Night School Studios has announced they’re bringing the original soundtrack for their supernatural teen thriller Oxenfree to vinyl, courtesy of the fine folks at iam8bit.. The deliciously atmospheric OST is the work of SCNTFC (Sword and Sworcery), and it may very well be my favorite video game OST of 2016 thus far.
The soundtrack is fantastic, but it isn’t the best thing about Oxenfree. There’s a lot to love about this charming ghost story, and I did my best to go over all of it in my review.
The audio/visual stuff is top notch, particularly the former, which benefits from some stellar sound design, quality voice acting and the OST I mentioned earlier. What surprised me is how well it works as a game and as a delivery device for a surprisingly emotional story. It actually makes having conversations with NPCs a joy to have, and that’s no small feat.
It has a satisfying narrative that can be seen through to the end over the course of an evening or two, but it’s the cast of refreshingly complex characters — sans the stereotypical teen angst garbage these games often rely upon — and the dynamic relationships between them that really carries the story. I usually cared more about my fickle relationships with my virtual friends than the vengeful spirits who were actively trying to murder them.
Anyway, it’s a good game, and it’s coming to PS4 on May 31 for $19.99, or $14.99 if you’re a PS Plus subscriber. The vinyl OST costs $35, and it’s available for pre-order over here.
