Publisher: Finji
Developer: Infinite Fall
Platform: PC, Switch, PS4, XB1, MacOS
Genre: 2D Adventure Game
Release Date: Feb 17th 2017
In the brightest day, in the darkest night. There's an unsettling presence unbeknownst and out of sight. Thus begins the tale of Night In The Woods, a seminal work of art in video games that ventures into lot of beaten territories in its own unique, wistful ways. While a lot of undertones and social commentary is found in witty humor, multi-faceted characters and deep story, the game also hinges on different narratives as well as mechanically gamified sections to create its unique experience.
Written, designed and composed by Alec Holowka as well as Scott Benson and Bethany Hockenberry. This title is a product of several brutal years of development, most notably the excruciating involvement with Alec Holowka who has caused a lot of distress because of his toxic personality traits. Though I won't be saying much about accusations against him that led him to go astray last year, I believe that's something you can create your own opinion over. I tried my best to appreciate the game while understanding the toll it had on its developers and I have to say, parts of the game can come off dense at times which isn't a bad thing entirely in this case. It does a good job of being subliminal as well as being poignant.
With a thick atmosphere, you're entrenched into the small world of Possum Springs. Thanks to a stellar roster of wonderful characters, you're entirely lost once you've started on getting to know them. At one point you're walking through the town, talking to the denizens of this rust-belt about various things in the mundane world. The next you're in inter-dimensional dream states of the Twilight Zone kind.
< Campaign >
You play as a Zoomorphic cat named Mae, as she ditches college and returns to her hometown Possum Springs due to probably being fed up with the modern sensibilities of people and mostly being homesick. As she finally sets her first step after years, she finds out that her parents forgot to pick her up and that the town is undergoing a lot of changes, bit good but mostly bad. Of the great familiar places seem to no longer have their place in the new world of economical and social growth. Her friends and families seemingly have no aspirations or ignored the ones they've had and succumb to the daily routine of normalcy. After being reunited with her friends, their comradery reignites with whimsy, tomfoolery and the occasional Zoomer lingo and then of course, they see an amputated arm on the streets.
Playing this game, reflecting on these good facsimiles of real life characters had made me look back on my early life several times about my goofy, disconnected personality. As I had my own fair share of problems regarding psychology, my way of interacting with others, so did the protagonist and her friends. Even if some of the exploration and tasks become a little bit of a chore, the game manages to snuggle in without it being pushed towards that boredom to make several different statements at the same time.
You and your friends are like the goonies, they don't let anyone else tell em differently and do as much as they please till of course unfortunately events unfold like Mae getting electrocuted or MC gets into an argument with someone like Bea. Mae's disenfranchised and volatile personality which stems from her traumatic past, maintains the happy go-lucky parade while the town, her friends are barely hanging on. Possum Springs locals are trying their best to keep the economical state of their hometown sustained while dealing with the grim reality that things they used to love and live under conveniences are all going away and this sense of depravity is felt in most ways throughout the playthrough.
Thanks to stellar writing, witty and snazzy dialogues, great character designs and great evocation of moods in certain sequences, the game carries most of the narrative burden with ease without requiring you to play a lot of gameplay based sections. Small draw would be that maybe most of the characters are a little too much to take in at times and this is probably because there's already an intense story being told with so much character depth that I got lost once or twice translation.
Now there's gameplay, there's you hopping and skipping, playing floor is lava over the streets. There's you dangling around wires to reach the somewhat unreachable areas, to find interesting locations like closed office rooms or maybe chat with the girl on the roof for some introspection and new perspectives on life or roof tops. Before you're back to hanging out with your friends for unsupervised menace.
Ridiculous game sections of you breaking stuff, stealing things from stores, throwing water balloons in festivals, making fountains spit water on passersby, whack a moles, but most of all, including the most embarrassing and challenging ones are the bass music sessions. Either you practice in your room or play them with your friends, it's obvious that this one is quite tasking since to perfect, you need to practice playing this song several times matching button prompts. Doing it perfectly is almost next to impossible. In fact, because there's too many of these kinds, it kind of got annoying later on.
Despite these wholesome moments, right after midway playthrough, things start to get surreal and takes itself to a more darker tone. Like with Mae's dream sections with more gloom and visceral audio complemented with out of place music, indicating her mental struggles and relationship between her and people she knows in her town. While there's also a creepy murder mystery that's also juxtaposed which switches the tone a bit and has you going to haunted mansions among others to investigate.
NITW asks that you allow yourself to be evoked by the experience, letting you understand the nuances of the character drama. While the residents of Possum Springs seem inane on changing their course for a more future-proof town, its culture is something that is endearing and trying to prolong itself while society itself is crumbling under the weight of political distress.
This game will take you 9-16hrs to finish, though there's so much to do and so much to see, you'll stop counting the hours and just bask into the its world. Albeit maybe it takes itself too far with some game sections and maybe the narrative has overreach, but for the most part, maintains its tone and whimsy. For an indie game, it's something really unique and had an effect unlike any other games I've played.
< Visual Fidelity/Audio >
Night In The Woods is a Unity game, its pretty much minimalism all around, the different color palette that acts as indication for different characters and the incandescence lighting provides this surreal feeling all over. At times it can be muted with color a bit but that's probably due to the weather changes or tone shift. This game uses these to tell its story as well as imbue emotions pretty well, even looking at it currently, artstyle can get pretty intense.
While there's little to say about audio and that's because this game is close to something like a point and click, the music variety carries the game half the time. Like it is the other half that makes it great. This is mostly thanks to Alec Holowka who also composed the music. It's pretty contemporary in a sense and with good melodies often highlights the rigor of its narrative.
< Summation >
It's a wholesome game but also deeply intriguing, NITW lends itself to be as this thought-provoking experiment while also letting you go out with the feels. It's an all-around great experience that speaks volume about its mainstay in the gaming industry even with the controversies surrounding it.
This game should definitely be on people's radar.
Pros
- Greatly provocative storytelling
- Intriguing characters with depth and nuance
- World of Possum Springs has so much to tell
- It's more fun to hangout with your old buddies
- Fun and zanny game sections
- Leaves a deep impact in the end
Cons
- Some of the game sections overstay their welcome