First Runner Up: Night School Studio (Oxenfree)
Night School Studio’s Oxenfree may have released all the way back in January of this year, but it still sticks out as one of the most memorable titles of 2016. The small studio, created by former devs from Telltale and Disney, crafted an experience with an unforgettable story, and equally engaging characters.
Oxenfree focuses on a rebellious teenager named Alex who takes her brother and friends to a late night party on an abandoned military island. As you might expect, things go awry, and the group ends up opening a rift in time to the island’s past. The game is naturally spooky and unsettling, but doesn’t rely on cheap scares to do so, instead building its horror through atmosphere and tone.
The shining piece of Oxenfree, however, comes in its dialogue and characters. At its heart the game is a coming of age story, and a branching dialogue system really lets you dive into these characters. As Alex, you don’t have to be nice to people just because they’re your friends. You can call them out for whatever you think, or treat them whatever way you want. The conversations between Alex and her friends don’t feel the least bit forced. It’s all genuinely adolescent and convincing dialogue that teenagers in this situation would probably have. These interactions are a simple system, but one that immediately draws you into the narrative and continuously drives the game forward.
Oxenfree is undoubtedly one of the very best indie games of 2016, but surprisingly, that’s not all Night School Studio was up to this year. The studio also made a tie-in mobile game for the TV show Mr. Robot, which was published by Telltale. The fittingly titled Mr. Robot:1.51exfiltrati0n is a strange interactive experience that has you doing things like communicating to characters via text message and having others “hack” your phone.
Nigh School Studio showed us that they really now how to craft characters and stories this year, and hopefully they’re able to continue that expertise in whatever they do next.
