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We Are OFK perfectly captures the frustration of so many young people. The desire to find yourself, fall in love and leave a mark on the world that really makes a difference. Things are so dire these days that we often indulge in apathy, but the new generation often tries to overturn that perspective while continuing to move forward with positivity. We’ve seen new music, movies, art and more created in the wake of a changing planet, and this charming narrative adventure is a shining example of how much more there is to give.
You will inhabit the lives of multiple characters with unbridled trials and tribulations, watching trivial conversations evolve into heartfelt confessions at the touch of a button, enjoying the vulnerability these people want to show and how carrying their whole selves makes them so much stronger . Granted, you’d cringe at the zoomer dialogue and juicy musical compositions, but that’s the whole point. Emotions are supposed to be a discordant mess of love, hate and confusion that is so often responsible for the best art we’ve ever seen.
We Are OFK is a hard game to describe. Certain corners of the internet might not call it a video game at all. Aside from interactive music videos at the climax of each chapter, your input is limited to replying to text messages and choosing timed dialogue responses to move the story forward. You are a curious observer, watching the lives of four individual characters unfold as you politely push them in the best direction. Choices will often be made spontaneously, deciding whether to ignore a fanciful Grindr date or devote yourself to a musical venture distorted by fear, or just be honest with friends far too self-contained to take in the bigger picture. brands.
Music videos are the game at its most interactive. The music, lyrics, and visuals all serve a narrative purpose, often involving a single band member or collective obstacle that our cast of characters must overcome. All of them are bangers, indulgent in their lyrical compassion and experimental in the genres they explore. You control a character and complete Wario Ware-esque mini-games to music, whether you’re walking through a crowd of doppelgängers to color them, or rushing around trying to sort your life out in a city determined to leave you behind. to leave . It sounds crazy, but the execution is impeccable.
The story unfolds in five separate chapters, which will be released to the public in the coming weeks. For this review, I had access to the full experience and was able to binge it as a melodramatic Netflix original. I loved it, immediately vibrating with the beautiful aesthetic and colorful personality that was never afraid to get Real when it mattered most. It’s honest, horny, hilarious, hopeful and sincere. While the core idea of trying to establish a creative base in Los Angeles is compelling enough on its own, it’s the quartet of characters supporting this journey that really brings it to life.
Itsumi Sato is a pianist who has moved across the country to fulfill her musical dreams, but a failed relationship keeps her clinging to a past she can’t quite escape. Luca La Fae is a game industry writer who has fallen in love with a career born of corporate greed, but finds new love in music despite the fear that comes when you first jump into it. Jey Zhang is an older producer, hardened by the industry as she searches for an act that will bring back her passion and perhaps be a distraction from unfair family expectations. Finally, there’s Carter Flores, a VFX wizard who has made himself a popular name in the scene, and will do anything to help their friends despite an initially cold exterior. The cast reigns supreme and I fell in love instantly.
The final destination for all these characters is their joint start in the music world. Launching a debut EP and performing for an audience that understands the ingredients of their melancholic melodies. Like reality, the route is far from linear, often defined by unexpected obstacles and personal demons trying to tear these people apart before they even come together. As human beings, we are inherently flawed, often selfishly thinking only of ourselves if it means coming out as the best. But we also have the ability to learn and forgive. Little life lessons like these are all over We Are OFK, often seen as the foundation of character arcs or thematic layers that come together to form a beautiful whole.
I want to avoid intentional spoilers, so for this review I’ll stick to a thread from Luca’s character from the second episode. The first episode ends when he is fired from his job as a game developer after requesting more creative control over a writing assignment. Knocked down and burned out, he wanted a way out, only this cold ejection still hits hard. Luca is without a job, without an income, and with no other purpose than to flirt with older men online and engage in music that he isn’t convinced is good enough for the big time.
Basically, he becomes a bit of an indifferent bastard. Itsumi encourages him to find a new job or pursue his passions, and Jey begs him to work alongside her at a job that could become huge. Instead of pursuing these ambitions, Luca completely ignores their advice. The pursuit of affirmation and finding temporary happiness is more important to him right now, and you have to watch his music play in front of a club full of people to see that he is more than enough, and has to keep moving forward instead of leaning on fading solutions.
Each episode is filled with meaningful arcs like this one, as each character’s struggles intertwine and lend themselves to the overarching story. We Are OFK is not afraid to make it clear that sometimes friends can be assholes, and sometimes we are the assholes and we may not even realize it, but have the courage to admit your flaws and work together to become better people , is so important and difficult to deal with. Unlike so many other games that try to capture the accuracy of youthful conversations and what it’s like to grow up in the world that exists today, We Are OFK is the closest we can get to do justice to that perspective and make it feel that we are standing next to it. them.
Text conversations are filled with jargon, memes, and stickers, while real-life interactions make constant cultural references in a lexicon that makes everyone feel like they belong in the real world. These are characters, members of a virtual band that the development team hopes will one day stand alongside K/DA and Gorillaz, but they also feel like real people, which is the game’s greatest achievement. We Are OFK is also unapologetically queer. The cast is a mix of different sexualities and genders, and being LGBTQ+ is treated as a facet of normality without ever disregarding the agency our characters give to the society in which they exist. Itsumi and Jey have downright nasty text conversations and Luca expresses his bisexuality in a way that made me feel so seen and welcome. It’s the front and center, the fabric into which the wider story is woven.
The approach to sex and intimacy in We Are OFK is something more games should strive for. It’s messy, amazing and so real in how the act of giving yourself to someone is explored. Queer stories are often cleaned up or afraid to indulge in messiness for fear of abandoning us or branding the community as unusual for heteronormative onlookers, but the truth is I love that part of who I am , and to see a game that embraces no compromises has been a long time coming. Of course, the happy spice is accompanied by profuse anxiety in later episodes.
We Are OFK as a whole is one of my favorite games of the year, and strikingly unique in its creative vision, but there are a few niggles worth addressing. Animation is often quite mediocre, with characters clumsily moving through environments that can take away from the drama of certain scenes. Vocal performances and tempo can also feel erratic at times, though it’s nothing similar games like Life is Strange haven’t fallen victim to in the past. It only serves to hinder the immersion from time to time, making it abundantly clear that this interactive drama operates within certain limits that I wish it could break away from. Still, it’s endearing enough that these types of complaints are more than easy enough to forgive.
Even as the credits roll, We Are OFK is still an unusual game to describe. It is an introduction to a band made up of fictional characters whose aim is to penetrate the real world and make a real cultural impact. We have no idea if this will be a success, but the story told in the five episodes sounds so true and feels so real that I can’t help but cheer them on. Itsumi, Luca, Jey and Carter already feel like trusted old friends, people I’ve been through the shit with and who can stand next to me as they hope to realize their dreams. In a medium where narrative adventures have become rather predictable, this one shines.
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