Reviews from

in the past


I kinda wish that there was just a l i t t l e more to the gameplay but it's not to important to the game as a whole, just makes it harder to replay for me

but still amazing story, writing, and especially pacing

This is literally so good. The messages on this game are all very powerful and there's a lot to reflect on once you're done with it. I found myself relating a lot to Mae and her simple story that's growing more and more intricated. The ending feels a bit rushed, but I don't think it takes too much from the overall experience. Selmer's poem is forever engraved in my brain and is basically my roman empire

If you’re from a small town then you know.

"The Universe is forgetting you."

Vibes, beautiful game, story is great and character writing is some of the best i've seen.

It's not perfect, but any narrative hangups I have are completely numbed by how good the mouthfeel, aesthetic, Bildungsroman, and little details are.

Every now and then I remember an apocryphal story I read somewhere about someone leaving Pixar's Coco down south when they saw an old granny crying "it's true! It's all true!" in Spanish as she exited the theater. That was me, but instead I exited this game crying over how beautifully it nailed the feel of rust belt PA. (Pretend I was screaming "yinz! yinz!" for full effect)


This, much like Celeste and To The Moon, is another narrative-focused indie game that I’ve had on my radar for AGES. Tons of people I knew loved it, and I really didn’t have any reason to think I wouldn’t love it too, but it was still a task of getting off my butt and actually playing it XD. In my recent binge on a bunch of PC games, however, I finally made it to playing it (yet another game I got for free on the Epic Game Store at some point). It was a lot of fun playing it alongside my wife (for whom is this a favorite) over the course of a couple days off we both had~. It took me 10~12 hours (I had a lot of idle time, so hard to be sure exactly) to play through the English version of the game while doing every side activity I could possibly find.

Night in the Woods is the story of Mae, a 20 year-old on her way home from university. She’s not sure university is actually for her, so she’s decided to come back to her home town for a bit to clear her head about things and hang out around old familiar faces, and there are a lot of old familiar faces to see! Her best friend Gregg and his boyfriend Angus, her friend Beatrice, her parents, and a whole community await her in the sleepy Appalachian town of Possum Springs.

This is another game where I honestly hesitate to give much more plot summary than that (at the risk of making the game sound a bit boring), because so much of NitW’s appeal is just how well done the writing is and how well paced the story is. NitW is a story about individual issues, but about communities big and small too. It’s a story about how life just kind of sucks, that no matter how ready or unready you are, at any moment you can just get thrown a curve ball that throws everything into disarray, and you’re just expected to deal with that. From Mae herself to her friends to people she barely knows, NitW is very concerned with showing tons of different angles of how people deal with how things change, and especially how things just kinda keep getting worse. And why are things getting worse? Capitalism.

I had no idea about it going in, but I was very delightfully surprised at just how fiercely anti-capitalist this game’s narrative is. It does an incredible job of painting a picture, from a single person up to the entirety of the town, of how our modern society simply does not care about those not immediately valuable to the almighty dollar, and will readily leave behind in the dirt those who cannot fend for themselves. This is a story with a lot going on and a lot of layers to dig through, and I’m sure people much smarter than me have already spilled tens of thousands of words on the larger and smaller themes of this game, and honestly it’s not hard to see why. It’s honestly hard to only write about the story this little myself XD. At any rate, I’d heard this game was written super well, and it absolutely lived up to the hype for me in that regard.

The gameplay is a side-scrolling action/adventure game, but it’s far more on the adventure side of things. You go around town day to day, ending every day sleeping at your house, and you can platform around town as well as side activities with Mae’s super jumping powers. The general way you make days progress is by picking either Gregg or Beatrice to hang out with, but there are times that you need to engage in other things as well when the plot needs it. In the meanwhile, you can do all sorts of other activities with the denizens of Possum Springs if you take the time to get to know them. Walking past the same familiar faces and striking up conversations slowly helps bring Possum Springs to life for the player as Mae is filled in on the two-ish years of stuff that’s happened while she’s been gone. You don’t have to do most of that stuff, of course, but I’d certainly argue that exploring around town day to day is one of the most fun parts of the adventure, or at least it was for me~.

While I honestly have no complaints anywhere about the writing, I have some very minor complaints with the gameplay design, and its largely in the more game-y parts of things. This is a game that loves dark environments, like in the dream sequences, and on both my monitors (but especially my main one) there were lots of times where I could genuinely not see anything beneath me and I was platforming in effective total darkness. That won’t be a problem for everyone, sure, but given that the game has no internal gamma adjustments and changing the brightness of either monitor did nothing, it made already kinda pointless-feeling platforming segments feel even more frustrating.

Another thing to that point is the game’s insistence on a diegetic pause menu. Mae’s journal will fill up as she does various activities, and of course she can’t pull it out in her dreams or in a cutscene because that makes no sense. However, your options menu is reached via that journal, so if you’re trying to say, put the game back in windowed mode so you can drag it to your other monitor to make this dream sequence perhaps easier to see in, you’ll need to quit out of the game back to the main menu (resetting all your current progress in the area) to do it. Again, that’s a very me-issue, but it was enough of a problem that it’s hard to just completely pass it by here.

