's personality and the different ways she would respond in character to various situations

As you wander around the island, you will uncover more of its secrets by making use of a radio. The radio is the second main gameplay element, requiring you to listen for sounds while tuning into unknown frequencies. I especially enjoyed this aspect, as it was something I hadn't seen used before. It was interesting to check different frequencies throughout the island to discover if anything was there.

The art style is simple but unique. Its dulled color palette paints a beautiful landscape that captures the atmosphere of an abandoned and creepy island. However, the addition of sharp neon elements when referencing the paranormal creates a striking contrast on the screen, adding to the sense of disorientation and unease.

The eerie music, enhanced by the use of a synthesizer, gives the game a sci-fi, paranormal feel. When using the radio to tune into lost stations, you can find some playing distorted tunes or dialogue reminiscent of old TV shows, further adding to the unsettling atmosphere.

My one main drawback is that it takes SO long to get to the different areas of the map. Although the map is fairly small, your character moves slowly. This doesn't affect the main game too much if you are only following the story, as there is always dialogue to fill the time. However, when backtracking for missed collectibles, it becomes incredibly boring, as it takes too long to get around with nothing to fill in the spare time.

Another minor issue I had was with the dialogue system. When choices appear, they only stay available for a short time, which means you have to read and decide quickly. There were times I struggled to read each choice before the options disappeared. Additionally, when selecting an option, Alex would immediately cut off any ongoing dialogue. As someone who loves to hear character conversations, I found this slightly frustrating. I couldn't wait for others to finish speaking without losing my choice, and selecting an option would cut them off. This wasn't a major issue for story-relevant conversations, as characters would usually loop back to what they were saying. This choice might have been intentional to present dialogue more naturally, as people often talk over and interrupt each other in real conversations.

Oxenfree is released on PC, MAC, Xbox One/ Series X/S, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android, and Netflix. The game will last you around 4.5 hours for one play through, and retails for around £8.50.

I played Oxenfree alongside some friends one evening after our wifi went out and had a blast doing so. I'd recommend this game for anyone interested in story based games with limited gameplay or those looking for that slightly sinister feel without the big jump scares this autumn. I wouldn't necessarily refer to this game as cozy, as I'm a bit of a coward and felt quite on edge during some parts. However, I know for others it is a staple in their cozy library.

Get the game here!

[inkyyasteroid]

is the oxenfree fandom still kickin? played it through again for the first time since 2016 in hopes to rekindle my interests

[agapi-kalyptei]

Reader's digest 1

To retain some information, I'm going to occasionally sum up what I've been reading and watching and thinking about lately.

Most relevant to my own life

The Stallion Theory: How aimless creativity ruins your life This one's full of ideas. While most YT videos are fine at 150% speed, I was pausing and rewinding this video to process everything. I should make a separate post about it - tl;dr how to fight option paralysis when making art - set your constraints, write down a goal, find your fuel (long-term motivation), find your car keys (initial impulse to get started - not just initially, but regularly), set a deadline, define the scope and outcome in clear, concise words

"Emotionally Bypassing" - how the 'tism can make it easy to rationalize trauma and thus avoid actually emotionally digesting it

Society

A decently lucid article about Dril

Depressing alert: an interview with a woman who was sex trafficked. Therapy, dog, and ketamine treatment apparently helps her deal with trauma.

There's a series of interviews from VICE News with people like a jewellery store robber, deck hand at billionaire's yachts, hacker, sex worker, flight attendant, autopsy technician, luxury hotel staff, former wall street trader, voluntourist etc. Frequent mentions of abuse and exploitation, sex work, orgies, death, drug abuse, etc. Not a happy watch, but eye opening nevertheless.

Why men get so few matches on dating apps and women get up to their neck in messages - while the analysis is relatively shallow from the societal/psychological perspective, it is intentionally so - and the video wisely focuses on the math of finding a match. It's simple and not too presumptuous.

Are electric cars sustainable? No. Talks a lot about the costs and infrastructure of transitioning to electric-only cars. Not an exhaustive video on the topic, but informative nevertheless.

OceanGate is getting sued lol

high profile Buddhist lamas were abusing women and children for decades and Dalai Lama did nothing about it, not even condemn it

More non-shocking news about how processed food is bad and how Nestle are corrupt orcs

IT Stuff

guy makes a simple game in 9 game engines

There is no privacy under attention economy: Even if you're paying for the product, you're still the product (yes even with iPhones)

Making of Vampire Survivors - interview

Science

The New Yorker: How Plastics Are Poisoning Us

Nanoplastic crosses blood-brain barrier

How caffeine affects - and exacerbates - your sleepiness

Entertainment

Saw Barbie (2023). Was good. Lots of thoughts about treating people as "Just Ken" in your life while you live in a "myselfworld" shutting yourself from reality. Strange how easy it is to live a life centered around yourself. Strange how easy it was to build your identity centered around an idea of a romantic partner.

Started playing Siberia 4 (2022). Hearing talks about nazis and salt mine slave labor was. idk. too real right now. OK game so far.

Beacon Pines (2022). MY WORD. The cutest bestest game this year probably. Short, branched, well told story. A bit of a tearjerker.

Bonfire Peaks (2021). Puzzle games about dragging boxes, but in isometric 3D. Sometimes hard. Very stylistic and sentimental.

Oxenfree II (2023). I'm... I'm not sure. I like it. It's good. But it's very different from Oxenfree (2016). Not as branched. Not as replayable. Not as many memorable characters. I wonder what it's like, being owned by Netflix.

