every time someone makes a night in the woods video essay my lifespan increases another year because that's usually how long it takes for another person to make a good night in the woods video essay
Which showed a remarkable lack of insight on Bea's part. Mae isn't a screw-up because she wants to be. She's a screw-up because she's severely mentally ill, with an absolute quack for a mental healthcare provider. She is doing the absolute best that she can, and her inability to function is through no fault of her own.
For me, Casey is one of the most tragic characters. Whenever I hear 'Die Anywhere Else' I think of him. He didn't get that. He couldn't escape. Beautiful video, thank you.
They said no one missed him, but everyone wanted to see him again. It's tragic and hypocritic of the cult to even say that no one will miss him. I'm gonna name my Love in the Woods character Casey just to honor him.
A little game design decision i always treasure is that Mae's default response to being asked to do/talk/listen to something/someone is always a No. She has to actively force herself to answer yes to these questions, her first dialogue choice is her impulse. If you zone out through dialogue so does she. She struggles with doing most things and has spent a large part of her past few months rotting inside a dorm, barely getting enough sustenance for her body to even function. I am currently in a very similar position and have more or less been in it for around 3 years. It is very difficult to reconcile turning 20 beginning January when i really haven't had a substantial amount of even little social experiences since i was 16. Most of my changes came from singular reflection and engagement with art in my bedroom. I also have to ask myself what I'm gonna do today. I don't know if i will ever succeed in doing something today twice in one month.
@Chestet The analysis certainly fits with the established characteristics that Mei already has. This is the troughline of the game, that Mei learns to engage with her environment and rediscovers meaning and care in what her condition leads her to believe to be but simple meaningless shapes. The art style of the game consists of simple shapes, most small characters don't have immediately interesting dialogue, and there is nothing that forces or even directly encourages the player to seek them out. You get to know them only through repeatedly doing the thing Mei finds difficult. "I get it. This won't stop until I die. But when I die, I want it to hurt. When my friends leave, when I have to let go, when this entire town is wiped off the map, I want it to hurt. Bad. I want to lose. I want to get beaten up. I want to hold on until I'm thrown off and everything ends. And you know what? Until that happens, I want to hope again. And I want it to hurt. Because that means it meant something. It means I am something, at least... pretty amazing to be something, at least..." While i do believe this to be an intentional design decision, it ultimately doesn't matter all that much. Art is to be created, engaged and interpret. This is media analysis and i choose to engage with it because i believe it to be an important part of our experience engaging with art. Art isn't a math problem to solve and there is no art for which we know all authorial intent, very often the authors themselves wont be able to answer either. Humor me and engage the text regardless of your impulse to shut down thought, you might find something intended you previously overlooked, or something uninteded that is incredibly compelling regardless of its accidental nature. There is always something to gain when on chooses to think.
@@eg-draw There's a reason people say adults are just big kids. I am who I was when I was 20, just with different beliefs, and more importantly with a more mature view on life. I'll still always want to spend my time playing games with my friends, I just have to do it differently now. It took hitting 30 to really realize "Oh, I'm an adult now..." I still feel like I'm 20, I just feel more pains and discomforts lmao.
"I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and in people that do." I really resonated with that line as well. The past couple of years I've learned how much having people that truly care for you. I won't get too deep into it, but the short of it is that my family sucks. And the past couple of years I've built up what feels like the only real relationships I've ever had. And I'm so much happier because of it. Even as my material circumstances have deteriorated and gotten worse in that same time period. It's so much easier to keep going when you have people you genuinely love and who love you right back.
Man, the "you cannot experience all of life" goes so against everything I've been taught, but it's just so real. Somehow I ended up believing that NOT experiencing life to the FULLEST is an unforgivable crime, because it would be like throwing away something infinitely precious.
Yeah maybe you can’t experience all of life, but you are still experiencing all of your life. I think that is still a lot and enough. I hate that FOMO I get sometimes, feeling I have to have been everywhere. I love that this game kind of just let me know that even if it feels like I’m not doing anything worthwhile, like just doing nothing with s friend is absolutely worth it. And that saying these things are worth less than other things is just making yourself miserable. So many things could have been, but just one path is the one you walk in the end. Might as well enjoy that one, it’s still a path full of life :)
I was thinking, in profound disbelief, "man, you did not have to make this video half as great as you did", and then 17:18 hit me. I get it. I'm sorry.
