Storytelling to End Stereotyping:
The Importance of Choice and Strong Narrative in Oxenfree
By: Danica Ebel
Making Choices Matter
Released in 2015, Oxenfree is a narrative driven, interactive storytelling experience created by independent developer Night School Studios. Similar to other recent indie hits such as Gone Home, Dear Esther, and Firewatch, Oxenfree is a highly-stylized piece of interactive fiction experienced through the perspective of a young woman; in this case, Alex. There is no combat, no puzzle-solving, and the storyline is relatively linear; Oxenfree is all about choices. While you play as Alex, the choices you make through her interactions with the other characters shape who she is as a character, or rather who the player believes she is. Not only that, but the choices the player makes through Alex significantly influence the not-so-final outcome of the game. Later in this post, I will address how the choices presented in Oxenfree lead the titular characters past their initial stereotyped presentations, creating well-rounded and fully developed characters; this is essential especially for the female characters, considering the historical tendency of representations of women in video games to be disappointingly flat and one-dimensional.
But first, choice: what exactly, in a video game, makes player choices significant? Or rather, what makes players believe their choices are significant, and does it matter if they really are or are not? In Narrating Futures: Storyplaying, Agency and Narrative in Video Games Sebastion Domsch focuses on choice and its relationship to narrative in the chapter “Choice and Narrative in Video Games”. Through analysis taken from Salen and Zimmerman, he poses five questions relating to choices in games:
He also adds his own question: “What information does the player have about the effect of her choices?” (Domsch 113). All of these questions and factors make up the anatomy of a player choice, and are often determiners in whether or not a choice is significant, especially that concerning the result of the choice. If a player makes a choice about dialogue—as is often the case in Oxenfree—that appears to have no immediate effect, it feels less impactful than one that has obvious consequences right away (although, this does not mean the choice will not have far-reaching effects later in the game). Choice-based narratives also tend to have player choices build on one another—so a misstep here and there may not completely change the course of the narrative.
In this chapter, Domsch also discusses the different types of choices games often present, and why only certain ones tend to be compelling. He claims, “the choice situations that are perceived as interesting in a structural sense provide only incomplete information…there are conflicting arguments for and against each choice that might have probabilities, but no certainties attached to them” (Domsch 115). If a player knows a choice will not impact their gameplay or if the “correct” choice is evident, that choice is less compelling than one with an air of uncertainty around it. As Brenda Brathwaite points out in Challenges for Game Designers “whenever a player is allowed to exercise choice in a game and that choice affects the outcome of the game, then designers are creating meaning. In order to create choice, there has to be another option that has meaning as well” (Brathwaite 3). This can be extended for choices that have no certain positive or negative outcome—situations where none of the options are necessarily right or wrong, just different with various outcomes.
Choice as the Game Mechanic in Oxenfree
According to Brathwaite, game mechanics work in tandem with game dynamics and aesthetics; she explains:
if mechanics are the rules and dynamics are the play of the game, then aesthetics are typically the fun…designers ask themselves which aesthetic they hope to achieve, define the dynamics that would lead to this feeling, and then create the mechanics to produce the desired dynamics.
(Braithwaite 17)
In Oxenfree, choice is the core mechanic that influences both the dynamics and the aesthetics of the overall gameplay. There is not much else to the game besides walking around the environments, clicking on areas of interest (to examine, or jump if it’s a ledge), and tuning the radio (an interesting aspect of the game, but one that does not relate to choice). The choices the player makes through Alex contribute to an air of uncertainty to the game; some seem insignificant, but as the narrative goes on it becomes less clear which choices do and do not matter. That these choices must all be made in real-time adds an added layer of urgency to gameplay, emphasized by the atmosphere of the gameworld.
Choice is made in Oxenfree entirely through dialogue; some conversations 
obviously move the narrative along; others seem like filler during long sections of walking, but actually reveal characters’ underlying personalities and influence the results of the narrative. As Alex, the player decides how to respond to dialogue from the other characters. As previously mentioned, in Oxenfree the dialogue choices build on one another towards various narrative outcomes; thus, all choices are important even when it is not evident to the player, but making mistakes every once in a while will not ruin the end result of the game if the player is aiming for a specific outcome.
Five Teenagers Camp Out on an Island
(A brief summary: Alex and her friends head out to Edward’s Island for a traditional junior class overnight party. Alex brings a radio to tune into strange frequencies rumored to be present on the island. Tuning into these frequencies rips open a time loop that allows the ghosts of people who died on the island years before to possess the teenagers. Alex must find a way to close the time loop and save her friends.) Trailers for Oxenfree can be viewed here.
Besides Alex, there are five major characters in Oxenfree that are influenced by player choice. These are: Jonah (Alex’s step-brother), Michael (Alex’s dead brother), Ren (Alex’s best friend), Clarissa (Alex’s dead brother’s girlfriend), and Nona (Clarissa’s friend).
From left to right: Jonah, Alex, Ren, Nona, Michael, and Clarissa
Michael is dead at the beginning of the game, but the player as Alex can interact with him through flashbacks; these glimpses into Alex’s past not only reveal character backstory, but also allow the player to change the scenarios the led to Michael’s death. The player can only change past events that Alex was actually present for; she cannot influence the events that led to the death of the people who now haunt the island, or save characters she has never met such as Maggie Adler and her friend.
