‘Night in the Woods’ shows pride in imperfections

Life’s not perfect.

Those three words grossly simplify a feeling that often plagues us as we reach adulthood, only to find out that it’s not quite how we imagined it as children. For millennials especially, that realization has been quite jarring in that we’ve entered into a world of uncertainty during the period of our lives where finding our direction in life is already a difficult process. There’s a feeling that comes with that process that many of us have come to call nostalgia as our generation has a penchant for going back to the cartoons or the games we watched and played as children, often in an attempt to revisit our pasts which were perhaps happier and simpler than what we experience in the here and now.

There is no narrative that I have read, watched or played that has ever quite captured that fear of the present as well as “Night in the Woods” has. While not necessarily perfect, this recent release by Infinite Falls combines an excellent narrative along with simple, yet beautiful, art and a mellow soundtrack to take the player on a platforming adventure that uniquely weaves subtle psychological horror into the slice-of-life story genre.

At the very heart of Night and the Woods and its strengths lies the story of Mae Borowski, who after dropping out of college returns to her hometown, Possum Springs, in an attempt to escape from a life she failed to come to terms with. Upon her return, she discovers that both the town and her friends had changed significantly during her two-year absence. To complicate things further, Mae and her friends discover a freshly severed arm outside their favorite diner shortly after a day of catching up.

From here, the story progresses day by day, as the player guides Mae through interacting with the people of Possum Springs and discovering the town’s secrets. It’s the interaction with the game’s characters where the game really shines. Despite being cartoon animals, the people of Possum Springs often feel more true-to-life than the average character in more realistic-looking narratives. Both the major, and even many of the minor, characters are developed to a point where Mae’s conversations with them not only build those characters, but also Mae herself. Whether they’re sharing their thoughts on life or awkwardly stumbling through a humorous conversation, Mae and the people around her will often leave the player thinking or laughing about what they have to say.

Through a combination of both humor and tragedy, the ongoing story creates a bittersweet sensation that is further strengthened by the art and music that surround it.

What makes the art direction of Night in the Woods strong despite its simplicity is that it lends itself to the narrative it portrays. The decision to stylize the game’s characters as childishly drawn animals was bold, but it pays off in that allows for their stories to stand out more due to the major contrast of heavy topics like death or emotional trauma to a light and simple art direction.

Moreover, the game’s use of fall colors and a subdued evening sky create a subtly beautiful setting in which the characters reside. The only area where the game’s visuals fall short is their stability. Even though the game’s graphics are simple, edges of characters and objects can occasionally become noticeably jagged and cause brief lag spikes. In the grand scheme of things, these are only minor gripes, as the graphics remain consistently stable for the most part.

Given how easily scenes like the town skyline from a rooftop, rolling hills in the country, or even just the setting sun pouring light into an empty room can lure the player into settling down for a moment to relax and listen to a location’s song, the graphics in this game certainly achieve what they set out to do in working to compliment the narrative, despite their flaws.

Just as important to those moments, though, are the songs themselves.

Each location in Night in the Woods has its own song on the soundtrack, and just like its art direction, the game’s music strengthens the emotions being conveyed in any given scene. Primarily consisting of ambient guitar and piano, the bulk of the game’s soundtrack borders around melancholy, gravitating towards uplifting or mournful when it needs to. What makes the soundtrack special is that it hits a perfect balance, avoiding a sense of overbearing while still remaining noticeable as an important part of any scene.

Many of the game’s dream sequences are, without a doubt, made memorable by songs that the player themselves has to piece together while navigating Mae’s subconscious.

Infinite Falls has achieved something special with the music of Night in the Woods, to the point where muting it is like halving the game’s experience as a whole.

The player’s role in this experience primarily consists navigating Mae through Possum Springs and her nightmares by jumping up buildings and walking across powerlines. During conversation, much of Mae’s decisions and dialogue are left up to the player. Both of these aspects of gameplay lend to the game’s re-playability, as there are many secret locations that can easily be missed and decisions that open and close entire portions of the game.

To further make things interesting, the player gets to take part in many of the strange situations that Mae and her friend, Gregg, get into. These can range from the two attempting to throw pierogis into each other’s mouths to poking at each other’s hands in a supposed knife duel. Sections like these not only add variety to gameplay, but also help bring out the game’s sense of humor to break up scenes that would be entirely serious otherwise.

On top of those, an optional dungeon crawler mini-game called Demontower is also available on Mae’s laptop, in-game. While it is somewhat buggy, the mini-game can be quite fun for the player who is used to more difficult and faster-paced games.

One feature of Night in the Woods that players may find somewhat irritating at first is the fact that the game only has one save file that is constantly being automatically updated to the player’s actions. This means that mistakes can’t be changed until another playthrough, but that’s actually the point of why the game saves this way. It adds to the game by making it more of a real-time experience as opposed to encouraging the player to constantly reload and fixate over trying to do everything right. Part of the message behind Night in the Woods’ story is that it’s okay to make mistakes in life, and interestingly its mechanics also follow that philosophy.

If there’s one word that could be used to sum up what makes the game truly great, that word would be “chemistry.”

With the narrative as a base, Infinite Falls added just the right ingredients through the game’s art, music, and gameplay in just the right way so that the final product is a game that tells a story sincerely and encourages players to make their own conclusions about its meaning. It evokes laughter, sadness, thought, and most importantly, a sense of empathy for its characters.

In an age where many characters enter and leave our screens without ever making an impression on us, eliciting emotion from a viewer is an achievement in itself. Night in the Woods isn’t perfect, but as it likes to point out, nothing really is. That being said, the game easily earns 4 out of 5 stars and maybe even 4.5 stars, assuming that its technical faults are someday patched.

For the player who’s thorough and takes his/her time, a single playthrough of Night in the Woods will take about 20 hours. Experiencing everything it has to offer in another playthrough may bump that up to about 30 hours total, making the game well worth its $20 release price. A faster player will finish it in closer to about six hours, and should probably wait for it to go on sale if they only plan on playing it once.

Either way, Night in the Woods is a must for anyone who has ever questioned their existence or purpose in the world, or those who are simply looking for a game that tells a meaningful story.