I stumbled across NitW after dropping out of university at 20 myself. This game landed in my hands at the rightest time possible, the fall after I dropped out, when everyone was going back to classes I was just at home, not doing anything with myself or for anyone. A weekend of playtime later & this game really dug me out of a hole, got back on my depression meds & kicked myself in the ass to get back into the world.
I relate to BOTH Mae and Bea so much even though I never dropped out of college I got a degree in something I have no passion for because my parent forced me to - it was either that or just rot in my room like a NEET (like the way Candy complains to Mae they put a mortgage on the house and invested so much money and care into Mae- that scene stabbed me in the heart because I get where both Mae and Candy are coming from). Anyway now I can’t bear to work full time in the profession I despise (like Bea) and on my days off I wander around, do hobbies I don’t really have that much passion in (just killing time/emptiness) and try not to think of ending myself (like Mae- although a lot of Mae’s aggression is directed outward for me it’s purely inward). I’m afraid this Limbo will last forever if I don’t take drastic action but I feel trapped already.
"At the end of everything, hold onto anything" resonates with me. It's a genuinely touching phrase that has stuck with me since the game. Thank you for making this and pointing out the sheer significance of that question that I didn't realize I was missing.
This is easily one of the best Night in the Woods analysis I have ever had the pleasure of watching. As a directionless college dropout myself when I played it, this game hit me like a train. It really helped me appreciate the mundane futility of life and how life is just that. The profound message is a simple one. Great video dot.
Night in the Woods saved me. It helped me at a time that nobody in my life knew how to or cared to. It's integrated into the very fiber of my being. My first tattoo was a quote from it; "At the end of everything hold onto anything" This video is beautifully made just like the rest of your videos. So, if you don't mind I will take a piece of this with me as a small part of my anything, until the end of everything.
oh i absolutely fucking ADORE the visuals of the little custom notebook sketches. always love seeing people talk about this game, it's genuinely changed my life
Every time I think my "Night in the Woods phase" is over, someone makes another video essay that brings back that passion, but I must say that this video is different. This video didn't feel like a rambling on about what to take from the game, it didn't feel like an emotional regurgitation and it wasn't a cold analysis. This video has to be one of the best made NITW video essays I've seen, with a clear goal and a fun execution. Props to you 👏👏👏
My heart sunk when i reached the end, i had a friend named Alex too that died a few months ago, we drifted long ago and hadn't really spoken since, and yet ever since he died he's been on my mind more often than the past several years combined
Its is always amazing how every so often a brand new question can be asked about a 7 year old game. Its incredible how such a piece of media can be so close to myself and others so many years in the future. Thanks for continuing to look into this game and coming up with yet another way to look at it.
you say 7 years old like it's a long time, and it's making me rather sad thinking about how the culture is now moving so fast that we can so quickly treat pieces of media as consumables that are trendy for a few months and then "outgrown", outdated and forgotten about... we still find new things to say about classic books, and you know what? you'd probably find something new to say about a random, kinda forgotten book you'd find, that was written decades or centuries ago. and i think that's beautiful, and part of the reason we love art!
That was quite profound. While many of my years have felt short, this year, 2024, has been the longest of my whole life, and I really felt this message. Great job.
This game helped me process grief, grappling with being unable to return to college, unable to maintain real friendships with anyone who wasn't in physical vicinity. A lot of depression about who actually is interested in being a friend, and the realization that out of everyone I had regularly interacted with since middle school, through high school, and new friends in my first year at college, maybe 2 were still interested in keeping in touch once I couldn't regularly visit them myself. I had never understood how much I was scared of being alone until it was put into words.
the ending has no right making me teary eyed like that. i’m moving from where i’ve grown up from a kid to a teen to adult in 7 days and i have yet to digest that.
@@virtualv0id eh, okay. not perfect but i’m still able to be in the area i love to bits regularly. new place gives me more creative choice about how i decorate which is interesting!
holy shit. the intro, the first 60 seconds; you told me an honest truth that i never figured out myself because i was too afraid to admit it. additionally i played this game when i was stupid and young, not understanding anything but now i've been helped to know now. thanks.
