After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Infinite Fall has successfully launched its first game “Night in the Woods.” Introduced to the public as an exploration adventure game, it lets the player control a cat named Mae Borowski, who returns to her hometown after being dropped out of college only to find that everything wasn’t the same as before.
Interested in the game? Let’s check out its trailer:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEErDK1FJtI]
Plot
The game primarily focused on the story of Mae, an only child who has returned home to Possum Springs, where everything has changed since the closing of its coal mines. Now living in the attic of her parent’s home, she begins to uncover a dark mystery which leads her into the nearby woods, forcing her to confront a horrible secret the town has been hiding for decades, which involves the town’s mine and the disappearance of her longtime friend Casey.
To help on her journey are her friends: the hyperactive fox Gregg and his bear boyfriend Angus, and a cigarette smoking crocodile named Bea.
Gameplay
The player can control Mae and explore Possum Springs by running, jumping, and learning other mechanics. It’s Scott Benson describes its key actions as “explore, converse, see and touch.” The game allows players to make decisions that can affect the course of the story. Game Designer Alec Holowka also revealed that your interactions with the other characters in the game allow you to see their storyline by the end of the game.
As he mentioned during the game’s development, the game features a “narrative-focused” approach rather than a “gameplay first” basis.
Review
With its lush and vibrant visuals featuring a town populated by several anthropomorphic animals, one might mistake the game for a children’s exploration game. However, the game hides a deeper story under its stunning colorful visuals. In a review made by Paste Magazine, they described Night in the Woods as a game that covers themes such as mental illness, depression, and the stagnancy of the middle and lower classes.
You see, Mae Borowski, the main character, suffers from anger issues, mental illness, and depression. The other characters in the game suffer from other mental issues as well such as Gregg who is bipolar and Bea who has depression.
It’s a charming narrative platformer which offers a well-written plotline and great characters that make it a sweetly melancholic game. Aside from that, it has a beautiful animation and great mechanics that makes it a game worth playing.
The game was released on February 21 for Microsoft Windows gaming PCs and laptops, as well as MacOS and Linux desktops.
You can download it on Steam for $19.99.