The aesthetics of NitW are very pretty. The colorful shapes and styles that the world and characters are drawn with almost give the game the look of a picture book come to life. Characters are delightfully expressive in both gestures and facial expressions, and it was very easy to see how so many of my friends love the cast of this game so much. The music is also very good too. Whether it’s the music underscoring a dream sequence or the song played during one of your band practice mini-games, all the music is fantastic, and it underscores the action at hand beautifully.

Verdict: Highly Recommended. While I may’ve had a couple small issues with how the game itself is designed, that didn’t stop me from enjoying the hell out of the final product. From its setting to its characters to its themes, this is a story that encapsulates so well so much of the struggle of the times we live in, and it does it masterfully. This is absolutely not a game you can afford to miss out on if you’re a fan of narrative-driven games.

This game is good its spooky and interesting might replay it

Meh. Loved the characters but felt slow for me. It didn't get truly interesting until 2/3 through.

Everything about this game is perfect. The music, the characters, the story, the themes, the art style, everything make me feel like if the developers entered inside my brain to make the game the most ideal game possible for my tastes. Now, I know some people might not like how little gameplay there is, others might not like the story as much as I did, but I don't care, I believe art is subjective and the most impactful art to the individual is often the most subjective.

Maybe this game isn't for everybody, but if you are a the kind of person who can relate to the themes of the history, it will be one of the most memorable experiences you can have.

Sights & Sounds
- The art direction of this game is excellent; I love how the bold color palette allows the simplified geometry present in the character designs and environments to really pop. Despite the consistency, I never got bored of looking at the game in spite of multiple playthroughs
- I loved the music as well. The diversity in Night in the Woods's soundscape lends quite a helping hand to the complex and sometimes difficult themes the game addresses. You can hear a variety of musical influences mostly geared towards indie, alternative, and classic rock. Some favorites in particular included the Monster Magnet-esque stoner jam "Space Dragon" and the seemingly Motörhead-inspired "Pumpkin Head Guy"
- Having played bass for several years, I particularly enjoyed the emphasis on the sonic lower end. It's more than just roots and fifths!

Story & Vibes
- You play as Mae, a cat who's just returned home after dropping out of college for reasons she doesn't want to explain. Night in the Woods follows her story over the course of the following autumn season
- Thankfully, she's joined by her friends Gregg, Bea, and Angus (and a host of other wonderful side characters) to aid her with the struggles she faces in returning home
- I'm being intentionally vague with the story because it's such a great experience. If you've managed to avoid spoilers, please do yourself the favor of going in blind. Pretty much every aspect of the narrative was high quality, from the unpredictable wild ride of a plot to the masterful treatment of sensitive themes. There's so much more to depression that merely feeling sad, and Night in the Woods depicts those nuances poignantly and brutally
- It's not all negative energy, fortunately. Night in the Woods has a great sense of humor ("It's called body positivity, Bea, read the internet"). For every soul-crushing moment the game hits you with, there's at least 10 good laughs to follow to help lighten the mood
- I feel like I can't say enough about the characters in this game and how worth it talking to everyone is. Talk to everyone every chance you get, and explore to make sure you talk with everyone. Some of the best scenes in the game can only be experienced by investing time with more than just your core friend group

Playability & Replayability
- The central gameplay loop (with some day-to-day variation) in Night in the Woods goes something like: 1) Have a weird dream, 2) Wake up and talk to your mom, 3) Explore Possum Springs and talk to everyone you see, 4) Go to band practice and play a rhythm game, 5) Hang out with either Gregg or Bea, 6) Go home, talk to your dad, and go to bed
- Note how #5 says Bea OR Gregg. Hanging out with one of them will prevent you from hanging out with the other for that evening, so you'll need two playthroughs to see all the scenes. Don't worry, though, either choice is really good, but I'd maybe recommend hanging out with Gregg when you're given the option the first time if you plan to someday 100% the game
- I love the platforming elements here, especially the Mario-like triple jump. It's worth exploring Possum Springs' rooftops and power lines once access to them opens up. You'll miss out on a wealth of good content if you don't
- The rhythm game is a standout, but note that it can get really hard (particularly on the song Pumpkin Head Guy) if you're trying to play with a controller. I didn't feel like installing the game on my computer or connecting my keyboard to my Steam Deck, so I just mapped the face buttons to the shoulder buttons and let my Frequency/Amplitude muscle memory guide me
- There's lots of other little mini games (some of them recurring). I liked the variety and dose of silliness these injected into my playthroughs
- Normally, I wouldn't really consider 100%ing a story game that requires multiple playthroughs. Luckily, all of the side content is optional, so you can just power through the main story and see the Gregg/Bea scenes you missed in the first one. In all, getting all the achievements requires two full playthroughs and two partial playthroughs

