The Real Relatability of Night in the Woods

Content Warning: mentions of depression, bipolar, abuse, grief, cults

I knew what Night in the Woods was about, I had watched bits and pieces of it and I understood the theme... or so I thought. I can’t even express how surprised I was when I saw just how much more there is to that game. I finally managed to get the game recently and I finished it in only two days. Those two days were an emotional rollercoaster, a great experience that I recommend to everyone.

I loved the music, the animation was incredibly good, and the simple drawing style is unique and fits perfectly with everything else. The gameplay is fluid and intuitive; there’s not too much to it besides a bit of platforming and a couple minigames, breaking the game genre. What shines more than anything, however, is the game’s story and incredibly realistic dialogue, and that’s what I want to talk about today rather than reviewing the game. Expect spoilers for the rest of the article.

Mae, Gregg, Angus, and Bea hang out like any typical group of youths nowadays

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The game is about Mae, a 20 year old girl who comes back home after having left university for reasons unknown, but it is also about everyone else surrounding Mae, as everyone has their own story and problems of their own.

Bea is still grieving over the loss of her mother and she’s trying her hardest to keep her life and responsibilities in check while coping with the incredible amount of stress that comes with them.

Angus has had a very difficult childhood and is trying to put his abusive family behind him and move forward in his life with Gregg.

It is heavily hinted that Gregg is bipolar; he has severe ups and downs that cause him to act dangerously or doubt himself and his self-worth.

Candy, Mae’s mother, is lovingly trying her best to figure out what happened to her daughter. She’s trying so hard to help her, while at the same time trying to figure out what to do with her own money problems.

Mae’s father hates his job and is also trying with Candy to figure out what to do with the bank’s loans, but he’s trying to shield Mae from the stresses of adulthood, realizing later in the game that she’s becoming an adult as well.

Mae herself is hinted to have high functioning depression or depersonalization.

Even the townies are relatable in their few appearances, Selmers being the prime example with her hard hitting poem about some of the injustices in the world.

"Forced 24-7 entrepreneurs. I just want a paycheck and my own life"

This game is ultimately about struggles, and rather than telling you how to overcome them like most media unrealistically does, it shows you that you can instead cope with those struggles and learn to live with them peacefully without letting yourself be overcome by them. It shows you not to give up, to keep going and keep fighting. It highlights a problem in today’s society regarding mental health where people don’t give it the weight it deserves. Dr. Hank himself, the only doctor that seems to be available in Possum Springs, seems to not be well versed in psychology and doesn’t have a good understanding on what to do with mental illness yet he still thinks he's capable of treating those patients despite everything..

This game is about any young person in our times, really. There’s something that everyone in our generation will relate to. For example, I found Mae as a character hit very close to home. As a college dropout with depression I found myself in many of her words and non-committal ways of handling certain things. Her scenes in front of the mirror trying so hard to be good to herself but ultimately failing were also reminiscent of many times I’ve done the same thing. She finds her self-worth in her friends. She lists quite a few possible job options, at first jokingly but later on seriously, yet she refuses to talk about it when anyone else brings it up. These are all things that I have experienced in my life as well and I know I’m not the only one, if anything the game showed me that.

Mae's surely not the kindest person to herself

While some parts of the plot go a bit far in an improbable direction, sometimes with some supernatural or mystical elements, for the most part the story is very real. In fact, to me those elements are the realest parts of the game. The hidden cult trying to make Possum Springs a better place by getting rid of those who don’t contribute to society may very well represent Mae and her friends’ consciousness telling them not to be a burden. Casey is a cautionary tale in their minds; he was a kid just like them, but he wanted to leave town and for that reason he never contributed to or cared about it. He suddenly disappeared one day without leaving a trace, so I can only imagine a group of old citizens talking about him as if to say "good riddance" and those words getting to Mae’s head. The “God” Mae has been encountering in her dreams, who leaves her cryptic messages about the future, may be her own mind trying to find some sense in her life, trying to figure out the world and her place in it while also showing her what her path should be. The game isn’t usually very metaphorical, it likes to tell you things how they are, show you first hand, but in those parts I feel like the metaphor fits perfectly with the rest of the narrative so I can’t help but wonder if it was all intentional.

The dreams are always a bit disorienting, but in the end you always find your way to the goal.

So in the end, I’d say this game is about hope that things will turn out for the better, with hard work and perseverance.