Night in the Woods is a precious game which does a great job of exploring relationships and mental health in millennials. You play as Mae, a kind of anthropomorphic cat (no real human facial features, but everyone’s bipedal so there you go) returning to her home town and reconnecting with her family and friends. There’s also something amiss about the town.

I played controller, particularly useful when you play the guitar parts (these don’t make up a large part of the game if you suck at rhythm games like guitar hero like me, but I enjoyed these parts none the less). This ties in with the stellar soundtrack, which in its own way ties in with the overall feel of the story and the characters. The characters are deep, well fleshed out and interesting. I found myself drawn into their stories and motivations.

The gameplay is 2D, almost platformer like. Navigation through the town, making dialogue with different people – I think there are a couple of inventory related tasks, but I don’t quite remember. The gameplay is perfectly competent, nothing special, and most of it unmemorable. But that isn’t really the point of the game, it’s more of a means of an end to explore the story. There is a fun mini game called Demon Tower on Mae’s (the main character) laptop which is worth spending a little time on. Graphically, Night in the Woods is pleasant. Cartoony semi-anthropomorphic design for the characters. Overall it works well, the world looks vibrant, colourful and interesting. The sounds are also very good, with the afore mentioned great soundtrack.

Night in the Woods is a beautiful story, which I feel does a fine job of capturing a snapshot of issues facing young adults growing up in the Suburban West, particularly with regards to the decline of various industries and the trials of transitioning into independent adulthood in this day and age.

Perhaps it is for this reason that Night in the Woods resonated with me so much. I guess I am of the target audience for this game. Night in the Woods does not set out to tell a story about grandeur or changing the world – it’s very much small-town slice of life. I think this is where much of the beauty originates. The story has the time and the space to get personal. In terms of story, this helps deliver the pathos, humour, and intimacy of the story. The discussions of feelings, relationships and just talk of growing up. This resonated with me possibly because I may be going through similar things in life. Would I have enjoyed this game less if I were not in this demographic? I don’t know, but the story is a large part of what makes the game great, and I’d argue the story really is where Night in the Woods shines.