Oxenfree
13 Achievements
12-15h
Thicker than Water
Bring Michael back from the dead. Details for this achievement will be revealed once unlocked
7.3%
How to unlock the Thicker than Water achievement in Oxenfree - Definitive Guide
During the three past Michael scenes, use as much related dialog options as possible. Tell him that you'll miss him, question his motives, and, most important, in the last scene, when Michael and Alex talk at home and he asks for your opinion, you'll have to tell him the following, depending on if he and Clarissa are still together.
- If they are still together, tell Michael "Don't go"
- If they broke up, tell Michael "Go to school here".
Also, you can combine this with your "The strong, silent type" playthrough, as the fact of don't talking to Michael at all will make him assume you want him to stay.
IMPORTANT: This achievement is compatible with every other except for "New Beginnings". If you try to get both in the same playthrough, you'll only obtain "Thicker than water".
If you meet these requirements, you'll obtain the achievement during the "stat count" before the credits.
For a guide on how to get all the ending achievements in the lowest number of playthroughs, click here
I unlocked this as I played through for the strong and silent achievement.
So basically anytime time rewinds, and you have dialogue with Michael, just let it time out and at the end of the game he will be there.
You will replay a few short sequences and arrive at the scene where Alex and Michael are in their house. If Michael is still with Clarissa, tell him "Don't go" when the dialogue option appears. If he and Clarissa broke up, tell him "Go to school here." If you are doing a silent playthrough, you may remain silent here.
This will fulfill the necessary requirements for the achievement WITHOUT having to replay the entire game over again.
In the very last scene of the game, there is an important choice to make that will change depending on how Michael and Clarissa's relationship turned out. If you nudged them together and he mentions they are thinking about leaving together, say "Don't Go" but if they have broken up, say "Go to school here". This will ensure that there is no going away party, which is when he drowned. Hence, he lives.
You will get this achievement automatically during your 'Silent' playthrough if you don't do it during your 'Mean' playthrough. For some reason not saying anything to him makes him assume you want him to stay, so he does.
During the story you will have several flashbacks with Michael. Try to make dialogue choices that either encourage him to stay with Clarissa, or not go to school out of state, or both. During the final flashback of the game, these choices are especially important – the issue focused upon during this flashback will differ depending on how you played the game up until this point: it can either focus entirely on his relationship with Clarissa, or whether he wants to go to school out of state, or whether he wants to go to school at all. Basically: you don't want Michael to leave town. Pay attention during this final flashback because the previous autosave is quite a way back!
Do not go for this trophy during your nice playthrough, or you will have to do another entire playthrough outside of the required 3 just to get New Beginnings. However, if for some reason you didn't get this during your mean playthrough, this will unlock automatically during your silent playthrough.