You're meant to wonder what her grand life lesson will be, but even as the story goes off the deep end in the final act, her lessons aren't so grand. Her introduction is deliberately familiar. Mae isn't epiphanic about her returning home as a college dropout. This is what helps present the game as the anti-coming of age story. This gives the whole experience an authenticity in its narrative even as the townspeople are designed as anthropomorphized animals in a world where Mae's constantly jumping around on power lines. There's plenty about the world she doesn't know yet, due to both her age and her upbringing in the small, literal dead end town. It's not possible to discuss elegantly the nature of her mental state because she doesn't understand it herself. As the protagonist in a game that does well to characterize even those with whom you only spend a few moments, she naturally feels the most understood of all. She's often adventurous but always unsure. Night in the Woods impressively deals with topics like mental health, economic hardship, and early adulthood through the big glowing eyes of Mae by remaining true to the character. Possum Springs is a town that swallows the lives of all who reside there It sells itself on its story merits and in most ways it's a success. This is an adventure game above all else. Finding many of these secrets requires you get used to the light platforming aspect of the game, but it's simple and not at all meant to impede players. Although you'll have certain mandatory activities, like going to band practice and playing a Guitar Hero-like mini-game, you can put them off for as long as you'd like to meet more people, catch up with old friends, and find a plethora of secrets around the town. Each morning, a little bit more of Possum Springs is available to you. The game is told in days and you'll always end a day by returning to your bed and going to sleep. Everyone is alive with unique motivations, and it's so remarkably well written that you are acquainted with all of them in just a few hours. Every single townsperson is well characterized and you'll grow to understand each of them, why they believe in Possum Springs even after the highway built outside of town stopped bringing traffic through, why they're panicked and anxious to leave but can't yet pull the trigger, why they couldn't go to college, why they sit on their porch writing poetry, why they go digging for treasures among others' trash, and why they live in the woods. You'll meet dozens of characters over the course of the eight hour game and the story is faithful to all of them. Mae is the protagonist, but Possum Springs is truly the main character. The cocktail of economic collapse, routine-oriented townies, and a chasm between the young and the old will taste familiar for many players, and this is Night in the Woods' best attribute. It's quickly evident that Possum Springs is a dead end town, the kind that its residents are either desperate to escape or all too comfortable to remain in. Abruptly dropping out of college for reasons about which she isn't immediately forthcoming, Mae makes the trek to her parents' home after they forget to pick her up. Mae Borowski is a 20 year old on the outskirts of her hometown of Possum Springs. Developed by Infinite Fall and published by Finji