Night in the Woods

Overall Rating: C+ Recommended for those looking for something different and who do not mind odd stories.

Night in the Woods is a strange game. It is one I will play again, after I let it digest for a while. However, I can only recommend it to others with caution. It is less of a game than it is a story told with game trappings. The story is all over the place, funny, uncomfortable at times, and strange. Getting to know the people of the town and doing the side activities were far more compelling than the main story, most of the time.

If you want something different, and have an open mind, go into this game blind and enjoy the charmingly odd vibe it has.

This has quickly become one of my favorite story-based games ever. It's definitely more of a visual novel and soft platformer with various mini games than a game based around complex mechanics, so it's best to play when you're feeling relaxed and thoughtful (bonus points if it's fall or winter). The characters are flawed and dynamic, and the challenges they go through feel very realistic, even in the cartoonish "paper doll"-like visual style. My only negative experience with this game is that the main character Mae definitely makes some dubious choices and it can be a bit emotionally taxing to choose between 2 inappropriate dialogue options and then get chewed out by the other characters, lol.

I cried multiple times while playing. Wonderful story, great characters, everything in this game is PERFECT. Loved climbing onto every place possible and discovering new stuff. Definitely one of my ABSOLUTE FAVORITES of all time. Now Night in the Woods is gonna live rent free in my head for a looong time lol.

this game is so fucking good, only problem is that some of the dialogue choices are misleading and go totally against what it seems to be portraying

I love this game, i played is on my PS5 And once I finished it i had to buy it on here, the games visual style is unique and wonderful. The story and the characters are really wonderful and honestly i love them all, 10/10
Gregg rulz ok

Whoa. This game goes in so many directions and I love it! I love any game that makes it easy to love every character in it. Can't wait to play a second time to get a whole new experience!

Loved everything about this game, from the art style, to the characters and their designs, their personalities, as well as the story itself. Additionally, the soundtrack and sound design of the game is incredibly spot-on and memorable. Will definitely remember this game for a very, very long time.

Each of the four main characters has so many unique and enjoyable things about each of them, but it's especially true for Mae, the player character. She is a very amusing character and I very much enjoyed getting closer to her story and building up her history and reigniting old friendships she had, staying invested each step of the way.

I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH, the music is peak, the art is beautiful, gameplay is simplisitc but nice and it is suprisingly pretty open word despite being a side scroller. It's story is beautiful and I cannot recommend the game enough, PLEASE PLAY IT

this game has an amazing artstyle and animations, a ridiculous yet grounded plot with realistic writing, a wealth of optional content that will keep you busy for months, and a pansexual cat!!! what's not to love

I have only two complaints; the game was too short and the bass minigame is a bit jank. The bass is a bit out of time on most songs. Everything else; airtight. Such a beautiful, cozy game with so much love put into every aspect. Writing and dialogue is so well done. It appears to be written with a very young audience in mind, so don't expect the commentary to be amazingly nuanced and you'll be fine. It only seems to get more and more relevant to current times. The PG language only adds to the humour. Art and music is of course seamless. Game is designed well enough you shouldn't really get stuck anywhere for too long. You quickly get into the swing of the routine of waking up every day and doing your thing. I wanted to do it so many more times before the story wrapped up :(

All the right decisions were made except for when the story ends.

RIP Alec Holowka

I enjoyed this one, enough to purchase after starting on Gamepass (and finished it on Steam). May not be everybody's cup of tea, I think you'll know after the beginning if it's what you like. This is another one of my "play little segments every evening" type of game, which I did until I finished it. Was kinda disappointed in the sudden feeling ending (really thought it should have ended on a song), but I still enjoyed getting there. Liked interacting with the town's various characters on a daily basis, as the story progressed.

very open and lots to experience, gives you a feeling of adventure even though its 2d. great game!

The story isn't strong or nuanced enough to excuse the complete lack of gameplay. I know it's a narrative driven game but I just felt like I was running through town checking the same areas every day until the very last second when the story just... happens. In one huge chunk everything just... happens. The monotony of adulthood was clearly a narrative point but it almost made me lose interest completely. The humour felt a bit outdated and despite me agreeing with its political messaging, it did feel a little forced.

