Oxenfree

Plot synopsis:
Alex (Erin Yvette), a teenager, is on the last ferry heading to Edwards Island for a weekend party. She is accompanied by Ren (Aaron Kuban), her friend and frequent drug user, and Jonas (Gavin Hammon), her new stepbrother. Alex and company soon meet Clarissa (Avital Ash), Alex's late brother Michael's ex-girlfriend, and Nona (Brittani Johnson), Clarissa's best friend and Ren's love interest. After camping on the beach, Alex, Ren, and Jonas explore the nearby caves, where it is rumored certain radio frequencies cause supernatural events. In a small cavern, Alex tunes and unexpectedly forms a rift. A voice answers and the two experience visions and pass out. Jonas then wakes Alex in front of Harden Tower. They get a call from Ren, who passed out in the woods and Clarissa then calls from Fort Milner, the decommissioned military fort on the island. The calls are cut off and both walk into the forest.
They discover a small house, turning off the main switch to a lamp glowing red and briefly plays a ukulele tune that Jonas seems to recognize before the streetlights jolt. They then take a cable car to a campground, with Jonas passionately asks about Michael. They find the grounds abandoned and time supernaturally repeats twice. The radio then "talks" again, but time loops to Jonas gone, and a figure taking her reflection appears and communicates. Time corrects when Alex plays a magnetophone. They spot Nona, claiming she saw an alternate Jonas and Alex, redirecting her to Harden Tower to find Clarissa.
Alex and Jonas start to befriend another and they find Ren, but time loops again to exhibit him doing strange activity only to find him gone when fixed. They find him possessed, which creates another rift that knocks him out. Ren wakes up and goes to Harden Tower, and Jonas and Alex go to Fort Milner to rescue Clarissa. Alex then uses the radio on a light in which a voice states a game and a door unlocks. While inside, Jonas is trapped and Alex's reflection appears in a mirror, giving Alex advice. After this, they find the backdoor combination and leave. A ghost then questions them and possesses Jonas, revealing that the ghosts are in fact the passengers of a submarine ripped into an alternate dimension. Alex creates a third rift that wakes Jonas. Both find Clarissa, but time loops to her hanged and repeats to her falling to her death. It then corrects to her gone.
Nona, Alex, Jonas and Ren meet at Harden Tower, where Jonas blames Ren. The feud subsides and Alex brings one of the others to find a key in an office, where Jonas apologizes. They break in and find the key, and two radios capable of unlocking locks on the island as well as a letter from the island's former resident detailing the existence of 12 beacons hidden on the island. They then find Clarissa unconscious, where she remembers Milner. The group then meet up in the boardwalk, where Clarissa blames Alex for everything and Michael's death, but time loops Alex and her companion back to the office. On the way back, time loops to a year ago as Alex sees Michael and Clarissa and hangs out. She loops back unconscious.
The group then goes to an estate to steal a boat and go home. The radio unlocks the gate and they search the estate. Soon after, Alex finds the estate with the bodies of Nona, Clarissa, Jonas and Ren. A possessed Clarissa informs Alex that the test is a hide-and-seek game, in which she passes. Alex's reflection again appears in a mirror. The group then wakes to find Clarissa in a bomb shelter. They find a schematic that details how to fix the tear: Tranposing onto the other side and tuning within. Jonas and Alex get to the hill, but time loops to where Nona informs that Ren "died", and loops to reveal different causes of his "Death". A ghost then possesses Jonas and tells her that Clarissa can't be saved and bargains, but Alex declines. The loops continuously keep repeating until Alex comforts Nona grieving Ren's death, correcting the loop.
Alex and Jonas then trek to the lookout post as Nona and Ren stand by to unlock the bomb shelter. As they conference, Jonas fears the possibility of a reset and thanks Alex for the time they spent. After collecting a series of notes and letters, time loops Alex a year ago again in the middle of a conversation with Michael and then corrects at the end. Alex and Jonas then meet up with Nona and Ren at the bomb shelter, and Alex and Jonas go in. Finding a possessed tape player, the frequency sends Alex to the rift's side. Going to the rift's cave, she tunes a rift that sends her into a void.
Encountering the possessed Clarissa, she is warned that she will die if the rift is closed and time will loop infinitely, but Clarissa will be kept if she goes through the portal. Alex can then leave, erasing Clarissa from existence; close the portal herself, trapping her with the ghosts; or if she has found enough letters, Alex can appeal to the crew members directly, convincing them to let both Clarissa and herself go. Going through various loops, the reflection figure is revealed to be Alex herself. She then loops back to a conversation to Michael, who admits that he and Clarissa are planning to move. Time then corrects.
Alex then wakes up with Jonas, Nona, Clarissa and Ren on the ferry back home, with Jonas informing her that whatever she did fixed the rift and that everything is normal. Everyone then reveals that, for a limited period, they revisited past memories. They then swear to not tell anyone about their experiences and all decide to do leisure to forget. Nona takes a final group picture.
=== Epilogue and endings ===
In the epilogue, Alex reveals that she had told her mom that she was going to sleepover at a friend's house. The ending can change based upon actions made in the game, with the layout of the picture itself changing as a consequence.
Clarissa's friendship with Alex and Michael can be either preserved or destroyed, or she can be sacrificed to the rift, with no one remembering Clarissa except Alex herself. If she is saved and depending on the actions, she will either flunk or continue English.
Ren will either date or not date Nona depending on Alex's actions. However, he moves to a college out-of-town.
Nona goes to a ballet school, and depending on Ren, she will be in a long-distance relationship.
Jonas's relationship with Alex can be either preserved and destroyed depending. Alex can still bond somewhat distantly with Jonas, with him residing with his biological father instead of Alex's mother, if so chose.
Michael can be revived through time looping and puzzles. If so, Michael will replace Jonas in the game and Jonas and Alex will cease to be step-siblings. The player's actions can either destroy or preserve Michael's relationship with Clarissa.
Delivering a statement on her experience, Alex can ether go to college in or out of her hometown or take time off, depending on a choice the player makes during the epilogue. Thereafter, in a swift and mysterious turn of events, the screen flickers and Alex tells the player she is going to meet up with Clarissa, Ren and Nona to go to Edward's Island and she is picking up Jonas, who she never met, before the screen flickers to black, revealing that the infinite loop is in effect.
In the Game+ ending, Alex, Jonas and Ren are near a supermarket before they go to the ferry, when Ren tells her to tune in to a frequency, which plays a song from the soundtrack before they hear a message from a future Alex, before she entered the cave to close the rift. Depending on the message and how the player responds throughout the resulting conversation, they can end up not going to the island, preventing the loop.

