Does Oxen Free Continue in Continue Timeline
Oxenfree's ending satisfied me in a way no man ever could
dameinformer
Never has a second playthrough been more worth it. Oh and huge major serious spoilers.
Oxenfree interested me from the very start. It was, by definition, a "me" type of game, complete with well written teenagers, witty humor, and blue haired female protagonists. Being a Playstation gamer, I didn't get to try out Oxenfree until this past week. And let me tell you, when the credits rolled over the first thing I did was google "so I can get out of this time loop somehow right? There's a true ending I just screwed up, right? RIGHT?"
For those wondering, Oxenfree is about a group of teenagers who go to a haunted island for a night of drinking and romance. It all starts to go bad, however, when the protagonist Alex and her new step brother Jonas unleash ghosts into the wild via Alex's radio. Suddenly, time starts looping, people get possessed, and the group is forced to explore the island in search of a way out.
Oxenfree relies heavily on dialogue options and story choices. Will you play like an asshole or angel? Will you sacrifice the mean girl to the ghosts to save your own skin? These choices feel very important, as they should, but the game's ending leaves most of them pointless. Basically, the idea behind Oxenfree is one of infinite realities, all playing out in slightly different ways, but ultimately doomed to run the same course. In other words, your choices mean shit, as the ending will play out the same every time: the teens will leave the island, celebratory in their supposed victory over the ghosts. Only, there's a catch. The big shocker comes with the realization that Alex is an infinite time loop, fating her to repeat this night on the island over and over. Her choices on the island mean nothing. She is doomed to repeat this night, and nothing she can do will ever truly destroy the ghosts. There's a lot of cool theories out there about why this ending plays out the way it does, but that's the basic gist of it.
Well, wait. That sounds like a shitty ending, right? Yeah, I thought so too. The realization that all my choices were worth nothing, and that the game had no "true" ending or way out of the time loop, annoyed me and hurt my overall impression of the game.
But wait! There's more! And it's called the game's second ending.
I went ahead and played Oxenfree again, for trophy purposes. And again, I went through the motions, the ghosts telling me over and over that I'm stuck here, that I can't change anything. But then I got to the very end of the game, and a new choice popped up. I could attempt, futility, to send a radio message to a different version of myself (one from a different reality) and warn her 1) not to go to the island 2) not to bring the radio to the island, or 3) not to go into the cave (where the ghosts are released). I opted for choice 3, figuring it wouldn't work anyway. I had no reason to believe it would work.
And then it worked.
A fresh scene overcame my screen, edging me forward, turning up the volume. In this scene, Alex, her friend Ren, and her step brother Jonas, are sitting outside a convenient store, waiting for Ren's sister to buy them booze before they catch the boat to the island. Alex turns on her radio, and to my shock and awe, hears the message from her former self. Okay, I wasn't really that surprised the message got to her. What totally blew me away was the fact that IT WORKED. Ren accuses Alex of being too scared to go to the island, and thus set up this message to thwart them away. Despite denying that, the trio abandons their plans to go the island and opts for a night in instead.
My heart began to sing when the main menu popped up, giving me the option to "play the game" rather than "continue the timeline." I GOT OUT OF THE TIME LOOP. I'M FREE!
And sure, I'm a total dork for getting this stoked over an ending to a game, and even more so for caring so much that an imaginary character is no longer bound to an imaginary infinity repeating imaginary events on an imaginary island. But this ending was just so good. It was such a clever way to fix the shortcomings of the first ending. It made my choices matter. It resulted in an event I had been told repeatedly, not just through the game but through google search, wasn't possible.
Oxenfree started out as a game I enjoyed. And after this ending, it's a game I completely love, and it's second ending is probably my favorite of any game ever. The only thing is, I'm pretty sure this proper ending is only possible on the PS4 version of the game, as that's the only version where "continuing the timeline" is an option, and I'm pretty sure you must play through the game twice, with that option chosen, in order to get this ending.
So if you want to try out Oxenfree, the best place to play is on PS4, as you'll get that ending after a second playthrough. Happy gaming and may you feel the glory of getting out of the time loop!
You can also get the new content and endings on Steam, GoG, and Xbox!
Source: https://nightschoolstudio.tumblr.com/post/145532305461/oxenfrees-ending-satisfied-me-in-a-way-no-man
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