I don't have any specific feelings about Adam Sandler but it was interesting to see a different side of him than just the mainstream hate of his bad comedies. Your unfave is unproblematic?

A short opinion piece about multitasking while playing games from Polygon

Music

how to recreate Boards of Canada's Roygbiv only with hardware

music promotion business is a big time scam

MuseScore 4.1 released and it's prettier than ever

Ten rules of techno

More and more of music industry is owned by like 4 companies yay

Video Editing and Color Science

Cullen Kelly and Casey Faris talk: a fairly basic discussion, but with one important takeaway for me: people are much more sensitive to differences in luminance than chromacity.

Resolve 18.5 released a stable version, after 5 (decently stable) beta versions. Automatic audio-to-subtitle transcription yay.

[ghost-in-the-hella]

Let's Play Oxenfree!

Tonight at 6:30pm ET, my partner and I will begin our first-ever playthrough of Oxenfree! Yes, it came out in 2016. No, we really haven't played it yet. Yes, it looks like exactly the kind of game we love to play. No, we're not sure what took us so long.

[chronicas]

Okay, FINALLY getting around to the games played 2022 top ten ranking!!

10. Hollow Knight

VERY fun although I unfortunately didn’t spend much time on it. It definitely presents a pretty significant learning curve because it’s not very much like many other games I’ve played. I hope to revisit it soon!

9. Astro’s Playroom

This cute little platformer comes with the PS5 and demonstrates many of the consoles new functionality! It’s a great way to see what the console is capable of and is also just VERY cute and enjoyable!! Definitely don’t skip this game if you get the chance to play it!

8. Pokémon White

The second oldest game I played this year and also the first non-Pokémon GO Pokémon game I’ve played. Was a lot more simple than I thought it’d be and it’s super fun. I may not know much about Pokémon, but it was really easy to grasp. Really enjoyed it and loved it as an introduction to the franchise. I hope to play more Pokémon games in the future!

7. Bloodborne

My first Fromsoft game hopefully of many! I love the gameplay and design. It’s a really fun game for when I want a challenge! I absolutely adore the boss design in it and would love to you know.. actually beat it someday.

6. Ratchet & Clank (2016)

Despite my many criticisms for this game, it was VERY enjoyable. I still argue it doesn’t quite live up to the original, but the level design being overall the same certainly made it enjoyable! It’s definitely lower on my list than other R&C games, but again! I had a great time with it.

5. Oxenfree

I’m not usually a fan of these kind of point and click games, but the narrative of this game was so so fascinating that it’s actually one of my favorite games I played this year. Only outranked by some of my favorite games in general. I highly recommend giving this game a shot and I’m VERY much looking forward to the sequel.

4. Final Fantasy VII Remake: EPISODE INTERmission

A lot of debating back and forth if this DLC really counted as a “game played” this year, but I decided it did because of how much I enjoyed it. I definitely had my issues with it, mainly all stemming from DOC being my least favorite part of the FFVII Compilation. However with Yuffie being one of my very favorite characters, I think her getting her own dedicated DLC was well deserved! It makes me incredibly excited to use her move set more come Rebirth. While I wasn’t a fan of the narrative of this DLC, the gameplay more than made up for it!!

3. Destiny 2: The Witch Queen

I was EXTREMELY excited about this expansion and I tell you it did NOT disappoint! The story of this expansion was one of my favorites since The Taken King and is in my top five Destiny storylines. The Lucent Hive are among my favorite enemies right after my all time faves, the SIVA corrupted Iron Lords. Something I have wanted since TTK was a storyline about fighting against enemy guardians (not in the Crucible) and this is probably one of the BEST ways they could’ve done that. Oryx, Xivu Arath, and Savathûn are in my opinion the most interesting characters in Destiny, and getting to see Savathûn in action was EVERYTHING I hoped it would be. She unfortunately didn’t live up to the hype of her brother Oryx, but there’s only so much you can do to live up with that without turning into a goddamn kaiju. Still, EXCELLENT expansion and a GREAT place to start if you’re looking to get into Destiny right now!!

2. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

ONE OF THE GAMES OF ALL TIME!!!! Rift Apart ABSOLUTELY lived up to the hype and is in my opinion the best game for next-gen consoles to be released so far. The story is INCREDIBLY enjoyable, the new characters are WONDERFUL additions to the franchise, and the gameplay is hours and hours of pure enjoyment. It was a wonderful use of the new features of the PS5 and absolutely didn’t hold back on using the console to its full potential. If you happen to own a PS5, this game is an absolute MUST!!

1. Sonic Frontiers

SONIC FRANCHISE SAVED!!!! I had a lot of hopes riding on this game and this game blew my expectations out of the water. Ian Flynn’s writing was exceptional and truly captured everything that I love about Sonic games. The open world design was SOOOO much fun and I REALLY hope to see more of it in the future! The boss fights are probably my favorite in any Sonic game I’ve ever played. The MOVESET was SICK AS HELL, I loved the use of combo attacks in this game, not a single battle ever felt boring. The enemy design was EXTREMELY fun, every miniboss was extremely fun and creative. And SAGE?? Everything to me, I hope she appears in every single new game from here on out. The game isn’t without it’s issues, the Cyber Space levels have many of the same issues I had with the level design in Sonic Forces, but that’s pretty much my main complaint. This game makes me EXTREMELY excited about the future of Sonic games. If you haven’t played it yet… do it immediately. There is no game I’ve played in the last five years I would recommend higher than Frontiers.