The dialogue-driven adventure game also draws from the supernatural, shaping a ghostly mythos not unlike an episode of The X-Files crossed with the warped VHS aesthetic of Poltergeist or the John Carpenter-evoking wonders of It Follows. Simply rendering a work in colorful pixel art is the typical shorthand for videogame nostalgia, but Oxenfree stands apart with an even richer visual design and evocative storyline that synthesizes such hallowed coming-of-age tales as Stand By Me, The Breakfast Club, Freaks and Geeks, and the recently venerated Stranger Things. Night School Studio’s 2016 game Oxenfree is one such effort to capture that profound sense of nostalgia and coming-of-age teenage growth. To look back at these times is a form of nostalgia we recall our past lives of deepened friendships and blissful idleness devoid of any and all obligation. As teenagers, these easygoing gatherings take on forms that have passed from mere cliché and into the realm of myth: the bittersweet final night before everyone separates for college, the prodigal reunion of friends who have grown apart over the years, the unspoken romance shyly emerging after dark. The best nights stretch well into the early morning, lasting up until the break of dawn and culminating with a hearty breakfast at a 24-hour diner. The meandering conversation and reminiscing during these long nights are often formative moments where people come to grow as individuals. Nothing captures the feeling of time moving like a late night gathering of friends, whether huddled around a beach bonfire or under stars at a national park or even just sipping beers on a backyard patio scored to a symphony of crickets. Miguel Penabella knows the owls are not what they seem.
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