There are lots of good games that are lading with colourful visuals and a sense of mystery. That’s no bad thing but, as developer Infinite Fall points out, “many of those games emphasize solitude”. In wonderful contrast to this trend “Night In The Woods takes place in a town full of colorful citizens and features a memorable central crew with their own relationships, problems and motives. This isn’t an empty world- it’s packed full of people.”
It all looks like glorious fun.
The premise of Night in the Woods has plucked my attention all too easily. You play a cat, Mae, who’s dropped out of college and returned to live in her parents house, only to find the town, Possum Springs, is different. For one thing, Mae’s begun developing new abilities that allow her to explore the old mining town in a way she never could before. But, also, her friends are all getting on with their lives and she has to find her place among their relationships again.
The developers are aiming for that narrow slice of life where you grow from your childhood relationship with the world to your adult one. If they hit it then they’ll make something special.
You can already see from the trailer that the animation is something special. That’s because it’s from Scott Benson, maker of this excellent video:
The game’s being designed by Alec Holowka, maker of Aquaria. Yup, that Aquaria. He’s also composing the music. As he composed the score for both Offspring Fling and TowerFall he’s more than up for the task.
It took the team just 26 hours to raise the $50,000 they needed to complete work on Night in the Woods, so have no fear this is a game that should be released next year (all going to plan). In fact, they’ve already hit their first stretch goal, adding new areas to the game and another animator to the team, Charles Huettner.
Go read more about this luscious game on its Kickstarter page. Heck, back it if you like what you see.