We Are OFK is a dreamy, interactive Television show

You could say that OFK isn’t a actual band, but that wouldn’t particularly be correct. Its users — Itsumi, Jey, Luca, Carter, and Debug — are electronic, fictional people that put out genuine songs. Music like “Follow/Unfollow,” “Fool’s Gold,” and “Footsteps” have been posted by Sony New music Masterworks and unveiled on Spotify and other audio streaming platforms. Contrary to Hatsune Miku or League of Legends’ K/DA, on the other hand, OFK aren’t megastars — at minimum, not however. They are just a group of buddies commencing to make tunes with each other.

We Are OFK is the group’s interactive biopic distribute across 5 hourlong episodes. Every of these episodes is tied to OFK’s 5 tracks on their debut EP, masking the friends’ and band’s progress on their way to the significant launch.

Impression: Group OFK

Developer Workforce OFK’s resourceful director, Teddy Dief, wanted to position OFK individual from digital megastars like K/DA, and target as an alternative on a much scaled-down, much more personable story. We Are OFK’s initially two episodes had been unveiled on Aug. 18 — every subsequent episode was produced weekly from there.

The game’s dreamy, pastel globe opens with Itsumi Saito and Luca Le Fae, two co-staff making a fashion mech video clip sport for a massive company studio. They’re overworked and underpaid, their imaginative visions undervalued in an environment in which all decisions come from the top rated. Itsumi’s globe is eaten by heartbreak and Luca Le Fae is doing a ton of breaking hearts when they are joined by an previous close friend and tunes producer, Jey Zhang. Carter Flores sooner or later joins the band for visuals and Fx, pulling in their holographic AI cat Debug for vocals.

It is a really LA world, or alternatively, it signifies an outsider’s notion of LA. It is all neon lights, creamy colors, and dreamy individuals with dreamy outfits. These figures appear impossibly interesting, which produced me scoff at Dief’s original comments on the PlayStation blog, which in-depth Group OFK’s wish to create band associates that have been extra relatable and down-to-earth than the likes of K/DA.

Image: Staff OFK

My disbelief lasted about 6 seconds into actively playing We Are OFK. Every of these people is sweet, hilarious, and all flavors of chaotic: Itsumi is new to Los Angeles and mourning a separation, and battling to come to a decision if taking part in keyboard is her correct contacting. Luca Le Fae is a hopelessly intimate singer-songwriter who’s just been unceremoniously fired from his job. Jey Zhang is a talented and sought-just after producer who’s balancing her parent’s perception of her lifetime with her individual. Carter Flores is a programmer and visual consequences artist who’s hesitant to enable other folks into their past life, and the creator of Debug the holographic AI. The total recreation is undeniably queer in the most refreshing way, in particular in comparison to The Very last of Us Aspect 2, which I performed just lately for the initially time. We Are OFK has both queer pleasure and struggle, but hardly ever in a way that feels cruel.

We Are OFK is a lot more like a Tv sequence than a match the more substantial plot unfolds on its have, but the player dictates dialogue and textual content solutions all through the story. These do not have a big impact on the unfolding narrative, but I believe that is the stage. My selections are considerably less about influencing the program of events, and more about earning We Are OFK’s planet my personal — a little something intimate, even however other players will inevitably make the exact same alternatives.

Impression: Group OFK

Every single episode finishes with a new music video clip for the accompanying track. The movies on their own are very small minor minigames in which I maneuver people via abstract, colourful scenes that bounce together to the rhythm. The interactivity is still restricted, no matter if that’s corralling cats in one particular online video or chasing neon lights in a different.

We Are OFK’s tale continues to get better with each individual episode and with every chaotic textual content concept. The figures are fictional, but they do not come to feel any less serious. This is a series that asks inquiries about friendship, creativeness, and the obstacle of creating something reliable — and the responses are constantly intricate.

We Are OFK is out on Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Home windows Personal computer.

We Are OFK was produced on Aug. 18 on Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Windows Laptop. The match was performed on Nintendo Swap and Windows Laptop utilizing a pre-launch obtain code furnished by Staff OFK. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not affect editorial content, even though Vox Media may possibly gain commissions for products ordered by way of affiliate back links. You can come across supplemental data about Polygon’s ethics policy in this article.