Night in the Woods is a 2017 single-player adventure game that I have been wanting to play ever since I watched the YouTuber Jacksepticeye play a part of the game. Over this past winter break, I finally caved in and bought the game. Nonetheless, I loved the game and just need to rave about it for a bit.
A quick note before the review starts: This will contain spoilers!
In the game, the player follows a 20-year-old college dropout named Mae Borowski, who has returned to her hometown, Possum Springs, which has changed drastically since she was last there.
While she’s back in Possum Springs, she reconnects with her friends, a glum crocodile named Bea Santello, an energetic fox named Gregg Lee, and Gregg’s quiet bear boyfriend, Angus Delaney. She also learns that one of her old friends, Casey Hartley, has gone missing.
In the game, the player can interact with different objects, and can also talk to and hang out with different characters. Depending on who the player hangs out with, you will learn more about that character’s storyline, and background information about them that helps to describe their character and why they act the way they do.
In my playthrough, I hung out with Bea the most, mainly because I found her interesting and wanted to learn more about her. All I’m going to say about her backstory is that it is very saddening, and she has gone through a lot in her life.
Going back to the plot of the game, Mae realizes that her friends have changed a lot since the last time she saw them before going to college, and also begins to have strange dreams, which both confuse her and also worsen her mental health over time. It doesn’t help that she experiences some odd things happening in town, such as finding someone’s arm on the side of a sidewalk and witnessing a teenager get kidnapped during the town’s “Harfest” (Halloween Festival).
It took Mae a while (the majority of the game, basically) to come to terms with how everything was changing around her, and that she cannot stop things from changing. I relate to Mae in a way that she doesn’t like when things change, but ultimately, life won’t wait for anyone, and it is important to learn how to accept change and realize that change is okay.
I thought Night in the Woods was a great game, especially how it highlighted how things are always changing in life, and that we cannot really do anything about it. We just have to accept this change and continue to grow and adapt to life as these changes happen.
I suggest that if anyone is interested in playing this game, please check the trigger warnings first. This game touches on sensitive topics, and a majority of the characters that Mae can interact with in this game have all gone through some traumatic experiences.
The game itself is only around 9 hours in length, and the game is available on Steam for $19.99.