Night in the Woods

Designers: Alec Holowka, Scott Benson and Bethany Hockenberry

TW/CW: theme of mental illness, violence, cults, d*aths of characters

Night in the Woods, set in a world of anthropomorphic animals, is about a cat named Mae Borowski who, after dropping out of college due to a mental health crisis, moves back in with her parents in her dying hometown of Possum Springs.  When a creepy incident happens after Mae reunites with her high school friends (Bea, Gregg and Angus), Mae realizes something disturbing is going on in town and works to figure out what it is while battling her own mental health crisis.  This video game is so good!  The graphics and character designs are beautiful, the writing is amazing (never thought you could say that with a game) and the plot and worldbuilding are so incredibly fascinating!  This game is cozy and creepy at the same time, which I love, and it completely defies your expectations in the best way.  I think my favorite characters are Mae and Bea but all the characters have a special place in my heart.  I also love the way the game deals with mental illness.  Mae deals with disassociation and dark thoughts (fans speculate she has a dissociative disorder), and a minor character has bipolar disorder; the game doesn’t stigmatize mental illnesses and it shows that individuals with mental illnesses need to be treated with love and respect.  The game is mostly easy to play as well (minus the guitar parts-even hardcore gamers think that part is hard!).  However, don’t let the cute animals fool you!  This game could be the opposite of cozy too and be triggering to those dealing with mental health conditions, as it’s also pretty dark; there are sections involving m*tilated body parts, m*rder, cults and so much more.  It definitely has a lot of horror elements despite it being strangely comforting at times.  I actually think, though, that the light and dark elements balance each other out really well.  Overall, Night in the Woods is a beautiful, tear-jerking, sweet and spooky game-I hope you enjoy taking a step into “Weird Autumn”!

“Your best chance at being happy is a situation where everyone already likes you. But they mostly leave you alone. Except when they’re delivering food to you.”