Tags: paranormal, dark, humor

Review:
A coming of age tale that is one worth telling. Oxenfree is a majestic, supernatural coming of age story which uses branching dialogue to give real three dimensional depths to its lead characters.Whilst the game is relatively short, about six/seven hours in length, quality has definitely been chosen over quality, you still feel that you have been on an adventure through the characters dialogue, the multiple paths you can take (and alternate endings) along with the beautiful scenery.My main complaints are a lack of really challenging puzzles and the short time that you are given to choose your dialogue.Oxenfree has it's funny moments and at times can be very touching, but despite being essentially a horror game, it isn't scary.Overall you will be entranced by the characters and their story lines. Just a shame there isn't really much replay value, especially if you get the good ending first time, like I did.. A phenomenal blend of horror, storytelling, and thrills.. Oxenfree blends a mixture of suspense, horror and, on a few occasions, a good sprinkling of sheer terror. Set on a historical island, you and a couple of fellow teens begin to uncover a mind bending mystery. In between dialogue choices, which do affect player relationships and the overall ending, the main mechanic of the game is the use of an old radio, allowing the player to tune in to random frequencies at any time. This can be used to uncover secrets, make contact through inter-dimensional time rifts, and listen to the radio, of course. The art style of gorgeous, the soundtrack is one of a kind, and it was a joy from start to finish. I would recommend this game to everyone.