https://store.steampowered.com/app/481510/Night_in_the_Woods/
Windows, Mac, Linux, PS4, Xbox One, maybe others
I don't know all the right game genre definitions. What is this game? There's a term "
walking simulator"
that probably applies. But I hate the snarky reductiveness. To call a masterpiece like
What Remains of Edith Finch a "
walking simulator"
... it rankles.
There's no puzzles in this game. There's a light collection of action sequences that are consequence-free. No matter what you do, you'll get through them and proceed onward.
For the most part, you're just walking around talking to anthropomorphic animals. And if you're trying to skip past the dialogue to get to the meat of the game, you're definitely doing it wrong - because that
is the meat of the game.
I feel compelled to write about this game, because it's something different than what it looks like on the surface. You're thinking "
softcore horror game with cute characters"
. But it's a deep game focused on things that happen to people in real life. Maybe 5% of the game is Scooby-Doo-style mystery-solving.
The scariest thing in the game for me was the pending conversations that the main character, Mae, chooses to avoid. And I was right to be afraid. Mae, a young college dropout, returns to her hometown in a desperate way. There's a near-constant layer of charm and playfulness that covers up her problems. Occasionally, things poke through that layer, and it's not pretty.
One argument between Mae and her mother frigging gut-lumped me. I mean I was close to crying. I stopped playing the game for a bit and found some standup comedy to lighten my mood.
I don't play games to feel bad. Why am I playing this game?
There's insight about life in it. Like all great novels, the author had a little truth to lay out about what it's like to be a human. And a story was the best way to say it.
This story talks about:
* how "
simple"
decisions we expect a person to make the right way can internally be very complex
* how people hide things, especially from those they love
* how parents make difficult sacrifices that are often unappreciated
* how good people come with flaws
* how love and loneliness are expressed in unusual ways
* how economic conditions are something people don't choose but can still be the main thing affecting their happiness
It's just loaded with this truthy-lifey business without beating you over the head with it. Big ideas, artfully and playfully presented.
-Erik
____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals |
twitch stream |
youtube archive (NSFW)
[Last edited by ErikH2000 at 08-10-2021 11:28 PM]
