Ever finish a game and immediately wonder, “Wait, what if I’d done that differently?” Welcome to Edwards Island, the creepy, time-bending setting of Oxenfree. This isn’t just some spooky story; it’s a game where your words, your choices, and even your silences ripple outwards, changing friendships, futures, and the very fabric of reality. If you’ve navigated the ghostly frequencies and teenage drama, you know the Oxenfree endings are where everything truly comes together… or falls apart.
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Oxenfree masterfully blends a supernatural thriller with a coming-of-age story. You play as Alex, a blue-haired teen visiting a weird, decommissioned military island for a beach party with friends and her new step-bro, Jonas. Things go sideways fast when Alex messes with her radio in a cave, accidentally tearing open a rift and letting loose some very confused, very angry ghosts – the crew of the sunken submarine USS Kanaloa. What follows is a night of trying to survive, fix the mess, and navigate some seriously complicated relationships, all while ghostly voices chatter through your radio.
The beauty (and sometimes frustration) of Oxenfree lies in how much your choices matter. The game’s dynamic dialogue system means conversations flow naturally, even while you’re walking around. But choose your words carefully (or choose to stay silent), because every interaction shapes how the Oxenfree endings play out for Alex and her friends. Ready to dive into the different timelines and figure out how to get the ending you want? Let’s tune in.
Meet the Crew: How Relationships Shape Your Oxenfree Endings
The heart of Oxenfree beats within its characters and their tangled relationships. How you treat each person directly impacts their fate and the overall conclusion of your story.
Alex: The Heart of the Story
As the player character, Alex is dealing with a lot – mainly the recent death of her brother, Michael, and the arrival of Jonas as her stepbrother. You decide her personality. Is she kind and apologetic? Sarcastic and defensive? Or maybe just quiet and observant? Your dialogue choices define her relationships and are the central pillar influencing all the Oxenfree endings.
Jonas: Step-Brother or Distant Acquaintance?
Jonas is the newcomer, trying to find his place while dealing with his own losses. Building a bond with him is key to the “New Beginnings” ending, where they become close siblings.
- To get close: Be consistently nice, defend him, keep him with you when possible, let him use the time-rewinding tape player to talk to his mom’s ghost, and crucially, don’t save Michael in the flashbacks (more on that later!).
- To push him away: Be mean, blame him for things, leave him behind, and save Michael (which prevents him from becoming your step-brother in the first place). This leads to endings where they barely speak after the island.
Ren and Nona: Matchmaker or Saboteur?
Alex’s goofy best friend Ren has a crush on Clarissa’s quiet friend Nona. Whether they get together for a long-distance relationship is entirely up to Alex’s meddling (or lack thereof).
- To play matchmaker: Say nice things about each to the other, give them space alone together (like leaving them at Harden Tower while you take Jonas), and don’t rat Ren out during the “Truth or Slap” game.
- To keep them apart: Be discouraging, interrupt them, separate them, and definitely throw Ren under the bus during “Truth or Slap”.
Clarissa: Friend, Foe, or Forgotten?
Clarissa, Michael’s ex-girlfriend, starts off hostile towards Alex, blaming her for Michael’s death. She’s also a prime target for ghost possession. Your interactions drastically change her future.
- To reconcile: Choose apologetic and friendly dialogue, reject the ghosts’ creepy proposition to sacrifice her later in the game, and maybe rescue Ren first to show you’re not solely focused on her. This can lead to her studying literature and getting a dog.
- To make her hate you: Be antagonistic, agree to the ghosts’ deal (even if you don’t go through with it), tell the others about the deal, and rescue her first (which annoys Ren). This might see her dropping out of college and moving away.
- To erase her: The darkest path. Agree to the ghosts’ deal and exit through the final portal while she’s trapped. This wipes her from existence entirely, with no one remembering her.
Michael: The Ghost of the Past (Alive or Dead?)
Through timey-wimey shenanigans, Alex gets chances to interact with her deceased brother, Michael, in flashbacks. Your dialogue choices here can literally bring him back to life, drastically altering the timeline and relationships.
- To keep Michael deceased: In the final flashback, encourage him to leave town or pursue his relationship with Clarissa. This is necessary for Jonas to become your step-brother.
- To save Michael: Encourage him to stay home or stay in town during the final flashback. Remaining silent during this sequence also achieves this. He lives, but Jonas never becomes your step-brother (though they can still be friends). You can also influence whether he stays with Clarissa or breaks up with her based on your encouragement.
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Tuning into Different Realities: Major Oxenfree Endings Explained
Okay, so you know how relationships can change, but what do the actual Oxenfree endings look like? They range from bittersweet to hopeful to downright chilling.
The “Standard” Time Loop Ending
Perhaps the most common (and unsettling) ending finds Alex… stuck. The final scenes often imply the night on Edwards Island is repeating, possibly infinitely. Is Alex possessed? Is she just caught in the ghosts’ temporal mess? It’s a haunting conclusion that reflects the cyclical nature of grief and trauma, maybe even nodding to the act of replaying the game itself, trying to find a better outcome. You, the player, are looping with Alex.
