Plot and Character: 9 out of 10
This is really where this game shines the most, which is just as well because most the the game play does revolve around the characters and their antics. The main character is Mae Borowski, an anthropomorphic cat like creature who has just returned to the town where they grew up after suddenly deciding to bail on college life for reasons that are undisclosed until later in the game. Possum Springs is a quiet, mostly peaceful little town that has seen better days, at least economically - shops and restaurants are regularly closing down, the mall is mostly an empty, lifeless shell, far removed from the hustle and bustle of its glory days. Mae is at that difficult stage in her life where she is no longer really a child but not yet fully committed to the notion of adulthood or aware of what is required of most responsible people. She doesn't yet know what she wants to be, which understandably is the source of quite a lot of angst. She spends her days sleeping or aimlessly wandering the town and chatting to the residents, and her nights getting embarrassingly drunk or doing things that she shouldn't with her old friends.
These old friends include Gregg, a foxy / doggy thing who has nothing but love for Mae, but is probably not the best influence on her. Nevertheless, despite his fondness of crimes and general immaturity he is at least managing to hold down a steady job at the local Snack Falcon and a loving relationship with his boyfriend, the bear-thing Angus. Mae's other closest friend is Bea, a chain smoking crocodile whose life spent looking after her ailing father and working at their family store every day is starting to take its toll on her. She's tired, cranky, and more than a bit resentful that Mae not only up and left, but randomly decided to throw away the opportunities that were afforded to her at college on a whim. Over the course of the game you will mostly be spending your time with one of these two in various skits. You normally have to choose, too - spending time with Gregg means that you won't be seeing Bea, and vice versa. As the game goes by Mae keeps a journal where she sketches key events that happen, and the only way to complete it is to play through twice so you can do what you didn't do last time. Angus and a strange duck like bloke known as Germ do also feature in the story a little bit, as well as Mae's parents and her aunt in the police force, but the trio of Mae, Gregg and Bea are the main focus.
The script is incredibly well written, sounding very natural and full of humour. I liked Bea in particular as her snarky comments brought a smile to my face on several occasions. Gregg is cool too but I really didn't spend all that much time with him - maybe I will play the game again so I can see what he was up to. Underneath the charm and the amusing antics is a darker tale though, which I'm not going to elaborate on here - just know that the tone of the game starts to shift a bit towards the latter stages (though there are hints that something sinister is coming throughout the game). Yes, the plot and character are definitely the main strengths of Night in the Woods, but that's not all it's got going for it, thankfully.
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| Yeah, I get that a lot too, Mae. :( |
Visually, Night in the Woods is a delight to look at. No, it isn't a polygon pushing powerhouse, with god rays and particle effects spunking in your face at every opportunity, but it is a great example of 2D artwork. The whole game has a cohesive, cartoony style to it, probably because all of the art was created by just one person. It reminds me a bit of Richard Scarry's Busytown, except a bit darker and with a more autumnal colour palette. Gorgeous stuff!
Sound and Music: 7 out of 10
While I did enjoy the music while playing through game, I've found that a lot of it isn't all that memorable outside of the experience, save for a few pieces. I've used those in the background of the video. I was slightly disappointed that the game doesn't feature any voice acting at all, though I do understand why there may not be any for budgetary or artistic reasons. I picture Bea sounding like one of Marge's sisters from The Simpsons. Sound effects are used fairly sparingly throughout the game, but a pretty solid when there are used.
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| Most of the time, Mae does speak a lot of sense. |
Being an adventure game at heart, there is quite a lot of talking to people throughout Night in the Woods. Each day in Mae's life begins with her waking up at home, having a quick chat with mom, and then heading out to see what's going down in the town. You are relatively free to explore Possum Springs, although it is not a terribly huge location. Usually, by talking to either Gregg or Bea (and occasionally other people) you will trigger a story sequence, and then the day will end after it has played out. You are given fair warning that this is going to happen though, in case you want to scour every inch of the town to see what's changed (something I recommend doing to get the most out of the game).
Dotted throughout the game are other mini games as well, such as band practice. I was utterly terrible at the this unfortunately, and Mae's journal reflected this. There's also a complete rogue lite called Demontower, which can be launched from Mae's laptop in her bedroom. I spent almost an hour playing this and managed to get to level 5 (out of 10, I believe) where things started to get pretty challenging. The art style changes to that of a classic 16-bit dungeon crawler and for a side game it's a very polished experience. I think there is an achievement tied to getting all the way to the end but like I said it does get pretty tough after a while.
Night in the Woods probably won't appeal to those gamers who like a steady diet of blood, guts and wall to wall action, but you probably already know if this is the sort of thing that will appeal to you or not. If you are still on the fence about buying it right now, then I would suggest that you wait for a sale, or for the game to be featured in Games with Gold, PS Plus or Xbox Game Pass. It's the sort of thing that I can see being offered up as part of those services onr day, and personally I would be thrilled to receive it, if I hadn't already bought it of course.
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| A feline after my own heart! |
Innovation and Cleverness: 6 out of 10
This was a bit of tricky one to score - games like Night in the Woods have definitely been done before so it's not that high on innovation, though the cohesive design style, witty writing and arrays of fun mini games all contribute towards a decent cleverness score. Let's go with a six then!
Value and Replayability: 8 out of 10
Night in the Woods wasn't quite as short as I had been led to believe it was - it look me about a dozen hours to complete which considering the price is more than reasonable. Then there's the fact that you can play the game over again if you want to and see quite a few different scenes from your first time through. The Demontower mini game is the very addictive cherry on top, and you could sink a fair few hours into just playing that should you wish.
Overall: 8 out of 10
Night in the Woods did take a litle while to get it claws into me, but after I had warmed up to Mae, her friends and the strange world they live in I really did start to love it. If this sounds like your sort of thing then I would really recommend checking it out without hesitation.
Thanks for reading - I will be back with my review of Oxenfree quite soon. In the meantime you can check out the video version of this review below. Take care!
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