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. umamikorami
    Aug 23, 2023
    8
    This game feels all over the place. Sometimes I feel it helps the overall profundity and evocative passion of the plot and encompassing narrative; other times it feels messy and jarring, but overall, I personally really loved and enjoyed this game and story. With its occasional funny one-liners, which I thought were fitting and risible, to the relatability of some of the struggles andThis game feels all over the place. Sometimes I feel it helps the overall profundity and evocative passion of the plot and encompassing narrative; other times it feels messy and jarring, but overall, I personally really loved and enjoyed this game and story. With its occasional funny one-liners, which I thought were fitting and risible, to the relatability of some of the struggles and characters with all of their own personal foibles and deep resentments, and the vicarious nature of the whole game, which for most seems and is probably expected to be a turn-off. I've felt some minor ennui throughout this game, too, but this game works way more fluidly and palatably with this motif of gameplay, with it mostly being about spectating from the lens of someone who can be at times relatable with average and prevalent straits, vices, and struggles, but at times seen solemn, abstract, and despondent at their worst, and how we all are like that, and that we are all weird and have troubles, and that life can get bad, and that we should be more thankful and understanding about the things around us because we might never have it again. One day we will wake up but not be able to open our eyes. All of the pain, toil, and love are gone in the moment. Did I mention how existential this game gets? Anyways, I think that this game can, or at least has been very successful at, epitomizing or capturing the vision of relatability, especially one of a teenager or young adult. As one myself, I can definitely develop strong sentiments heavily brought up in most of the game, like how we value or prioritize specific, somewhat kitschy things in others eyes and make so much sentimental appreciation for the little and ephemeral things, or how things just happen and we make the most of them and hope we live to see tomorrow, and how angst just comes naturally at that time. So many things and so many drifting too fast to truly grasp and process them internally because life is just like this game, very dynamic in where it shines but banausic in where it dives, but that's all okay in the end, because everything is already done, and you only probably perceive or acknowledge the ones that meant the most to you; after all, this was your story, the game is only a game, and life is more than that and you will ever know. This game was ebullient and stygian all at the same time and collides to construct something inchoate and personal, even when you can't relate. It has characters and concepts that feel more alive and ambiguous and open-ended than a game can fully replicate. It has moods and ambiance that immerse you into your own most visceral cognizance. So, yes, I very do recommend this game and its structural formula. Also, who the f**k is Germ xd 8.5/10… Expand
  2. Robospy1
    Dec 23, 2021
    8
    I liked the story, but if you don't, you aren't going to like this game, considering that the only other gameplay is light platforming and short minigames. There is Demontower, though, which is just about the only replayability that the game has, sadly, unless you have forgotten the story. Also, if you plan on playing the songs you collect and getting perfect on them, you should do thatI liked the story, but if you don't, you aren't going to like this game, considering that the only other gameplay is light platforming and short minigames. There is Demontower, though, which is just about the only replayability that the game has, sadly, unless you have forgotten the story. Also, if you plan on playing the songs you collect and getting perfect on them, you should do that before you finish the epilogue, because after that it deletes your save. Overall, I would give it a 8.5/10.… Expand
  3. ikeaOwO
    May 27, 2023
    10
    The best game of my life! Although it is a little disappointing or boring, the game expresses the fun interaction between the main character and the characters, the background and story of the characters, and the process of solving them in a very beautiful and brilliant way. It also expressed the theme of nihilism well in the game and seemed to play a fairy tale for teenagers who becameThe best game of my life! Although it is a little disappointing or boring, the game expresses the fun interaction between the main character and the characters, the background and story of the characters, and the process of solving them in a very beautiful and brilliant way. It also expressed the theme of nihilism well in the game and seemed to play a fairy tale for teenagers who became adults due to their unique drawing style. It's a really good game!… Expand
  4. AbaddonMason
    May 1, 2023
    10
    Воу, просто воу, давно такого не было, чтобы я чувствовал страх, что игра скоро закончится. И она закончилась, но это было круто, очень круто.
  5. BugOnDesk
    Jan 15, 2023
    10
    I noticed Night in the Woods because of the knife fight mini-game, and the cute fair-tale-book style made me think this is a warm lovely story. The overall playthrough was so smooth that I didn't even feel much like playing a puzzle game. Rather than saying I was surprised by the dramatic turn in the story, I was shocked by how much fear this game can give me even if everything was drawnI noticed Night in the Woods because of the knife fight mini-game, and the cute fair-tale-book style made me think this is a warm lovely story. The overall playthrough was so smooth that I didn't even feel much like playing a puzzle game. Rather than saying I was surprised by the dramatic turn in the story, I was shocked by how much fear this game can give me even if everything was drawn as simple colorful 2D shapes. I would definitely recommend everyone who is interested in good narrative design to play this game at least once.… Expand
  6. Escanor89
    Jan 3, 2023
    9
    This game has been out for far too long and I've missed it for far too long for what it's trying to tell.

