How many hours is Oxenfree?
How long is Oxenfree? Is it a 30-minute game? Do you expect the game to last five hours or will it take longer? I would assume that the main plot won't take too long to reach an endpoint. After all, you are playing as a protagonist who's looking for a cure to the disease with which he's been infected. However, I'm also assuming you can get trapped in subplots and side missions, as well as go on the run from people who want to kill you because of your powers and so on. If it takes more than 10 hours, I'd recommend to play the game through until the end even if you find it boring. Personally, the game really hooked me in the first couple hours. After that point though, I found it repetitive, but I think that's normal.
After 30-40 minutes, a good game will usually still have plenty of left in the storyline, so if it's not finished within that time period, keep playing until you reach the end. Sometimes, they'll also add a few extra minutes just to let you enjoy some background information or some other fun stuff. And this is why it's important that you keep playing the game. Otherwise you'll miss out on a lot of stuff that will make the next playthrough so much better.
For example, if you die at the point where they want to explain what really happened, then you'll have to start over from the beginning. But if you stay alive, you'll notice that one of the first things that happens after you finish is the character speaks to you. For example:
"In the first game, I told you about your powers. Well, the second game is different. Now that you've seen the world and realized the danger around you, it's your job to decide what you want to do with your powers."
It's like they added extra time after you finished because they wanted you to keep playing, and the more you keep playing, the more they will reveal. You could say that the player character has a "main theme" of discovering his new powers, but themes of the two games are quite similar, and that's why there's no significant difference in how the games end.
So it really depends on the experience that you want.
Is Oxenfree a horror game?
I just got to the point where I've finished Oxenfree. I thought it was pretty good, and I liked the characters. Then I started thinking about the story, and about whether or not it was a horror game.
The story is really interesting and well-written, especially the first half, but then it goes into some territory that just doesn't feel like a horror game. I mean, the zombies are really stupid (mostly, anyway), and they don't ever really do anything scary. The "nightmares" that happened to Emily were really dumb, and not scary at all.
So, basically, what do you think? Is it a horror game? How was it, in your opinion? Did you enjoy it? If so, how? Personally, I found it incredibly slow. Maybe this is because I only had two days to play it, but I just felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. I didn't find myself caring about the characters. When I came upon someone who seemed like they could be a good character, they'd turn out to be the worst. Maybe I could've handled more of the story in one sitting, but I didn't have that opportunity. I'm also worried that it's not a horror game because I didn't feel scared.
I did think it was a pretty good game. It's not super original, but there were moments when I thought that was kinda cool. And yeah, I agree with you about the first half being more interesting. I thought the overall storytelling was solid. I don't know, I guess I just didn't feel like the "horror" factor was there.
I played it on PC. I really enjoyed the game. For a few hours I wasn't sure if it was horror or not. But as the game went on and I explored the map, I started to realize that this was a very creepy game. And I started to wonder what would happen if I turned a corner and encountered a dead body. Then I was scared. The whole game was really good and kept my interest.
It was a good horror game, I was never scared. The scares came from knowing that were living through a zombie apocalypse and that you are not safe, and that the world is not a nice place.
It was slow and clunky, but I found it interesting.
Are there multiple endings to Oxenfree?
And is it better or worse if you choose them all and watch the game in reverse order, so the ending that you didn't know about is the first thing that you see on the screen?
Oxenfree isn't a game that offers multiple endings. You get one ending and that's that. So no, it's not like the Uncharted series where you could play through the game and unlock multiple ending scenes.
What it does offer is choices that will lead you to certain endings, but they don't offer a choice between different endings like an Uncharted game does. I believe there are only 2 endings, one where your friends survive and one where they die.
Which is why I'm not too keen on starting a third playthrough in Oxenfree either. I really enjoyed the first time around, but I honestly don't remember anything about it. Not even who lives and who dies. So it's going to be a fresh start from scratch for me and I'm still not sure about how I'm feeling about Oxenfree yet.
I just want to say I think this game is incredible, and really unique and has excellent writing. My favourite type of games is those where the writing feels as good as the gameplay. This is one of those games. All the parts of the game are so well written, and so natural. It feels so real, and I love that.
It's definitely very unique and I'll give it a try soon. However, I have to admit that I'm a bit scared about how hard it is and how much work it is to get through. It just looks very rough and brutal to me.