We Are OFK Review: Come for the music…

... and maybe try to skip the rest.

We Are OFK is a biopic video game that has great music coupled with sparse, uninspired gameplay.

Having to come out with that right out of the bat makes me saddened and annoyed, as the title first flew onto my radar in a big and inspired way. The brainchild of Teddy Dief, a co-creator of Hyperlight Drifter, We Are OFK announced itself by way of a tightly scripted, hilarious introduction that was equal parts endearing and willing to poke fun at the industry.

I was under the impression what would be released would be more about the band and its music from said trailer, and the blame for that falls squarely with me. At the same time of that trailer (shown below), a press release proudly proclaimed that We Are OFK would be packed with “emotional texting, thirst texting, meme texting, emoji spamming” and more. It’s very much all of that, and not much else.

While each of We Are OFK‘s five episodes concludes with a new song (and attached music video) to boot, you’re largely going to be following each of OFK’s four band members — Luca Le Fae (he/him), Itsumi Saito (she/her), Carter Flores (they/them), and Jey Zhang (she/her) — as they slog through life. Episodes are usually around the one-hour mark, and most of that time is spent aimlessly texting.

It’s that this point that I should point out my age relative to that of OFK’s members. In short, I’m old. Despite being overly dramatic decidedly queer, I struggled to identify or find much in common with We Are OFK‘s protagonists. They work day jobs on bean bags, tip-tapping away on laptops clad in stylish stickers, and frequent a bubble tea shop to generally lament about their latest relationship (or lack thereof). The first episode is a lot of inside baseball, people living in LA seemingly want to impress upon you how amazing they are for just that.

The protagonists take stress naps and generally seem like the world is against them. They’re selfish and completely self-absorbed; a number of side-characters come and go, and only one makes our protagonists look like good people. Even when one protagonist makes what’s clearly a wrong decision, I ended up siding with them because every other character went overly — and unnecessarily — dramatic about it. I care more about OFK’s holographic cat than I do its creator or fellow bandmates.

The characters are like the narrative: aimless and without direction. It meanders to band stuff and then just goes back to people hanging out. Conversations are largely written well, but even that’s sidelined by slow pacing. While you think you have some sway as to how the story pans out, able to choose between a couple different speech or text options, those interactions end the same. You’re a passenger on this ride, not someone in any semblance of direction; I was left wondering why I was a fly on the wall for some interactions.

Quizzically, there’s more connection to be found within text messages that you send back and forth between episodes than the ones offered in episodes themselves, which is strange. They do a much better job of tying the narrative threads together.

My criticisms of We Are OFK are seemingly acknowledged by its developers — when starting up a chapter, you’re asked to identify who is watching rather than playing. Despite these intentions, a weird mix of general aimlessness alongside well-written situations that deal with hard-hitting issues (I’ll get into that later) makes this seem like a mid-season CW replacement rather than a television show proper.

All of that aside, there are some genuinely amazing bits inside We Are OFK. First and foremost, it boasts a killer soundtrack, not only taking into account OFK’s singles, but in-game work from omniboi too. It’s light, boppy and earwormy in all the best ways; when it comes to OFK’s singles, Teddy (as Luca) has a beautiful voice and is supported by some wonderful sounds.

After the completion of each episode, you’re free to replay the single as many times over as you’d like, and I did that quite a bit as background music while I worked. I’d have just opted for Spotify but that’s currently limited to one song — “Follow/Unfollow” — at the time of writing (and that song has made it onto three of my own Spotify playlists, too).

The best gameplay bits of We Are OFK are also tied to these songs. They’re fun little interact romps that certainly don’t break the mould, but prove to be joyous. From cat collecting to floating around in space, they’re not only fun for the fingers but a feast for the eyes.

Those tight gameplay experiences aren’t just limited to songs, though. When you’re not just texting or moaning, you can design a little mushroom man or take part in a clever little text-based mini-game.

We Are OFK also knocks it out of the park when it comes to representation and tackling hard issues. It doesn’t shy away from highlighting and addressing predatory types in the music or games industries, for example, and reminds games players and makers alike of resources that can be accessed when you’re in burnout.

The combination of a simple gameplay loop with great music has been proven to work in the past; two Australian titles immediately spring to mind in The Artful Escape and Video World. Both titles feature engaging storylines, compelling characters and enough actual gameplay to bolster their music; We Are OFK sadly falls short — or at least doesn’t consistently deliver — on some of those points. That’s a real shame too, because the music found within is superb.

We Are OFK heads to Windows PC, PS4, PS5 and Switch with two of five total episodes available from 18 August. New episodes follow each week, culminating in a full package available from 8 September.

We Are OFK was reviewed using a promotional code on Windows PC via Steam, as provided by the publisher. Click here to learn more about Stevivor’s scoring scale.

We Are OFK 18 August 2022 PC PS4 PS5 Switch   Buy on Windows PC via Steam Buy on Windows PC via Epic Games Store Buy on Nintendo eShop