Night In the Woods is most famous for its writing and for good reason. It provides one of the single most enthralling, intelligent explorations of the cruelty of capitalism, living with mental health disorders, survival and existential dread, and does so whilst being uneeringly charming, funny, powerful and offbeat. There's not much gameplay challenge that isn't optional, although even the web browser minigame built in to the game itself would be worthy of its own release. Other than that most of the gameplay is found in exploration, discussion and actually meaningful player choices. You literally can't experience everything in a single playthrough or maintain and nurture all of your relationships at once. The presentation, whilst unsophisticated graphically, is elegant, evocative and painstakingly animated to bring the world to life and the soundtrack could well be worth a paragraph of its own but suffice to say, this game is a masterpiece.
