(2017) GREGG RULZ OK: Night in the Woods (PC/PS4/XbOne, 2017)

 NOTE: This review was originally posted to Tumblr on December 21, 2017, and has been reposted here for archival purposes. It may not reflect recent events or my current opinions.

This is honestly a game I’ve been wanting to review for a long time, but just never got around to it. Night in the Woods is an adventure game developed by Infinite Fall and published by Finji, created by Scott Benson and Alec Holowka, and it’s a game I first heard about fairly early this year. It sort of came out of nowhere to me, and I first heard it by my friend mentioning it getting popular. I looked it up on the Steam store, and after looking at it decided to put it on my wishlist, but honestly I didn’t really expect to find myself picking up any time soon and just becoming another game buried in my giant Steam wishlist. However, if you read my Sonic Mania review, I said that I picked this game up for Easter after hearing that Sonic Mania would be delayed until Q3 of 2017. I had gotten a $20 Steam card the day before and figured that this would be an interesting game to check out, so I ended up buying it, and… well, I spent that entire rest of that weekend playing it (which IIRC was a three day weekend so that  helped) and… I can just say my first playthrough alone left an impression on me, and after playing it a couple more times (the most recent playthrough following the “Weird Autumn” update that came out), I figured now was the best time to review the game.

Right off the bat, I can definitely say this game is very story-driven. In terms of gameplay, there really is not too much to talk about. You control the main character, Mae, a college dropout returning home to her family in Possum Springs, and a lot of what you do in the game is controlling her and exploring the town of Possum Springs, interacting with NPCs while going to other places as the game’s story goes on. There are a few breaks from the gameplay, such as the rhythm game sequences where you play along to different songs, the Demon Tower minigame that you can play on Mae’s laptop (which I actually played through the second time I played and… well, it’s the Dark Souls of minigames), looking for Dusk Stars and some other parts that are experienced depending on the path you take in the story, but most of the game you will be running and jumping around Possum Springs and in other places interacting with NPCs to really experience the story. I’ll put it simply, this is not really a game you buy for the gameplay. I did actually have fun exploring the town of Possum Springs and the other settings as well as the minigames in between all of that, but this game’s focus is definitely the story and if you’re going into this game expecting intense, fast-paced gameplay… well, you’re going to be disappointed. And as a story-driven game, I am going to be making my judgements primarily for the story.

Of course, the only issue I have with talking about these kinds of games is that it is hard to talk about the story without spoiling it, and while I will try my best to keep myself from spoiling it, I would really would recommend not reading this for now and going into the game blind if you’re interested. Then maybe come back after doing this I guess idk.

So, first of all, most of the game is set in the town of Possum Springs, and I have to say, it definitely feels very unique to this game. Possum Springs is intended as being a part of the rust belt and… honestly, they do a really good job of pulling it off. As someone who’s spent the first decade of their life living in Ohio and northern parts of Kentucky (which itself isn’t necessarily a part of the rust belt, but did border the region especially where I lived), and… putting it simply, it’s not in the best shape. The region thrived in the early days of steel and automobile manufacturing and coal mining, but with the massive changes to today’s political landscape, it did not stand the test of time with all the outsourcing of jobs and increased costs, and we can really see that in the game. The game’s dialogue often mentions local businesses closing and being replaced with corporate businesses. There are plenty of moments in this game that also portray this sort of thing, such as the scene at the mall during Bea’s playthrough and… well, just between the backgrounds and talking with the characters. Just walking around this game shows areas with murals and monuments of when the town thrived during the mining age and the older NPCs constantly refer back to the good old days of the town back when they were growing up and it was at its peak. Right before I replayed the game, I actually watched a video that goes into the game’s setting and the politics of it, and it does an excellent job of explaining it far better than I could. The town of Possum Springs in this game does a great job of replicating the state of the rust belt, and it definitely made this game really stand out. I don’t think I have ever played a game that took place in the rust belt and considering how well it is pulled off here, it makes the game stand out among the many other “story-driven” games out there.