Relationship Roundup: Common Character Fates
Your choices paint a picture of the characters’ lives after the island. Here’s a quick summary table based on common outcomes found in the research:
| Character(s) | Possible Ending State(s) | Key Influencing Choices / Playstyle |
|---|---|---|
| Ren & Nona | Dating (long-distance) | Be supportive, leave them alone together, don’t rat Ren out. |
| Not Dating | Be discouraging, separate them, rat Ren out. | |
| Jonas | Close Siblings/Friends | Be kind, keep him close, defend him, let him use time rewinder, don’t save Michael. |
| Distant Acquaintances | Be mean, leave him behind, save Michael. | |
| Clarissa | Reconciled with Alex (studies, gets dog) | Be friendly, reject ghost proposal. |
| Hates Alex (drops out, moves away) | Be antagonistic, agree to ghost proposal (but maybe don’t sacrifice her). | |
| Erased from Existence | Agree to ghost proposal AND exit via final portal. | |
| Michael | Remains Dead | Encourage him to leave town/pursue Clarissa in flashbacks. |
| Saved (Alive) | Encourage him to stay home/in town; silence also works. | |
| Saved & Stays with Clarissa | Encourage staying home AND encourage staying with Clarissa. | |
| Saved & Breaks up with Clarissa | Encourage staying home BUT discourage staying with Clarissa. |
Saving Michael vs. Bonding with Jonas: The Big Dilemma
This is a core conflict reflecting the game’s themes of grief and consequence. Saving Michael (the “Thicker Than Water” achievement) feels like correcting a tragedy, but it rewrites history so that Alex’s mom never meets Jonas’s dad. You lose the potential step-brother bond (“New Beginnings” achievement). You can’t undo the loss without also erasing the relationship that grew from it. It forces you to decide: does Alex move forward by changing the past, or by embracing the present reality shaped by that loss?
The Sacrifice: Erasing Clarissa
As mentioned, if you make a deal with the ghosts to trap Clarissa in the rift and then leave through the portal yourself, she vanishes. It’s a chilling outcome where the timeline adjusts, and no one even remembers she existed. This is one of the darkest Oxenfree endings.
Breaking the Cycle: The “Secret” Good Ending
Think you’re doomed to loop forever? Think again! After beating the game once, you unlock a new ability. During certain time distortions, you might find ghostly versions of Alex’s radio. If you interact with these, Alex can send messages to her past self. Choose messages like “Don’t go to Edwards Island.” If your past self receives this message before the final ending sequence, you can trigger a special scene where Alex, Ren, and Jonas decide to ditch the island trip and get pizza instead, avoiding the entire nightmare. This is the only way to truly break the loop and achieve narrative closure.
The Adler Letters Influence
Scattered across the island are 13 hidden letters from Maggie Adler, a woman involved in the original submarine disaster. Finding all of these doesn’t just give you backstory; it can slightly alter the final confrontation. If you’ve found letters mentioning specific crew members of the USS Kanaloa (like Francis or Calvin), you might get unique dialogue options to say their names to the ghosts. This can help the ghosts remember themselves and potentially find peace, subtly changing the ending sequence.
How to Get the Oxenfree Ending You Want (Tips)
Given the branching paths, getting specific Oxenfree endings often requires multiple playthroughs, focusing on a particular style. Most guides recommend at least three runs: Friendly, Mean, and Silent.
The Friendly/Reconciliation Path
- Goal: Make nice with everyone. Get Ren and Nona together (“Matchmaker”), become close siblings with Jonas (“New Beginnings”), reconcile with Clarissa, and keep everyone alive and un-erased.
- Strategy: Consistently pick kind, supportive dialogue. Be extra nice to Jonas. Encourage Ren/Nona. Don’t rat Ren out. Reject the ghosts’ deal about Clarissa. Make sure Michael stays dead by encouraging him to leave town in flashbacks.
The Mean/Antagonistic Path (“Firestarter”)
- Goal: Make everyone hate you (“I’m the Firestarter”). Keep Ren and Nona apart (“You’d Just End Up Hating Each Other”). Keep everyone alive (they can’t hate you if they’re gone!).
- Strategy: Choose rude, dismissive, blame-shifting options. Sabotage Ren and Nona. Rat Ren out.
- Blame Jonas. Accept the ghosts’ deal about Clarissa and tell everyone. Crucially, still ensure Clarissa survives the final encounter (don’t sacrifice her). Make sure Michael stays dead.
The Silent Path
- Goal: Complete the game without selecting any dialogue bubbles (“The Strong, Silent Type”). This can also be used to easily save Michael (“Thicker Than Water”).
- Strategy: Let every dialogue choice time out. Never click the speech bubbles. Interacting with objects is fine, even if Alex speaks automatically. Note: The very final choice after the epilogue must be made, but it won’t void the achievement. Silence naturally prevents Ren and Nona from dating. To save Michael, just stay silent during his final flashback.
Why Oxenfree Endings Stick With You
Oxenfree is more than just a ghost story. It’s an exploration of grief, friendship, choices, and how the past echoes into the present. The way its simple gameplay mechanics – walking, talking, and tuning that creepy radio – weave directly into the branching narrative is masterful.
The Oxenfree endings aren’t just different cutscenes; they feel earned (or perhaps dreaded) based on the sum of your actions. Did you mend fences or burn bridges? Did you confront the past or try to erase it? Did you find a way to break the cycle, or are you still listening to the static on Edwards Island? Whatever your outcome, the atmospheric world and deeply human (even when they’re being awful) characters are likely to haunt your thoughts long after the credits roll.
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