The developers of Oxenfree utilized “environmental storytelling” to place players in the context of the game without having to explain every little detail through dialogue; essentially, they used the game environments to “evoke pre-existing narrative associations” through color palette choices and location design; they also used the environment to “embed narrative information” through the radio anomalies, letters, and plaques scattered throughout the island (Jenkins 178).
Tuning into plaques such as the one above gives the player information about Edward’s Island
These design elements allow the choices and dialogue in Oxenfree to focus on character development and moving the plot forward rather than imparting backstory about the island. While there are elements of backstory present in the dialogue between characters, these all relate to the characters themselves; the player is not forced to sit through backstory dialogue, and they do not have to listen to or seek out the information about the island—although it does behoove them to do so.
How Choice Subverts Stereotypes in Oxenfree
Alex, Jonah, Ren, Nona, Clarissa, and Michael all fulfill traditional high school stereotypes when the player initially meets each of them: Alex is the quirky, nerdy girl; Jonah is the new kid; Ren is the burn-out; Nona is the cool girl; Michael is the all-around golden boy (smart, good at sports, charming); and Clarissa is cast as the resident mean-girl.
There are—of course—events that happen before the beginning of the game that influence the way the characters behave at the start: Michael drowns and Clarissa blames Alex; Jonas’ mom dies and his dad marries Alex’s mom; etc. These are all events the player is unaware of as they begin the game, but as they are revealed through gameplay the player gains a better understanding of each character and why they behave towards Alex in certain ways.
So where does the player exert influence? It’s easy to write the non-playable character off as their initially presented stereotypes, and to play Alex as the “angsty” girl with a dead brother being treated unfairly; these options are available to the player. But the more interesting choices transform the major tropes in the game (a junior class tradition of spending the night on Edward’s Island partying, or a horror story about ghosts trying to possess a bunch of teenagers, among others) into a unique coming-of-age story that turns player expectations on their heads. There are multiple possible endings for each character that allow the player’s choices as Alex to change the outcome of the narrative.
These are limited, of course. Alex cannot die and Clarissa is the only character that can be left behind on the island, for instance. As explained by Gonzalo Frasca in Simulation vs. Narrative “the biggest fallacy of “interactive narrative” is that it pretends to give freedom to the player while maintaining narrative coherence” (Frasca 229). As explained earlier, having actual choice is not nearly as important as giving the illusion of meaningful decisions. Oxenfree allows players to have it both ways; whereas “traditional storytelling normally deals with endings in a binary way”, storytelling in Oxenfree and in video games at large allows for more options for the player (Frasca 226). The storyline and dialogue are carefully constructed to allow for player choice that influences the end of the game while simultaneously maintaining narrative coherence. This dynamic goes in hand with the mechanic of choice: whereas games and stories with binary endings tend to have choices that either obviously have no impact on the larger narrative or are clearly defined as to which choice is “correct” and which choice is “wrong”, games such as Oxenfree allow for more ambiguity and thus more meaning within the story. The player makes almost every dialogue choice for Alex; they influence who she is through these choices and feel attached to their version of Alex as a result.
Thinking Bigger
Regardless of the gender of the player, they only have one character to play as in the gameworld: Alex, who is clearly female—although she does have a gender-neutral name and there is no indication of her sexuality or gender identification. What is interesting about the narrative and choices presented in Oxenfree is of course what they are (a story about a female protagonist saving her friends from ghostly possession with the subplot of forgiving herself for her brother’s death), but also what they are not (there is no romantic subplot for Alex, she never needs saving by a male character, etc.).
Not only are women well-represented in Oxenfree (when it’s all said and done, there are more relevant female characters in the game), but they are represented diversely and with depth. Each character (male or female) has a well thought out backstory, giving meaning to their behavior and the narrative which the player can interact with and influence. As stated by Dmitri Williams et al. in The Virtual Census: Representations of Gender, Race and Age in Video Games, “the presence, absence or type of portrayal of social groups matter in a diverse society…groups who appear more often in the media are more ‘vital’” (Williams et al. 818). The video game industry lacks notably in the presence and representation of women in their games even though the number of female players almost equals male players at this point. While not all players will identify directly with Alex, the sheer diversity of personality and appearance in the characters allows for a greater chance that a player will have someone they can relate to within Oxenfree. Games such as Oxenfree with strong narratives that allow meaningful player choice and a diverse cast of characters are widening the scope of female representation in video games.
Works Cited
Brathwaite, Brenda, and Ian Schreiber. “Part 1: Building Blocks.” Challenges for Game Designers. Boston, MA: Charles River Media, 2009. N. pag. Print.
Domsch, Sebastian. Storyplaying Agency and Narrative in Video Games. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2013. Print. Narrating Futures Storyplaying.
Frasca, Gonzalo. “Chapter 10: Simulation versus Narrative.” The Video Game Theory Reader. Ed. Mark JP Wolf and Bernard Perron. New York, NY: Routledge, 2003. 221-37. Print.
Jenkins, Henry. “Game Design as Narrative Architecture.” Games: New Media and Culture (n.d.): 174-86. Print.
“OXENFREE.” Night School Studio. Night School Studio, 13 Sept. 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.
Steam. Oxenfree. Night School Studio, 2015. Computer Software.
Taylor, T. L. “Chapter 4: Where the Women Are.” Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2006. N. pag. Print.
Williams, Dmitri, Nicole Martins, Mia Consalvo, and James D. Ivory. “The Virtual Census: Representations of Gender, Race and Age in Video Games.” New Media & Society 11.5 (2009): 815-34. Web.