why don't we have a thread about this yet and how everything sucks forever i have rectified this criminal lack EDIT: Also given how new the game is we should probably spoiler shit that deals with the plot.
For the unawares Night in the Woods is a lovely little slice of life weird fiction game about a recent college drop out named Mae Borowski. Who is a cat. Because everyone is a furry in said game. Which is fucking rad as shit ok. It has cute and fun looking visuals, a stellar soundtrack, and some highly relatable writing. listen to this shit ok is that not the most bittersweet, weirdly optimistic, we are going nowhere fast theme for a 20 year old in these trying times
This game. THIS FUCKING GAME OH MY GOD. It's an incredible genre mish-mash of platformer/visual novel/ghost story/lovecraft shit, and the writing is, no lie, some of the best I have ever encountered in a videogame. Dozens of fully realized characters, fun mini-games (KNIFE FIIIIIIIGHT) mystery, and an excellent treatment of mental illness, queer characters, religion, existentialism, and what it means to be a young person in today's fucked up world. It says a lot that between Mae, Bea, Gregg, and Angus I honestly can't decide who I like best or relate to the most. They're all so three-dimensional and interesting and aaaaaaaugh (I just. I love it so much. The writing is top notch, the visuals are gorgeous, the characters all need hugs, and it has a queer, mentally ill, female protagonist where none of those attributes feel tacked on or forced.) (NIGHTMARE EYES)
germ is great and I love him at work so no headspace/time for long analysis contribution but it is important to state the above for the official record ok
AAAAA I love this game. I love Mae. As a fellow directionless dropout/uni shut-in, I get her, and think I talk a lot like her IRL. Which is probably a lot less endearing in a 26 year old woman than it is in a 20 year old cat. Plus she's just adorable. Everyone in this game is adorable. MaeBea4Evz.
The maebea ship aesthetic is waking up on a shitty futon in fuck off hours of morning and pondering your shitty life choices while someone you kind of hate clings to you cutely. Also shes probably drooling on you.
I have begun my shitty nitw fanfiction career with Maebea fan poetry. Hellz. Yes. please understand my problem
Spoiler: dumb headcanon nobody asked for but i need somewhere to put it, kind of self harm? me: rips out half my eyebrow hairs also me: suddenly 100% certain mae borowski pulls out her fur and picks at scabs and skin and all the release-shapes-from-the-flesh / make-the-shapes-clean habits
this is a good headcanon I have a dumb headcanon too. Or I guess theory? WHO KNOWS WHAT IT IS CLASSIFIED AS. It's pretty little and dumb though. Spoiler: BEHOLD Ok so we know that Bea Santello is some sort of scaly goth. We also know that she got all her records from her mother. What you hear during the fight with her in her room sounds like something you could conceivably find in goth rock. Mrs. Santello was an old goth and she has birthed yet another goth. Lines of lizard goths. A proud goth tradition. It is 3 AM and we are depressed so we listen to music about our horrible looming deaths and the abuse of the Native Americans. Fish piss is mentioned. We are drinking fish's piss.
VOID BURGER DID A FUCKING STREAM OF THE GAME AAAAAAAAAAAAA I still stand by my statement that I think the game merits being played because something is lost if you just watch it. But. VOID BURGER.
:0 i must watch the stream... but not right now because i have to sleep. But this game sounds interesting altho i can't count on myself to actually play anything
ask me to pick a favorite child why don't you, gosh. i love mae. so much. so fucking much. i haven't had the experiences, but somehow it feels like i have in my head because i've had the others. gregg makes me happy any time he's on screen, and when he's sad on screen i want to cry. i wasn't sure how i felt about Bea at first but the more she warmed up the more attached I got to her because i understood. i feel angus on so many levels too, especially the stress cooking. i love all of these goons and i love them as a friend group so much.
I was avoiding this thread until I played through at least one round of this game and let me say: Angus is my favourite and I love him.
Angus is a sweetie and I adore him. Mae has my ULTIMATE ADORATION though because she's just too real. I really, really loved Angus' story though. Lots. And I love that he's the one that goes yeah no fuck those guys. "I believe in a universe that doesn't care, but people who do," is just such a lovely line too. It's not one I can relate to necessarily, but it's one that gets to me. Especially since my thoughts on fiction and how that plays into my religion does match up to the idea that while there isn't a whale in the sky, we put it there and we made it mean something. There's a lot to be said for our finding patterns and making meaning. Mae's thing of "If that happened to me I think I'd be more likely to believe," was the realest shit meanwhile. My instant reaction to shit like that is pretty much "whelp now it's time to find God again." And it was just very, very nice to see those two different reactions in the same place in a calm and meaningful friend talk. As a religious weirdo that scene meant a lot to me. Though perhaps not as much as Proximity because I Have Been There.
AND HIS THEME IS JUST SO GOOD. All the music is really, but Angus' theme, especially that of the star scene, really sticks out in my head a lot. It's one of my favorite pieces and it's associated with one of my favorite scenes. and his little hat and sweater vest and is attempt to be FIERCE AND SPOOKY angus you're adorable everyone's adorable except mae she's a trash mammal
