Chinese Singaporean immigrant in the UK. Writer. Nintendo enthusiast. SF Giants fan. Ailuromaniac. (Other animals are 💖.) Bibliophile. Anime-niac. See the link for my TTRPGs out on http://itch.io


Episodes 1 and 2 of We Are OFK are out today. I've played through both of them this evening. Each episode is 55 mins long and unlocks a song from the album.

Episodes is a good way to think about this game, because it's something of a TV series in an interactive novel form. You're watching the formation of a band, as four different characters come together not just creatively, but as friends, and also sometimes romantically too. There are some mini-game-like segments during the music videos as they appear in each episode, but these aren't particularly demanding. In many ways they are more like little diversions than games. Failing to play them, or playing them "badly" won't cause anything negative to happen. They mostly give you something extra to do while you enjoy the music.

The rest of the gameplay is choosing flavour text for when different characters text each other, or have conversations. I don't get the sense that you can change the story, but I wasn't expecting that to happen anyway; there's a particular narrative that we're following, and I trust that it'll deliver us somewhere satisfying in the end. The writing is often witty or funny. Choosing one line over another still felt rewarding because I would often laugh at the results, and sometimes there would be a (non-consequential) reference in later dialogue back to whatever flavour of text you'd chosen previously.

Because of the writing it's easy to like these characters and to feel for them as they struggle to establish themselves, deal with romance, friendships, careers, the challenges of being creative and vulnerable in your creativity, dealing with imposter syndrome and so on. These characters often struggle and can be messy, and I like them for that. The voice acting is full of personality. The music is catchy. There's a lot to enjoy here.

If I have one small criticism, it would the in-game prounciation of one character's last name. Zhang is pronounced in the game's dialogue to rhyme with swang (as in: "the batter swang but missed.") But in Mandarin, this "A" sounds more like the "A" in swan (as in: "the Queen owns all the swans in Britain.") So less of an "eh-ng" sound and more of an "ah-ng" sound.

That I'm even noticing that is because the characters are a diverse lot. It's great to see more characters of colour in games. There are also non-binary and gay characters; there's some thoughtful representation in this game.

I'd like to highlight two small moments of good, thoughtful writing that I particularly appreciated: firstly, one character who is dealing with low confidence accesses a mental health support line for game workers/players, and this is an analogue of a real life support line whose details are in the credits. It's nice to see them seeking out support in the story, and then getting it.

Another moment that stayed with me: before a love scene, one character pauses to get clear, enthusiastic consent from another character before they kiss. That feels particularly wholesome to me.

Another character is LA itself, which is rendered in dreamy pink, purples, golds, rose golds, soft neon and sunset colours, and washes of light. It's a visually pretty game.

I'm looking forward to the remaining episodes, which will be released on a weekly basis. It feels like a treat to have those to look forward to.


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