Life is Strange is not a good game…. Alright, I got people triggered, now let me explain. Life is Strange is not a bad game. But I never was invested in a bland character like Max or anything she did in the game. The games attempts at being “relatable” to the teen demographic just came off as annoying. Never have I hated a word more than relatable (Except gamer). Just using that to justify a badly written character or story is just... unbearable. I liked the story around Life is Strange, but other than that, there was just nothing keeping me invested. But someone, somewhere, took that idea, and made something even better out of it. And that’s where Night in the Woods comes in.
Night in the Woods follows a town of big furries, one such furry being Mae Borowski, a college dropout who returns to her hometown to live in her old home and hang out with her friends, crime enthusiast Greg, goth Beatrice, and Greg’s boyfriend Angus. But strange things start to happen in the town, involving disappearances of residence of the town, mysterious figures kidnapping kids, and something about eldritch entities looming over the town. Yeah, the game’s narrative is a little weird. The game has a set area for you to explore, and I mean very set. You have the Borowski home where you can chat online or to Mae’s parents, and then three streets with other characters, like the poet Selmers, the astrology teacher, a mouse that loves horror movies, the town preacher helping a local hobo, and other such characters. The game also gives you the choice of who you wish to hang out with, be it Greg or Bae. If you want to laugh and enjoy yourself, you go with Greg. If you want to feel emotions, go with Bae. I personally go with Bae because 1. Goth girls are my jam and 2. Because her problems were real serious and I wanted to see how she handled that. A lot of problems in this game were pretty real to deal with, from Angus’ problems at home to Mae’s parents dealing with possible foreclosure on their home. Hell, Mae is the reason I love this game so much. A wise cracking ball of insanity who uses her jokes and sense of humor to mask her crippling depression. I can’t even begin to tell you how real that is. I would know. Mae is a far more interesting protagonist than Max ever was, and not just cause Mae is a talking cat, but because she feels more human without needing to be human. Also, the humor in this game is really funny. I know a lot of people just see it as meme culture and dated humor in a few years, but there are some jokes and some quotes by Mae and Greg that really make this game more fun.
Night in the Woods is truly an experience that anyone should experience. It’s got a lot more heart into it and for a game where all you do is walk around and experience the small town setting of Possum Springs, it managed to capture my attention more than any other game of its type
Come little children
Come with me.
I’ll take you to a land
Of fantasy
Please little children
Don’t you cry
Hypno wouldn’t even
Hurt a fly
Please little children
Don’t you squirm
These ropes, I know
Will hold you firm
I know I said
This isn’t true.
But sadly,
Hypno lied to you
Now, little children
You weren’t clever
Now you’re trapped with me
Forever…
And then the police broke in, beat me up, and arrested me on several accounts of attempted pedophilia. I guess I should have tied them up in a cave instead of a big white van with candy in the back
Come with me.
I’ll take you to a land
Of fantasy
Please little children
Don’t you cry
Hypno wouldn’t even
Hurt a fly
Please little children
Don’t you squirm
These ropes, I know
Will hold you firm
I know I said
This isn’t true.
But sadly,
Hypno lied to you
Now, little children
You weren’t clever
Now you’re trapped with me
Forever…
And then the police broke in, beat me up, and arrested me on several accounts of attempted pedophilia. I guess I should have tied them up in a cave instead of a big white van with candy in the back