    My wife and I played Night in the Woods for Christmas 2022, I knew it was a story game but didn't expect anything. What I got back was a reflection of my life, my dreams, I was able to reflect on the lives of others and how difficult they have it at times and I trample on my    This game has been out for far too long and I've missed it for far too long for what it's trying to tell.

    My wife and I played Night in the Woods for Christmas 2022, I knew it was a story game but didn't expect anything.

    What I got back was a reflection of my life, my dreams, I was able to reflect on the lives of others and how difficult they have it at times and I trample on my happiness.

    I cried several times in the game, felt caught up, felt like I was back in my school days and had an insane amount of friends that grew on me and most importantly, I learned a lot about myself and my career and that no matter what you do, the most important thing is that you get together with the right people.

    Night in the Woods has an incredible storytelling that is both playful and serious.

    The only thing that disturbed me in between, attention small spoiler! was the dreams where you had to constantly run back and forth which felt to me like you were just trying to stretch out the game time.

    I will play through the game countless times and make it my October game, come what may every October in the year this game is unpacked again, cried, rejoiced and reflected again on their own lives!    … Expand
  7. SilverOrlov
    Aug 28, 2022
    1
    This game does not deserve rating higher than zero, as it fundamentally contradicts what its developers were. The game pays a lot of attention and meaning to friendship and support... indeed, how great they supported the creator of the game when rivers of mud and false accusations flowed on him.
  8. Leo_Manzano
    Jul 28, 2022
    5
    Working...........................................................................
  9. CrispFlakes
    Jul 1, 2022
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is a masterpiece, if you haven't played it, go play it now. The story: well talk about the story later. The soundtrack: Amazing The characters: amazing

    Now to the story, It's amazing? The first half is awesome, but in the second half (chapter 3+) it just throws away the hanging out part and replaces it with the cult searching thing which kind of sucks? Don't get me wrong it's not bad it's still fun but it just doesn't have the charm the first half had.

    Overall very good game but the second half kinda eh.    … Expand
  10. Istio
    May 13, 2022
    8
    good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good
  11. Olenjan08
    Mar 30, 2022
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Really nice Game! Great Story with really nice characters. The Gameplay is also nice and the graphics are in a really nice comic style. And the end with the murderers is fantastic!… Expand
  12. TyTang
    Jan 24, 2022
    0
    Quite possibly the worse game I have ever played. How is a night in the woods even considered a game when the game consists of boring walking from place to place, boring talking to characters, and boring overall story. The only part where the game is actually a game is when you play rejected Mario Party mini games that aren't even fun. Anyone who gives this game above a 5 has neverQuite possibly the worse game I have ever played. How is a night in the woods even considered a game when the game consists of boring walking from place to place, boring talking to characters, and boring overall story. The only part where the game is actually a game is when you play rejected Mario Party mini games that aren't even fun. Anyone who gives this game above a 5 has never experienced an actual good game and its honestly kinda sad. Please don't get this game, there are so many other games that are masterpieces and have so much love and care put into them unlike the failure that is a night in the woods… Expand
  13. JakeFoxUwU
    Jan 22, 2022
    10
    Игра восхитительна, атмосфера прекрасна, музыка одна из лучших составляющих этой игры, нитв в каком-то смысле изменила мою жизнь.
    10/10 Rest in peace, Alec Holowka.
  14. 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
  15. Axelle_1
    Dec 12, 2021
    10
    A warm, moving tale of alienation and redemption in the era of late stage capitalism.
  16. Dank-nielv17
    Nov 12, 2021
    9
    The story begins quite slowly, but as it passes, a powerful narrative is seen, where the truly good are the characters and their backgrounds in a town that is slowly dying.
  17. TheSHChronicles
    Nov 11, 2021
    9
    Night in the Woods is an amazing game. I just loved the dialogue writing and the way it tackles big and not-so-openly discussed topics like mental health, responsibility, and relationships. It was the first time in a very long time that I didn't want a game to end. I had so much fun roaming around the city with Mae's friends and wrecking stuff, along with interacting with the people of theNight in the Woods is an amazing game. I just loved the dialogue writing and the way it tackles big and not-so-openly discussed topics like mental health, responsibility, and relationships. It was the first time in a very long time that I didn't want a game to end. I had so much fun roaming around the city with Mae's friends and wrecking stuff, along with interacting with the people of the town. This game may not be perfect but it is definitely recommended!

    Full review at: https://www.theshchronicles.com/post/night-in-the-woods    … Expand
  18. Palel01
    Jun 10, 2021
    8
    This game is cute, charming, the story is good, but not as good as THE CHARACTERS, every single one of the characters in this game is a joy to talk to, even the people on the streets, they are all interesting. I personaly think that this game is awesome, its a bit short, but I love it.

