

Most of the attention goes to character development, conversations and the relationships between the characters.

She is the main character and controlled by the player, while the other characters generally follow her. Alex can be moved around freely and a single button is used to climb or jump gaps, but only to continue moving as there are no platform elements. The game is played from a third-person side view with side-scrolling environments. Ren talks about strange phenomena that occur in a nearby cave and that triggers an event that takes the teenagers to locations all over the island. The game starts as a lazy evening at the beach with a campfire. There are however still many buildings from a long time ago. The island has a few shops for tourists, but only the old Mrs Adler lives there. Clarissa used to date Michael, Alex's brother who passed away, and they do not get along. Joining them is Mona, Ren's crush, and the cynical Clarissa. She brings along Jonas, her new stepbrother who does not yet know much about Alex. The blue-haired Alex is the main protagonist and she is a good friend of Ren, a talkative stoner. Five teenagers travel there by boat to hang out and spend the weekend. Oxenfree is an adventure game with supernatural elements set on Edwards Island, an old military island.
