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Oxenfree, unarguably the best game of 2016, is free on GOG right now!

Olly olly!

Oxenfree is my favourite game of 2016. Unfortunately I didn't play it until the very end of 2016, so didn't know to bellow about it when the time was ripe. The time, people, is ripe once more. Oxenfree, the best game of last year, is free right now on GOG! Oxenfree, you might say, if you were a twerp.

All you'll need is a GOG account, and you just click the button to add it to your library. I was sure there'd be some grim catch, like having to Facebook about how I'd Tweeted GOG's MySpace page or something. But no, you just click. Cripes. To get the best game of 2016.

Sure, sure, we may have all voted for Devil Daggers to be the Official Best Game Of Last Year, but that's because we were all wrong. Or at least all hadn't played Oxenfree except for Pip. In fact, since Pip's defected to the darkest of dark sides, let's blame her entirely. It's Pip's fault this wasn't our top pick for 2016, and indeed entirely failed to appear in the calendar altogether. PIP!

Why is it so great? Because it features the most exceptional writing, wonderfully likeable and unlikeable characters, an absolutely spellbinding plot about mysterious creepy radio signals on an abandoned island, and the most truthful portrayal about the agony of giving up childhood for adulthood. It's funny and spooky, and super-clever.

Oh, and while I've got you, I do feel the need to address a real oddity I've discovered when discussing the game. I keep encountering people saying the name is weird and/or meaningless. And then I say, "But 'Olly olly oxenfree!'", and they look at me like I've got stark raving bonkers. It really does seem that some people entirely forgot to include a vital part of childhood. I'm not wrong - look, it's a thing! You'd yell it when it was safe to stop hiding in a game! Honestly, people.

That aside, now you can play the Official Best Game Of 2016 for free! It's usually $20! I'm not sure why they'd do this, but grab it by clicking the "Get for free" button on GOG's front page - you'd be ridiculous not to.

Developers Night School Studio recently announced their next game, the Hellish pub crawl Afterparty.

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John Walker avatar

John Walker

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Once one of the original co-founders of Rock Paper Shotgun, they killed me out of jealousy. I now run buried-treasure.org

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