    #teamBea
  19. keanex
    Apr 7, 2021
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Night in the Woods is a game that explores anxiety, depression, a small town losing the last bit of luster it has, the struggles of death, lack of money, and an interesting group of friends - all within a cartoonish town with anthropomorphic animals. If that doesn't make you want to play, I don't know what will.

    I took my time, completing the game in about 17 hours with 42% of achievements unlocked. I took my time playing this and accepted just about every invitation from town-goers to join them on their excursions or listen to their stories. It seems I'm a bit on the slow side, but Night in the Woods isn't a game to rush, it's a game to enjoy and take in.

    The graphics are cute and quirky and the music fits the mood, at times creating a sense of longing, and other times creating a sense of urgency - and everything in-between. The overarching story follows Mae, but to get a real sense of the town and the struggles of it you must explore, and communicate with the townsfolk daily. Some may find this to be a chore, and while this is somewhat true, I feel that Night in the Woods is paced fairly well, adding new suspense, mini-games, or scenery just as the town is getting long in the tooth.

    A well worthwhile experience, I'm very happy that I played this.

    Edit, 4/8/2021: Rating changed to 10/10. I still think about this game a lot and that counts for something.    … Expand
  20. 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).
  21. Sai_Sparkle
    Jan 11, 2021
    1
    Best visual. Best atmosphere. Amazing game setting. Real life dialogues and story. Characters, familiar from the real live. Cozy and wonderful music. Cute style and animation.
    All this is buried under the giant and nasty thing – tolerastia. No, not even tolerastia, but **** How can I love the story of this beautiful game, if a quarter of characters f*** each other in their a****?
    Why?    Best visual. Best atmosphere. Amazing game setting. Real life dialogues and story. Characters, familiar from the real live. Cozy and wonderful music. Cute style and animation.
    All this is buried under the giant and nasty thing – tolerastia. No, not even tolerastia, but **** How can I love the story of this beautiful game, if a quarter of characters f*** each other in their a****?
    Why? Why you just killed all game accomplishments with this?.. Humanity is rotten.    … Expand
  22. lucky_mouse
    Jan 6, 2021
    10
    Pay no mind to this comment, I intend to write a proper review soon enough. For now, just trust this score.
  23. KskMaeBorowski
    Nov 17, 2020
    10
    Игра превосходная.Сюжет,персонажи,рисовка и саундтрек.Всё это даёт не описываемый восторг.Но есть одно но.Это поступок со стороны команды разработчиков.Они предали того человека,которого называли другом.Поверили шлюхе без доказательств.Выгнали Алека Холовку из своей команды дабы на них не начали жаловаться,мол они покрывают насильника.
    Спустя несколько дней после этого,Алек    Игра превосходная.Сюжет,персонажи,рисовка и саундтрек.Всё это даёт не описываемый восторг.Но есть одно но.Это поступок со стороны команды разработчиков.Они предали того человека,которого называли другом.Поверили шлюхе без доказательств.Выгнали Алека Холовку из своей команды дабы на них не начали жаловаться,мол они покрывают насильника.
    Спустя несколько дней после этого,Алек скончался.31.09.19.
    Как по итогу выяснилось,все слова Зои оказались наглой ложью.Алек только помогал ей.По итогу она свела человека в гроб.Надеюсь эта тупая сука довольна и будет мучительно умирать.
    Rest in Peace Alec Holowka.    … Expand
  24. linosia
    Oct 24, 2020
    10
    This is a masterpiece in writing! Like, a REAL story FOR ADULTS! Gets a bit mysterious near end, but oh my, the relationships between characters and their dialogues is top notch!
    Vector graphics is nice, memorable characters.
    Get's a bit dark sometimes, but that's the mood of this game.
    Definitely 10 out of 10!!!
  25. Harv-E
    Oct 22, 2020
    10
    What I think is the greatest fiction and writing and created; held together with perfectly fleshed out and developed characters, gorgeous graphics, masterfully crafted music and every functionality done to perfection
  26. longjetty7
    Oct 17, 2020
    4
    I really wanted to like this game. The art is wonderful, and there's some great music here as well. The gameplay, however, is pretty much nonexistent. At times it felt more like I was clicking through a powerpoint presentation than playing an actual game, and as something that seemed to advertise itself as a platformer I was more than a bit disappointed.

    I have mixed feelings about the    I really wanted to like this game. The art is wonderful, and there's some great music here as well. The gameplay, however, is pretty much nonexistent. At times it felt more like I was clicking through a powerpoint presentation than playing an actual game, and as something that seemed to advertise itself as a platformer I was more than a bit disappointed.

