Night in the Woods

 PC
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 427 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 294 out of 427
  2. Mixed: 71 out of 427
  3. Negative: 62 out of 427

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  1. Ikstarni16
    Nov 26, 2017
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Pros: Atmospheric at times, really nice music, nice characters that make you care about them. I was able to empathize, admire, and recognize myself in many of the characters.
    Cons: Story got kind of muddled, and at the end it seemed like the protagonist was just trying to say a lot of insightful stuff when really, I just wanted her to develop as a person. Just a tiny bit. And it was atmospheric 'at times' because while the town was pretty and simple too look at with trees and leaves, the rest of the scenery was just solid color blocks with little if any detail, so pretty plain. Sometimes character actions seemed off. *SPOILER AHEAD* Like in the beginning Mae and her friends find a severed arm in the city and start to poke at it. They forget about it for days afterwards and it seems like the game itself forgot about it too. Then it kept bringing up Aunt Mall Cop as some sort of weird Red Herring who showed up and disappeared and ultimately contributed nothing to the plot.
    Otherwise, this game was interesting, I enjoyed learning about Mae's mystery more than the mystery of disappearing town folk, but that's just me.    … Expand
  2. Fuz
    Aug 25, 2018
    7
    Amazing art style, fantastic narrative, witty writing and dialogues, great characters and setting. All of this game's outline is adorable.
    The problem is... it's not really a game. It plays itself, you just have to hold left or right, and click during dialogues. It's just a tale that you spectate. It's still a very enjoyable experience, but it's a shame there's not an actual game inside    Amazing art style, fantastic narrative, witty writing and dialogues, great characters and setting. All of this game's outline is adorable.
    The problem is... it's not really a game. It plays itself, you just have to hold left or right, and click during dialogues. It's just a tale that you spectate. It's still a very enjoyable experience, but it's a shame there's not an actual game inside this beautiful package. It would have been a great P&C adventure.    … Expand
  3. Ittiaces
    Sep 16, 2017
    7
    This game looks beautiful, the graphics are simple but well done and allow the creators to tell a very adult tale with the visuals of a child's cartoon. The story is interesting but not complicated, and the characters are very likeable. I loved the whole feel and had fun pottering around this world for a bit. The controls are few and very basic so not much to learn and won't stretch yourThis game looks beautiful, the graphics are simple but well done and allow the creators to tell a very adult tale with the visuals of a child's cartoon. The story is interesting but not complicated, and the characters are very likeable. I loved the whole feel and had fun pottering around this world for a bit. The controls are few and very basic so not much to learn and won't stretch your brain. Some of the dialogue was a bit excessive, and I admittedly lost patience a couple of times. The dream sequences are nice although there are a lot of them and they're almost identical, the soundtrack suited them perfectly. All in all this game was a good ride, presented well and not overly challenging. It has a brilliant sense of humour, and I very much enjoyed it.… Expand
  4. Contraito
    Mar 8, 2017
    7
    Night in the woods was a great game (or maybe playable novel), it had an amazing story with awesome characters and artwork. However, the ending was what made this 7 instead of higher. The game's story telling seems to just fall off during the ending, so many questions are left unanswered in what feels like a hasty ending where the characters seem to act "out of character." Pretty much itNight in the woods was a great game (or maybe playable novel), it had an amazing story with awesome characters and artwork. However, the ending was what made this 7 instead of higher. The game's story telling seems to just fall off during the ending, so many questions are left unanswered in what feels like a hasty ending where the characters seem to act "out of character." Pretty much it is just to say after spending the 10 something hours on the story to have it end terribly was somewhat a bummer.… Expand
  5. Mandulum
    Mar 11, 2018
    7
    Five Word Review: Neat adventure with interesting cast.
    Favorite Thing: The characters are great, especially Mae and Gregg.
    Least Favorite Thing: It take a little too long before the story gets going.