It's a game I feel I should enjoy, as there's many tropes I like, but it just didn't click with me.

This game is absolutely beautiful. Its one of my favorite games, I love everything about it, the story, the characters, the music.

With this game you can just sit back, be all comfortable and just play after a long day of work. No worries about losing or anything. 10/10 for sure

Gregg rulz ok

Crimes, Crimes

THIS GAME CHANGED ME!
i really mean it! a friend recommended it to me and I love replaying it to find more things. the struggles of the main character speaks so much to me and I love the effortless representation of several different characters with different mental health struggles, sexualities, etc.
If you want a good cry but feel good about it, play this game. You won't regret it

Will forever remember this game, till I die. The artstyle, the plot, the characters. Loved everything about it. Very cool, Would recommend. I love yarn balls.

This is a weird little awesome, incredibly well-made game. I bought it quite a while back and just played and finished it. It's so great. I love the awesome animation, the hilarious characters...it's wonderful. Everything I've ever loved about 80's spooky urban legend thrillers with a modern day relevance. We also live in a small mining town with similar history and I loved it. This game will get filed with my favorites.

Behind all the platforming and cute animals is a game that will make you genuinely care about the residents of Possum Springs. The dialog draws you in so fast and might make you rethink your whole life.

Highly recommend.

One of my favorite games of all time. Great to play during Halloween/Fall.
Amazingly written story with some simple platforming.

If you love Halloween, Autumn, talking animals going through real life problems, and great story games you need to play this.

extremely well written, dialogue especially. loveable and flawed characters, excellent soundtrack and an extremely well realized dying american town. its sad. its funny. it made me feel a bit more okay about letting things in my life change.

this is one of the best games i've ever played. its made with so much compassion, the story and characters are compelling and it makes you think. The art is also stunning. the playstyle funnily enough reminds me a lot of poptropica, which i loved as a mid, so playing a more adult and relatable version of it is amazing to me.

This game was recommended as being similar to Fran Bow, but I'm not sure why as it has very little in common with it, other than some mature subject matters. Half the time I have no idea what I'm supposed to do, if there are any puzzles I can't find them, I just wander around hoping to get some prompt from the NPC's as to what I', supposed to be doing, and usually they just rabbit on about nothing that seems significant to the story. I will persist but when a game starts to feel like a chore it's difficult to continue. It's a shame as I do like the presentation of it it's just that the gameplay is very stunted.

it has been several years since i've played this game but i think of it often. i named my cat after the man character so if thats not endorsment enough idk what is. its beautiful and honest and atmospheric. it reminds me its ok not to have it all together. it reminds me its ok to not know. to go back home and build from the scraps of who you left behind.

Man, what do I say about this game?

First, it's not for everyone. Let me be honest about that.
You won't find awesome gameplay mechanics, nor an expansive world of exploration.

But what is on offer here is still valuable.
Time to take a step back from the excessiveness of many other games and take comfort in the peaceful atmosphere.

Featuring a small, dying town, Night in the Woods focuses its efforts into wonderful and fun characters, the charm of a slow-paced, detailed, environment, fantastic music, and its own woven tale to tell.

I've completed the game once, which as of writing has taken me the 14.2 hours to complete.
But, there are some things that I was missing my first time around - Scenes and character insight missed as I had to make choices on who to hang out with during each in-game day.

Probably will take me a couple runs to see and do everything, so it's well-worth the $20 price tag.
(Especially considering it comes with 2 additional side-games, and features an internal mini-game that could be its own game itself!)

Do I recommend this game? Absolutely yes.
Go play it. Relax watching the daily life of a small town. Have fun hanging with the characters.

And remember,

GREGG RULZ, OK?

Phenomenal game. Wow.... just.... wow. There are very few games that leave me speechless and this is one of them. It's an amazing blend between adventure, humor, and horror.

Amazing game, amazing characters, amazing story.

beautiful visuals and animation, also good story!!!!!