    I have mixed feelings about the story too. I feel like it's technically well-written, but the characters did come across as a bit whiny, and it seems like it's geared towards a late teens, early twenties crowd, so not really something I personally found very relatable.

    I also think the pacing was totally off. The first part of the game is sort of a mix of walking around town and chatting with people, with random one-off outings with friends. Most of the meat of the story happens in the last part, which also has pretty much no gameplay other than walking back and forth. It just felt a little uneven to me, like I would have enjoyed it better if there was more plot in the beginning, or more consistent gameplay throughout.

    Anyway. I could maybe see why some people really like this game, but overall I just found it a bit boring.    … Expand
  27. 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.
  28. kaiSzeR
    Jul 17, 2020
    10
    Это просто великая игра. Эта атмосфера, музыка, незамысловатый сюжет и персонажи. Вроде такие карикатурные, но все равно полюбятся любому. Одна из лучших игр, что я видел, имхо. Я влюбился в нее с первого взгляда еще в далеком 2015, когда были только демки, а самой игры не было. Я всем рекомендую в это играть, НО! НО! Ни в коем случае не к покупке. После событий 2019 года, многие узнали,Это просто великая игра. Эта атмосфера, музыка, незамысловатый сюжет и персонажи. Вроде такие карикатурные, но все равно полюбятся любому. Одна из лучших игр, что я видел, имхо. Я влюбился в нее с первого взгляда еще в далеком 2015, когда были только демки, а самой игры не было. Я всем рекомендую в это играть, НО! НО! Ни в коем случае не к покупке. После событий 2019 года, многие узнали, что студия, создавшая этот полушедевр, мягко говоря не такая хорошая.
    F, Alec, btw    … Expand
  29. Cheekibreeki228
    Jul 17, 2020
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Игра отличная, сюжет хороший, музыка превосходная, диалоги продуманны. На моменте, когда сектанты утащил человека, стало очень неожиданно и интересно.… Expand
  30. NickLink
    Jun 23, 2020
    10
    NOTE: Please note that this is surprisingly my opinion, so of course don't expect to agree with anything that I say since I will be talking about my personal experience with the game.

    I started Night in the Woods thinking I would like it for one reason and ended up loving it for a completely different one. What really got me into the game was the main story line, the premise of    NOTE: Please note that this is surprisingly my opinion, so of course don't expect to agree with anything that I say since I will be talking about my personal experience with the game.

    I started Night in the Woods thinking I would like it for one reason and ended up loving it for a completely different one.
    What really got me into the game was the main story line, the premise of uncovering the mysteries of a town and a character. And by starting the game with this mindset, that was exactly what I expected to experience: a character solving mysteries and having self-development. In my first hours, all I wanted was to rush to the main quests and discover what was going on, write down my conclusions and finish it as soon as possible, get to that final plot twist moment where I wanted to say "I knew it!".
    However, the more I got into the game, the less I wanted to do that. At some point, it just felt so boring to keep doing the same routine in the game, jumping around the town, following the story line. There was no gameplay, there was no mystery, just a bunch of characters talking to each other about life problems with no real depth or anything like that.
    But when I started to feel this boredom, I finally understood what the magic of the game was. Since the main plot just felt useless to me, I started to explore the world on my own, trying to look for secrets myself, meeting side characters and looking for collectibles or side quests. And then, as weird as that may seem, that felt amazing. This game has SO much more than it seems. There's secrets everywhere, characters to be met in every corner, small things for you to discover. And when I started to spend hours in a part of the game that was supposed to last a few minutes, when I started to try and do the most that I could without actually progressing the story, when I was about to leave my house but then straight up come back because I noticed I hadn't said good morning to my mother, then I noticed why this game is so special.
    This is a game about boredom. And it is so amazing, at least for me, for that reason. We live for such a short time and everything that surrounds us seems so boring, so useless that we sometimes just decide to do everything as fast as possible hoping that it's going to get better someday, but we can make things better whenever we want just by deciding to go somewhere we never did and maybe discovering something amazing there.
    Playing this game just for the main plot is a pain. If you start it and decide to ignore everything, just head straight up to the main quests and progress the story to beat the game as fast as possible, you will probably have one of the worst experiences in a videogame. But if you truly dive into this world, if you decide to explore everything you can, if you sometimes even miss something important but you don't look it up just because you're exploring this on your own, then you'll notice that a part of you will forever stay in Possum Springs.
    Apart from that, the game has an amazing OST and great art style. It could use some more complexity in gameplay, since most of the experience is dialogue and the main story itself has a slow start, heats up a lot halfway through and has a pretty OK ending as far as mystery solving is concerned. There's a lot of well written characters and each one of them gives their own perspective about the world.
    Night in the Woods was an incredible experience that showed me a new way of looking at life. It is a well deserved 10/10 game, even if it lacks on a few technical aspects.    … Expand
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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 »