Overall Impressions & Performance
- I first played through this title in 2017 not long after it released, and I always knew I'd want to return to it again. The writing was so good and the characters so memorable that I knew I'd wind up fully completing it someday
- If you've ever struggled with issues of confidence or identity or faced an uphill battle against anxiety or depression, Night in the Woods will likely resonate with you. Even though I can't relate entirely to Mae (I'm not a homebound, self-destructive, bisexual, college-dropout. Or a cat), the game managed to strike a chord. Several, really. I recognize my bias will show in my rating, but I connected to the story in a way I didn't expect
- Aside from the rhythm game being sometimes difficult on one or two songs when using a controller, the game is a great Steam Deck title

Final Verdict
- 10/10. If you only ever play one game about animals dealing with personal problems, be sure it's Night in the Woods

wonderful writing and great style. this one really touched me when i played it first year of college, i really want to revisit it now that i’m a bit older

This review contains spoilers

"i want to hope again. and i want it to hurt. because that means it meant something. it means i am something, at least... pretty amazing to be something, at least..."

argghghghgh. really glad i bounced off this as a 15 year old and came back to properly play and beat it now honestly. couldn't possibly have resonated as much as it did for me now back then. good game. really good game. one of my favourites, even.

game's alright but zoe quinn killed alec holowka so

This game came to me at the perfect time in my life and has stuck with me ever since

Este juego me reveló que la pizza de la cena se puede desayunar por la mañana

This game has no business being this fucking good

This review contains spoilers

After I finished 'Night In The Woods' my reaction was "Oh that's it?". I thought maybe I'd played the game wrong somehow, how could this be so widely praised? I didn't get it at all and I still don't. That doesn't mean this game doesn't have its high points though and I would like to highlight them. (Spoilers past this)

Starting with the pros I found the setting of possum springs fascinating. An old rust belt town that has fallen from its former glory with a long history of capitalistic greed and tragedy. The writing is charming as well and I found myself laughing at a lot of the dry humour, paired with a lot of the decently written characters made the interactions something to look forward to (at least most of the time). Finally, the soundtrack is great and fits the unique look and style of the game. Alec Holowka (R.I.P) made a soundtrack that is so vast and memorable that it follows you after the experience. I'll probably go back through and listen to a lot of the songs. I also loved the change in tone in the latter half of the story. Seeing all your friends trying to stay distracted in light of the uncertainty of their friend's condition and what they witnessed really makes the weight of the situation felt.

Sadly through my playthrough, I found the bad outweighed the good in many instances, starting with the main character. Mae is a flawed character and that's part of the story, she suffers heavily from dissociation, is continuously childish despite how she wants to be seen as an adult and lashes out at people a fair few times throughout the story. These characteristics aren't inherently bad and if written into the story correctly can be an interesting character study, but this isn't the case, I chose to hang out with Bae more through my story and I'm her route we see Mae continuously wrong her with once instance at the college party coming to mind. Not only that but after these events Mae faces next to no consequences and is just forgiven a lot of the time for these wrongs. I don't think that forgiving is wrong but for things to pretty much go on as normal after to me is daft, there are no lasting effects to what Mae does. One of the common praises I see is that the characters come off as human yet when these events happen I'm suddenly dragged out of the experience. Not only that but in the end Mae doesn't change, and maybe that's the point, but for me, it was really unsatisfying to see that after all that happened in this game and the hours I sunk in I find myself saying "Well what was the point of that". Adding to this frustration is the gameplay and slow story. I don't mind long games with simple gameplay in fact some of my favourite games are pretty much walking simulators, but the amount of time it takes to walk around Possum Springs, checking every place to see if anyone around different areas was mind-numbing to me, paired with the snails pace of the story made it so it seemed like next to nothing was happening and really impacted my experience with the game.

In conclusion, I don't think I got Night In The Woods. Leaving this game I have a lot of scenes and events I found cool and memorable but after finishing it I felt mostly relief, which is a shame. I'll probably come back to this game after a while and hopefully, then something will click but for now, I'm left mostly confused and disappointed.

um jogo de história essencial pra qualquer um, os diálogos são lindos e sua mensagem é linda!

I wasn't as charmed by this game as others were. I like the art style, but I remember the story personally feeling like a slog to play through. Might revisit it one day

A bit of Twin Peaks mixed with a story about growing up and the associated existential fears told with anthropomorphic characters. I found it very convincing. The mystery remains exciting until the end and the exciting little adventures that you experience with Mae were really fun and brought me closer to the world and characters. There are also lots of fun ideas in the form of mini-games and a real dungeon crawler that you can play on Mae's laptop, as well as cool dream sequences and fantastic music. I was very impressed.


The vibe resonates with me. GREGG RULZ !!!

This game changed my life and me realize the most optimal way to be happy is to watch impractical joker complications in abandoned buildings

Thank you modest mouse for making a game to fit 83% of your discography, i cried

I was having a good time, then a patch destroyed my save, and their response was basically "tough," so my playthrough ended then.

This is the first game I've ever played that made me cry, and that's thanks to its beautiful storytelling, well written characters, a world that feels lived in and loved, and a soundtrack that I listen to constantly since playing. There are two different friendship paths you can take throughout the game, I took the Gregg route on my play through. I look forward to playing through Bea's next. Night in the Woods will forever be one of my favourite games of all time.