Sweet, charming, and a little bit spooky, it's a pretty great game.

Just a heads up, this game is mostly spent reading dialogue. But it is totally worth it!
I'll say little about the experience, because I think you should go in as neutral as possible (as I did).

If you like to spend time getting to know characters, with a little bit of meaningful exploration sprinkled in and some amazing atmosphere to soak up, give it a go!

FYI, I found this game in the midst of me being emotionally downtrodden. I'd say that I would have a very large personal bias for this game, especially since I find myself much in similar circumstances to the characters of this story at the time of playing the game/writing this review.

So. Night in the Woods. It's definitely one of those art-y games that doesn't really try to be a *video game*. This game most specifically sparks feelings of the adventure genre, though not necessarily point-and-click as this game was not developed with only PC in mind. Nevertheless, the game does tread other boundaries in its various mini-games, though without much serious obligation aside from obtaining 100% achievements.

As a result, this game primarily focuses on storytelling. Having not had much context going into this game, the game is seriously character-driven, and I enjoyed that aspect of the game a lot. Having beaten the game and finally done more research of what I had gotten myself into, I realized that this game also has many horror elements, and it makes me seriously question what the authors of this game are actually going for.

I think any good horror story ought to have the readers (or players in this context) get to know the protagonists. But this seeming horror story focuses so much on the characters and setting it kind of falls into a "world building trap" where it develops its world so much the horror starts to take a backseat. I'm not going to lie, I did not think the game was going to go where it had.

Still, I greatly enjoyed my time with this game. I found it in many ways comforting, and at the very least an excellent exercise in empathy. I think it would be best to have an open mind going into this game, although maybe with some more context considering I was surprised by where the game eventually went.

If I were to summarize my thoughts into an unrepresentative ratio, it would be 4.5/5. I think even with its flaws there's a lot to love, and considering the game is super open to interpretation I don't think it's that hard to ignore those flaws anyways.

Personally not my fav because I feel like it was very slow and inconsistent but the game was beautiful and the charachters and story were still nice. I can see why people enjoy it but the playstyle was just not for me.

Absolutely loved the story, the way everyone has their story as well. The seasons, how the soundtrack change with it. Just 10/10 i recommend

The story wasn't really my cup of tea, I guess I'm too old to really get into the existential dread vibe of tweens from middle America and I was expecting something a bit more interesting than a lambda Cthulu story. Yet, for the fans of the genre, I'll have to recommend. The story is told in an interesting manner and the mini-games are fun. The musical bits are freakishly difficult for me.

Finally got around to playing this game and wow. Absolutely loved it. I've never felt so seen by and enamored with a video game world, especially one so clearly based on our own. Night in the Woods is really really special and feels so relevant, even 7 years after its release. One of my favorite games now, can't recommend it enough
--∅--

Speaking as a once-aimless (and still somewhat aimless) twenty-something, the melancholy of returning to a place you once knew and feeling like you've stayed the same while everyone else changed is a mood that fills out the core of this game. If that's an emotion you'd like to see realised in any piece of media, then Night in the Woods is the game piece of media for you.

What to expect?
-Funny, yet introspective dialogue
-The occasional fun mini game
-Heartache

What not to expect?
-A whole lot of gameplay

The game looks like a platformer, plays like a visual novel, and feels like therapy. Definitely worth purchasing if you happen to snag a discount. I bought it for myself after already playing through it once on another friend's account.

Fucking legendary bounce-n-talk game. Fun, funny, poignant, really resonates if you're of a certain experience. Love these characters. Love all the care and love on display.

Brilliant and haunting. Mae is deeply relatable, in all of her flawed beauty. I'm going to be thinking about this one for awhile (and definitely revisiting it again.) If you have any interest in playing this game at all, I highly recommend you just do it. It's pretty light on actual "gameplay," and more of an interactive story, but the story it has to tell is beautiful and existential and wistful and nostalgic and just so so good. It centers on a lot of tough themes, and is one of the few pieces of media that explores religion in a neutral way that doesn't make me want to implode. I wouldn't say it's a main point of the game, maybe, but its definitely there. As someone who generally avoids religious topics, I found it's presence surprisingly welcome here.