With all that aside, we go onto the story itself. Again, you take control of the character Mae, and her interactions with her family and friends after dropping out of college and returning home are the main focus of the story. As you go through the game, you learn a lot of her backstory before the events of the game as she grew up in the town and over time you witness her mental health deteriorating through the night sequences that begin about a quarter of the way into the game. And I will say this game can go from having a lot of relaxing, sad moments to becoming really intense just on a dime. The final act does involve a major shift in tone as most of the game you spend hanging out with friends ends in a dramatic meetup with the “cult.” Like a lot of story-driven games, the outcome of the ending changes depending on who you spend the nights with for most of the game, either being Gregg or Bea. Those are essentially the two main playthroughs of the game, and after playing through both the Gregg and Bea playthroughs, I can honestly say that I enjoyed Bea’s a bit more. I did have a lot of fun with Gregg, but both times I played through Bea’s playthrough it sort of had the most “impact” on me. She felt more relatable to me between the two and finding out about her backstory and learning about her character… it honestly made me feel really sad for her from what she had been going through, and if a game can make me feel that way, then it’s definitely a major plus. I’m just going to put it this way, the “Proximity” scene is probably my favorite scene in the entire game, and I think that scene alone is what puts Bea’s playthrough over Gregg’s for me. I will still say that I had a lot of fun with Gregg’s playthrough and seeing his character get developed, and there were a few particular fun moments like the knife fight and the diner scene, but I still do think Bea’s playthrough had the best moments for impact and whenever I replay this game I will most likely go with Bea’s playthrough in the future. Either way, whoever character you spend the most nights with will be the character you lay on the couch with towards the end as Mae talks about her life, and either way it’s definitely a great scene in the game. You learn a lot about Mae’s backstory, and it was one of the very points of the game where I really started to “feel” for her. She feels guilt a lot about what she has done in the past and feels that it was her fault that her family has suffered financial issues. What she did exactly I’m not going to spoil, but this particular scene in the game really gives an idea of what had been leading up to the events of the game’s story and for lack of a better word it can get really feelsy. It actually made me feel bad for Mae and she was easily the most relatable of all the characters for me (though Bea did come in really close). It kind of makes me think of some of the things I’ve done in the past that I’m not so proud of and as someone who’s going to graduate high school in a couple years it kind of made me wonder what’s going to come of my life afterwards especially if I end up going to college. The ending alone did make an impact on me, to the point where I was thinking about it a day after I finished playing it the first time and just gave me sort of a weird feeling. Not sure how to describe it, but from what I had just gone through playing it just kind of left me wondering about the game and I actually felt pretty bummed that it ended so soon. Within a few days, I already wanted to replay the game to get a taste of the other aspects that I had not witnessed, largely with Gregg’s playthrough, which is actually pretty rare for a game to make me want to do that. Only other game to do that in the past few years was Undertale (which this game actually gets compared to a lot) and even then there was still more I wanted to check out. Playing it for the third time after the recent Weird Autumn update which added a lot of content gave me another opportunity to really explore the game and after I ended up finishing it once again with the same impact I had my first time through. It really is a game that left me with an impact and looking back it actually makes me kind of sad that Night in the Woods didn’t win the Game Award for Games for Impact. Granted I haven’t played Hellblade which won the category but to be honest if there was any game I’d think of if considering a game for impact this would definitely be one of them.

Finally, let’s go on to the overall presentation and look at how they bring the story to life with the game’s presentation. One thing that actually drew me into Night in the Woods was the art style, which, quite simply, looks amazing. The game goes for a very flat and minimalist look and while it’s not necessarily as interesting or complex as Cuphead’s art style, it’s still a huge breath of fresh air from the overused pixel style used in most indie games. Despite being very flat looking, the characters and settings really stand out with how it uses colors and shapes and it definitely makes for a very nice looking game that really catches my eye when put up against many other games. It actually goes well with KDE if you’re using Linux, just something I noticed. The soundtrack I also really enjoyed. It largely has an emphasis on ambient themes and while I wouldn’t consider one of my favorite video game soundtracks out there, there are some themes in the game that make for calm, relaxing background noise that I could see myself listening to while just working on things.

Conclusions:

Night in the Woods was easily one of if not my favorite game of 2017, probably tied with Sonic Mania. While there isn’t too much going for it in terms of gameplay, the story and characters really makes this game for me and it’s really a game I can come back to any time just to experience the story again, especially with the recent Weird Autumn update adding even more content to it. It makes for a good, relaxing game while having some really intense moments especially towards the end and overall it was probably the game to have the most impact on me from this year. That said, it’s definitely not for everyone. Like I said, if you’re expecting intense gameplay then you’re going to be pretty disappointed, but if you’re looking for a game with a nice story, well-developed characters and a unique setting, then this game definitely has that going for it. I’d probably go as far as to consider it one of my favorite games of all time at the moment, and for $20, I managed to get a lot of momentum out of it. I replayed it three times and managed to get 25 hours (not bad for a game where just playing casually gets you 6-8 hours or so) out of it overall in less than a year of it being out and me owning it, only other game in the last few years I did that was Undertale (which is already 2 years old jesus). Overall, an amazing game that I easily see myself coming back even more in the future.

Oh yeah, and it launched with Linux compatibility, which puts it on my Linux-approved games.