    Date Completed: 2018-03-11
    Playtime: 8h
    Enjoyment: 7/10
    Recommendation: Yes, it's a solid adventure game - weird story, cool art, great music.
  6. duk242
    Feb 25, 2017
    7
    Night in the Woods is really slow, but has really nice story. There's a lot of common themes of depression/anxiety/apathy in there, which for me helped me really connect with the characters.
    Pacing wise, it starts out slow, but had enough to keep me going until the end (where it gets better and better).
    It does feel a lot like Life is Strange, but feels less involved.
  7. michaelb1928
    Sep 7, 2018
    6
    This game looks beautiful, the graphics are simple but well done and allow the creators to tell a very adult tale with the visuals of a child's cartoon. The story is interesting but not complicated, and the characters are very likeable. I loved the whole feel an
  8. TheWaffle
    Jan 17, 2019
    7
    Good sense of humor and interesting characters, but there's not a lot of gameplay to latch on to. It's funny how the game gets you to behave like a teenager, there's a few weird characters around town, but inevitably you get bored and bug your friends at work.
  9. HSuke
    Jun 14, 2020
    5
    I've played a ton of walking simulators, and this is the first one that almost put me to sleep multiple times. It's so boring. Even sleep-inducing games like Abzu and Gone Home were more exciting than this. MC is a complete screw up who is unrelatable and uncomfortably awkward. There's no good lesson or meaning to be found in this game.
  10. gloriouspotato
    Feb 4, 2018
    7
    Night In The Woods is a game I can appreciate from an artistic and critical standpoint but personally wasn't as engaging as I thought it would be. While mostly well written, the cyclic and slow-paced gameplay became rather tedious, and some of the supernatural elements introduced in the later half of the game felt out of place in an otherwise competent coming-of-age story.
  11. andrey1990
    Nov 17, 2018
    5
    Visual part of the game is great. Animation and characters looks pretty well. But quests, story and dialogs are very poor, After hours and hours of reading tons of dialogs you really understand that they miss something important. Maybe they or writers. I think Bethany Hockenberry, one of the writers, simply copied herself in all of characters of the game so they had different story,Visual part of the game is great. Animation and characters looks pretty well. But quests, story and dialogs are very poor, After hours and hours of reading tons of dialogs you really understand that they miss something important. Maybe they or writers. I think Bethany Hockenberry, one of the writers, simply copied herself in all of characters of the game so they had different story, different life, but they all speak and sound identically. And the story... You play and play game waiting for something really interesting to happen but it doesn`t. And in the end when main story finds its final shape you asking yourself and that`s all you wanted to tell?… Expand
  12. Eduardomm1
    Sep 13, 2020
    5
    This the kind of game that I had to play during the day, otherwise I'd just fall asleep. It's boring.
    The focus of the game is the story and it isn't even that good. The lack of voice acting and expressions also don't help.
    There are better walking simulators than this, even Life is Strange, a game I don't like that much is more interesting.
  13. Leo_Manzano
    Jul 28, 2022
    5
    Working...........................................................................
  14. auditbadger
    Jun 3, 2018
    5
    I think that this is truly a unique game and I would recommend that if you are a fan of this type of genre then I think you should give this game a try.
  15. Archound
    Mar 29, 2021
    6
    Good, sometimes very good dialogues, which are constantly interrupted by repetetive and boring walking/platform sequences. Imagine Persona 5 in which you have to actually walk to the school every day without any dialogue etc. you just waste your time moving from a location A to B every in-game day (NITW has similar day cycle).
  16. Riibiax
    Apr 4, 2020
    6
    Night in the woods is an artsy point&click. The story is attractive, even sometimes boring.
  17. Demiurge11
    Dec 25, 2021
    6
    This is a a 2D platformer, but it's got a strong story focus (a coming of age story) and most of the gameplay is walking around and talking to people. In addition, there are two major mini-games: playing music like in Rock Band, and a fairly simple, but extremely difficult old-school 2D isometric action platformer.

    I enjoyed the game enough to play through the whole story, but I can't    This is a a 2D platformer, but it's got a strong story focus (a coming of age story) and most of the gameplay is walking around and talking to people. In addition, there are two major mini-games: playing music like in Rock Band, and a fairly simple, but extremely difficult old-school 2D isometric action platformer.

    I enjoyed the game enough to play through the whole story, but I can't say I loved it.

    THE GOOD:
    - The characters are interesting
    - The dialog is quite good
    - The story's themes are very topical and relevant to any ordinary working-age person alive nowadays
    - I like how areas changed subtly from day to day. There was always something different going on.
    - I enjoyed the mini-games for the most part, although Demontower and the last song were both too hard for me.
    - I enjoyed the art style.
    - Very woke

    THE BAD:
    - The game is very slow. You walk slowly. You have to walk back and forth over the same areas over and over. The areas evolve a bit each day, so it's not as terrible as it might sound, but it's not that great either.
    - I won't spoil it for you, but I found the overall plot to be kind of weird and not make a lot of sense... More below in the MINOR SPOILERS and MAJOR SPOILERS sections.
    - The story touches on some really interesting themes, but I can't say it grabs them in any really compelling way. It merely nods to the themes. "These things are important," it says. But the story doesn't give any juicy insights or takeaways to think about.
    - It's a coming of age story. There must be some people that believe these are High Art, but I'm not one of them.
    - The pacing was off. The story evolves very, very, slowly. You have to wait a very long time to sate your curiosity about what happened a week before the start of the story, and then WHAM! the answer is more confusing than satisfactory, and the game ends. The ending is too rushed to have any good debate or answer to the story's themes.

    THE UGLY:
    - I did not encounter any bugs or crashes, which is a good thing.
    - Depending on the exact moment you save your game and exit, you might have to re-play some of the story. However, this was never a major issue for me.

    MINOR SPOILERS:
    - I thought for a long time that the story was surely about the main character's descent into schizophrenia. It isn't... and that is extra weird.
    - Magic, psychic powers, angels, and demons, are an unsatisfying addition to a game that is set in an analogue of the real world.

    MAJOR SPOILERS:
    - Late at night, in the dark, someone can't recognize you instantly (I'm talking to you, masked bad guy!)
    - It doesn't make any sense that a secret cult of murderers can exist for a long time, in secret, in a small town.
    - If a mine collapses, and a dozen people are killed, it will be noticed! It causes an earthquake, you know. And when a dozen members of a small town disappear overnight, people will kind of be freaking out the next day. It will not be a regular day in town.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

10
#10 Best PC Game of 2017
41
#41 Most Discussed PC Game of 2017
93
#93 Most Shared PC Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 30 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 30 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 30
  3. Negative: 0 out of 30
  1. PC PowerPlay
    May 23, 2017
    100
    A warm, moving tale of alienation and redemption in the era of late stage capitalism.
    Read full review
  2. Games Master UK
    May 19, 2017
    85
    A delightfully different narrative experience that offers the perfect blend of serious and silly. [Apr 2017, p.79]
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Apr 18, 2017
    100
    Beautifully created adventure game will catch you not only for its visuals, but mainly by the way it observes the problems of young adults. [Issue#273]
See all critic reviews »