If you like stories that are open, vulnerable, and curious, and told in a way with stylish graphics within a cozy fall backdrop with plenty of fun moments, this is for you.

touching story, pleasant animation, fantastic soundtrack

Its a nice game with a good story that's perfect to play in Fall

this game changed the way i view everything, i won't forget the way it made me feel playing it for the first time.

Actually just tragic, the game is way too good and had a future way too bright for something not to go wrong. The sequel, Revenant Hill, The book... all canceled because of things that are completely unrelated and completely out of the developer's control. This whole IP could've been so much more but at least we got this game, which is not a small thing.

Night in the woods is such an astounding game. Visuals and art style, Story and characters are all phenomenal. This game has such a special place in my heart and makes me feel so at home and understood, as well as just an enjoyable Immersive story following only the best little guys >:) I dont have enough words to explain how moving this game is.
If you cant buy def watch Jacksepticeyes play through because he breathes such life into these characters with the voices he gives them

I've come back to this game many times over the years. Every time i'm reminded why i fell in love with it all those years ago. Its a wonderfully woven branching story that tells differently each time. The characters and the bonds you make feel very real which is a first for me and very bizarre as Mae is very different from myself yet i can relate to her and see much of her world without trying.
I can't really recommed this enough but i know its not for everyone but everyone should try it. Its a massive shame Revenant Hill has been cancelled. I hope to see a spiritual successor to NITW when the developers are in a better place. NITW stands as my all time favourite story game and i doubt i'll ever find a game i have the same connection with.
"At the end of everything, Hold onto anything."

i really enjoyed playing this ,wish it was abit longer , i love the graphics , and the characters have so much personality. its such a nice game to play to get away from ur own problems in life . 8.3/10

Really good story. I never knew what was coming next. Lots of surprises. Also loved the art style. I only wish it was longer. Def recommend.

I love the art style of this game so much its such a good story and game!

i actually watched a playthrough of this game years ago when i was a child when it first came out, and i remember having absolutely loved it. now, im readying myself up for university, and a while back i noticed it was on sale, so i bought it. playing this game as someone who is fearful of growing up made the themes of the story resonate with me so much more. i love the dialogue in this game; especially the interactions with the npcs... everyone just seems so REAL. like theyre not just shapes, lines and code written by other people, but actual living breathing beings. i know some people might consider this game quite repetitive, which i agree with, but i personally feel it is handled well as characters have something new to say everyday which builds up both their character and relationship with mae and also kind of represents one of the main themes of this game nicely. this is a great game obviously crafted with love. i believe in a universe that doesnt care and people who do :,)

Can't believe it's taken me 5? 6? playthroughs (on 3 different platforms) to get around to writing a review for this game, but if anything that just makes it more thorough, yeah?

This game is hands down, the best game I've ever played in my life. I bought it back in 2018 or so, after I had moved back to my crappy hometown after barely making it through college (see where this is going?). I instantly connected to Mae, seeing so so much of myself in her, and empathizing with her and her struggles. I sat there as Mae had the same conversations with her mother as I did with mine, feeling like she was once again disappointing her family. It was like seeing myself as a video game character! Not only is Mae extremely relatable, but the story, the witty writing, the music, it all sucks you in and you feel like you're there in Possum Springs. I was in my early 20's when I first played this game, and I'm 30 now. I can say with the utmost confidence, even after you've played every single route, gotten every possible ending, seen every single line of dialogue, this game will still make you laugh, cry, hurt, and smile, every. Single. Time.

At the end of everything, hold onto anything. <3

Just finished this and oh. my. god.
I bought the game without much expectation, but immediately fell in love with it! in love with the artstyle, the characters, the story, everything!

Despite the cute visuals, the story is something else, really makes you feel connected to Mae and crew and their shenanigans, gets quite dark too.

Can't say much because i want YOU to experience it yourself, just be ready to read quuuuuite a bit of text, and for the roller coaster of emotions this is.