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Each of us have burdens to bear
I remember returning home for the first time after dropping out of college. A little bit of nervousness – and a lot of shame – surrounded me as I pulled into my parents’ driveway. After all, I was a ‘gifted child.’ I was supposed to be destined for greatness in one way or another. But it doesn’t really work like that, does it? You still have to do the thing. Just like every other ‘gifted child’ you’ve ever heard of, for whatever reason (and there were, of course, many), I didn’t make it out of school. So, I walked through the door and saw my parents again. They were happy to see me, just as I would be to see my child come home, but I could tell there was a disappointment there, too.
Night in the Woods is a story revolving around Mae, a little cat girl whose story mirrored mine in many ways: she dropped out of college and moved back to her hometown of Possum Springs, her parents are happy to see her but a little dispirited, and many of the people she knew have moved on with their lives in ways she neither knows nor understands at first. The adventure starts aimlessly – you have the freedom to walk around and speak to people, climb buildings and powerlines, or even steal some hotdogs. All of it without true purpose - an all too familiar feeling. It doesn’t take long in this side-scrolling adventure for things to pick up, though. Soon you’re meeting friends, having dinner, and even finding a severed arm. In between all of this, the game gives you the freedom to explore and engage with a large number of people and things. The purpose is here - found within those little moments with friends, family, and sometimes even strangers.
Publisher: Finji Developer: Infinite Fall, Secret Lab Platform: Played on PC Availability: Released on February 21, 2017 for Windows, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, February 1, 2018 for Nintendo Switch, and September 9, 2021 for iOS |
Night in the Woods is a branching choice-and-consequence adventure wearing the skin of a cute cartoon starring anthropomorphic animals, with a little hint of 2D side-scrolling platformer. The game gives you quite a large number of roleplaying opportunities in those moments, as you’re able to change the things you say or do in nearly every given instance. Those choices aren’t one-off decisions, either, as they impact your relationships with characters and guide smaller events along the path. Your decisions don’t have much effect on the larger vision of the plot, but they alter the tenor of the events that unfold around you. Who shows up for you in tough moments, how they interact with you, how you interact with them – all of that is shaped by your choices. On paper, that doesn’t sound like much, but when you see the game in motion, it feels like it matters a lot. It mattered to me, and it seemed to matter to Mae.
Every bit of time I spent jumping on powerlines, breaking into buildings, or stealing clothes felt like it was worth the effort. You do all of that to build relationships with other people, whether that is your direct intention or not. Many of my favorite moments in the game came outside the main story; finding a person sitting on the roof of a building and having a chat or meeting some weirdo (complimentary) in an empty parking lot, all of it builds the atmosphere of the town you’re in and shapes who Mae is.
That said, there’s a lot more to do here than wander the town. Night in the Woods also contains a plethora of unique and fun mini-games: Shoplifting, playing music on your bass, a dungeon crawler akin to Hyper Light Drifter, star gazing, and even smashing cars. There were moments early on when I kind of got lost in those mini-games, especially the Rock Band-esque music game. I even questioned the genre at one point, wondering if I had suddenly stumbled into a full-on rhythm game instead. Those mini-games were often instrumental to breaking things up for me, as the middle of the game drags on a bit without much happening in the main plot.
Those side dishes are elevated by the game’s unique art style. Shifting perspectives, new UI elements, or even complete overhauls to the visual style come with each one, and it keeps them distinct from the main game and one another. There’s a certain whimsy to the overall cartoony visuals that seems light, but belies some truly sad and deep moments.
People in Possum Springs are struggling, as all working-class people do, with the burdens of daily life. Floods, unemployment, family drama, closed businesses, and financial woes permeate conversations with your friends, family, and even strangers. All of this is expressed beautifully not just in the dialogue, but visually as well. Varied facial expressions and emphatic body language animations guide each scene. Splashes of color and high contrast are used to create a depth to the atmosphere in some scenes. It’s a visually beautiful game, even if the style is simple.
Night in the woods is a lot of fun to look at.
The dialogue in Night in the Woods also seems simple but is so wonderfully done that it becomes hard for me to nail down exactly why. I think it’s a rare example of excellent contemporary dialogue in a video game. Jumping into Possum Springs, I immediately clocked where and when we were, at least stylistically. This is a Midwest town in the early 2010s. Has to be. The words the people use, the foliage, and even the way your mom won’t just stop talking and let a conversation endpoint me there. A real ‘Minnesota Goodbye’ happens at one point – each character says goodbye and Mae makes the motions to leave, but her mom is still yapping. It’s very natural and charming in ways I didn’t expect. It is so familiar to me and my own experiences.
That conversational, familiar approach works wonders in moments of levity, for sure, yet it truly shines in those deeper and darker moments we spoke about before. You can really feel the tonal shift adding weight to the content of the conversations, and your choices can impact those scenes further. Do you lean into Mae’s irreverent side, or try to play it safe? It’s a constant battle between Mae’s own baked-in immaturity, her insecurities, and the life decisions that lead everyone to where they are now.
The dialogue lends itself well to exploring the game's themes of queerness in a natural way while using conversations with adults (particularly Mae’s parents) to depict a generational divide in the understanding or acceptance of various gender identities and sexuality. For instance, while Mae never explicitly states her sexuality, it is at least brought up in the sense that she is ‘not picky,’ stating “I don’t care if they’re a boy or a girl.” She also once dated a boy, and you can flirt with women. Knowing this, it becomes clear that Mae’s parents don’t know or understand this about her, asking if she’s “seeing a boy’ - reinforcing heteronormativity. Additionally, several other characters are LGBTQ+ and it explores the pressures of their relationships and the realities of life in that context. It never comes off as an unnatural blurting out, instead, it always happens within the flow of conversation, or sometimes is never addressed explicitly at all.
The natural and free-flowing dialogue make sure there's never a dull moment in the game.
As this is a spoiler-free review, I don’t want to get too deep into the game's main plot, or even the specifics of the conversations you have with characters – all of that is worth going through yourself. Instead, I would like to offer you this: Night in the Woods is a story about the people you encounter and the struggles of their lives just as much as it is about the overarching events that transpire in the main plot. But that’s true for all of us, isn’t it? Our lives aren’t just about what happened, but also about who they happened with, and how those events and people shaped us going forward.
I’ve always said I don’t have any true regrets in life – every mistake or good decision I made has left me in a place where my heart is full. I have a loving family, great friends, and food in my belly. I’m not sure there’s any room for regret here. Instead, my energy should always be put toward moving forward. We all face struggles, sometimes even ones of our own making, but there’s one thing I know for sure – we must find joy and purpose in our lives, even in our dark moments, or we will perish. There is no other choice.
Verdict Night in the Woods is an excellent 2D side-scrolling adventure game with heavy roleplaying elements. Jumping off the screen with a unique and engaging visual style, the game explores themes of regret, shame, helplessness, friendship, and community through its natural dialogue and clever writing. Night in the Woods is often irreverent and downright hilarious but never shies away from the struggles of real people – even if everyone here is actually an anthropomorphic animal. Fun mini-games and great music keep the experience fresh, even if it slows down in the middle more than I’d like. Overall, Night in the Woods is an excellent examination of working-class struggles, queerness, and the burdens of adulthood.  |
Image Credits: Taylor Rioux, Infinite Fall, and Secret Lab