Night in the Woods: Weird Autumn Edition

This game is so close on so many fronts, for starters prospective buyers should understand that there isn't much gameplay in this game, it should be considered as a visual novel with a few "quicktime" events thown in which brings me to my next, so close, the story. It came so close to being really well written and thought out but when the story sucked me in, the next scene it let it go, or underdeveloped what had already been established. Without spoiling anything, the ending really fell flat on its face, but I can describe why without going into spoilers, something I won't do. For me personally it just came so close to being something I pondered long after playing it, but the lack of substance and the story falling down at many points had me dissapointed. As the title states, so close, really, so close......

I have it on Itch. Such a chill game got me right in the feels. A story of growing up and that weird stage where you are technically an adult but what really changed? Has some mini games and story choices, exploration and sort of platforming (jump puzzles that are easy enough they don't cause you to rage quit). Can't recommend enough.

Cozy game with a well done story, bolstered by a beautiful artstyle and delightful music. Wasn't huge into the platforming parts, but they don't detrack from this lil gem

The game is an interesting story about four main characters. What I like: 1. Story - the interestingest thing in this game. 2. Dialogue choosing. You can choose what will you say (and do). 3. Characters. 4. Music. What I'm confused in: All characters are animals, but they speak about themselves as people and have no tails! Being an anthropomorphic cat, I can see non-anthropomorphic cats (and other species) outdoors. It shows that all characters are just people in animal costumes? In common, I recommend it.

This is a very hard game to review, because in my opinion it has some aspects that warrant a 5-star review (and those dominate my overall impression), but also some things that could easily warrant a 2-star review. Let's start with the good: The game has amazing writing and character development, I don't think I've ever liked a video game character as much as I liked Bea. My love for this character meant I needed, I think, to sacrifice some character development on the other ones which is a shame, but well worth it. The graphics are incredible as well, they're simple but very charming and never grow old during the game (which is pretty long, at least in my playthrough). When you're out and about in town you can run into secrets or people hanging out in some pretty strange places, and in this way the game encourages exploration. In short, before moving on to what I didn't like about the game, it's a fantastic and immersive story. You need a little patience, especially in the beginning, but once you get a bit further in it's a very rewarding experience. OK, on to the problems. First of all I think anyone going in to this should expect sort of a visual novel rather than a game. The choices one can make are often almost identical and I don't think they impact the story at all. There are no puzzles (well, almost) to solve or anything particularly challenging apart from some optional elements. The first part is extremely slowly paced and I think about half the game I could swear that this was gonna be 2/5 because very little was happening. Sure I got to know the characters a bit and I did start liking them very early on, but there's little to no story for a good 1/2 or even 2/3 of the game in my opinion. The last part however, once the story gets going, is packed. So pacing is a huge issue in my opinion, to the point that it's almost game breaking. All this said, play it! It's got some very significant faults, but all-in-all it will be an unforgettable experience.