Night in the Woods is not a great adventure game. It is however, a fantastic piece of art that brings its story too close to my home for comfort, and has given me an experience that I can't in good faith criticize to that great an extent, despite how heavily flawed it is.

It's defined by its aesthetic generally, the cozy but melancholic autumn colors that bleed through the characters and storyline, circling around nostalgic wants of a past that has left or decayed long ago. Each of the characters presented struggle with their own way of finding a future for themselves, or even their identity. Bea tries to find a place to belong as well as deal with her own struggles, and Gregg and Angus ponder in their own way about where their future should go. It's unfortunately not paced as well as it could (the fact that it's awfully presented that you can only complete one of the character stories at a time is shitty), but each of them are told with such powerfully lifelike dialogue and very natural prose.

The story allows the characters and the town to grow and be further fleshed out as you walk up as Mae, the titular disgruntled and tortured MC. It fumbles over itself in the last act, and honestly leaves this game with a super unsatisfying end, but retroactively I can somehow tolerate that. Because, even despite the story fucking up and failing to capitalize on Mae's arc, it left me with enough heartwrenching stories to ponder over and feel strongly attached to each of the characters here.

I should also mention that NitW also offers a super good retro game to play as well in-universe, with Demontower. It's actually a rather competent 2d action game, with some good enemy and boss design. It came as a big surprise to me that even if you're bored of the gameplay, you have something legitimately fun to play rather than just to read.

Overall, despite its incredibly flawed structure and end, I can't recommend Night in the Woods enough if my description of what the game is about even slightly piques your interest. It's an incredible journey that encapsulates the mental struggle of growing up, depression, and dealing with changing times during economic crisis.

Night in the Woods has been shrapnel wedged in my mind for over five years. This is one of the simplest tests that a piece of artistic expression can pass: the test of time.

By 2017, I had already dropped out of college twice. By 2017, I had also gotten a lesser degree than I'd first set out for, and settled into an honest, decent, full-time job. That job and my apartment were both positioned right in the center of what was once my childhood world. I had been in and out of that town for almost all of my life. Everything I felt from Night in the Woods was a feeling I had already possessed, and I am so happy that someone, somewhere, has done the experience such justice.

There once was a time that I considered Night in the Woods to be an unwilling video game. It felt to me like a would-be animated series forced by production realities into the form of a game, with elements of "gameplay" grafted on for the sake of appeasement at worst and humor at best. I felt that it coped well with the arrangement, but to some extent I still held that percieved conflict against it.

I no longer hold that opinion. It's video game enough as-is, and that never really mattered anyway.

I now cannot visit a shopping mall without thinking about Night in the Woods. I now cannot walk down a street in Autumn without thinking of Night in the Woods. I now cannot speak to anyone who lives in that town without thinking about Night in the Woods.

Good job.