As a Bea, Gregg, Bea path chooser I have always felt the same way about what could have been happening in Gregg's life. To this day I've avoided looking up what happens in preparation for the time I inevitably play this game again. That may be sooner than expected now after watching a video this absolutely amazing. Dot, you're the best in the gaming essay sphere right now.
Somehow whenever I start to feel at my lowest there’s Night in the Woods. Every video about this game always adds a new layer of depth and emotion that I had thought about. It makes me feel worse, but then a little better. My experience isn’t just a singular experience but a collective. And we share that collective.
I just started another run through of this game as the end of the year makes me lonely and suicidal. It’s like one of those games with still a dedicated fanbase. No sequels or no new media, but people still come back to it. Like Yume Nikki.
I feel a little silly to say something like a video game saved my life, but this game came out at a period in time where I did not know my mental health status. I was driving to work and on a whim swerved my car at a wall, a random unprecedented attempt at suicide. The game didn't fix me in any way, but it inspired me to leave my hometown, and surely that choice kept me alive.
"i believe in a universe that doesn't care; and people that do" was my high school senior quote- the town i grew up in was a podunk place a lot like possum springs and this game has always been so important to me as a result.
This has earned a place on my playlist of my all-time favourite videos on this platform. Concise but made me feel and think. This is the type of writing I wish I could do, I've pondered RUclips for so long but become discouraged when I realize none of my ideas are particularly poignant or interesting, just objective retrospectives of old games. Cheap content. This? This is art on RUclips.
I'm probably not the first person to tell you to "just do it" but seriously, man. Just do it. Take it straight from the heart and eventually, this is exactly the kind of writing you will be doing. Nobody makes their magnum opus at 3 years old, art has to come from a lifetime of experience and practice getting familiar with your chosen tools and medium coming together with a lifetime of experiences being ripped straight from the soul. That's what true art is, as long as you maintain your focus on what you always wanted to make and never sell your integrity, you'll make the top end shit. A mindset like you have might end with you never ever being satisfied with what you make, but if you go through with making shit anyway, maybe one day you'll stop to breathe and look back to find you did pretty good after all.
I miss my friend Shannon a lot. We would talk about this game a lot and play it again around this time of year. I haven't played it since she took her own life because I see so much of her in every character, but especially Bea. This video helped me process some very difficult emotions, thank you
In my play through, I really liked both Bea and Greg but after my first choice of Bea I stuck with her. I was really curious about Greg too but the way the first night snuck in on you and the feeling of wanting to be there for the rest was really overwhelming. We really do have so much ‘water’ to go around, and sometimes I think simple decisions and luck snowballs everything else. Amazing video, thank you for making it ❤
Randomly found this video (RUclips doing a fine job tonight). Never played this game but I’ve seen a few videos that never stuck with me. This video, it’s editing and messages, was profoundly heartwarming. Cathartic, mostly, as it wasn’t entirely happy but definitely comforting. And whoever Alex is, no doubt in my mind that they were a good friend with memorable nights to cherish.
The less witnesses a story has, the more worthwhile it is to remember. When it's a memory that only you have, that's the sort of thing you have to hang onto until you're gone. Even if the story's not known, through your actions it serves as a root in your tree - unseen, but integral. Others will tell you that that's who you are, but they won't know why it is who you are. Perhaps even if you told them, they wouldn't care or get it, either. Your actions are all that's remembered, in the end. Casey had no actions and for that, he was forgotten. Even amongst those who remembered him, the act that he died is all they will know. All that they'll remember, despite how they wonder. Value your memory and your presence as a living being. It's as endlessly precious as it is so easily smothered.
I played this game at 16 and didn't really understand it, back then it was just a cute game about funny animals going about their day to day lives, but at 21 I get it now, I'm slogging through a degree I've lost passion for, I feel neglected by my immediate family at home, I have barely any money and I have even less direction. my friends and my partner are my whole world, they're the reason I wake up in the morning, the reason I go to work and do what I can to build savings, the reason I went to therapy, the reason I take my meds, I've kicked addictions, stopped self harming, learned new things, and so much more I can't even begin to list because I have them to prop me up, I don't care that the world is uncaring towards me because I have people who are caring, and this silly game about silly animals helped me realize that, and I'm forever grateful for it.
i watched, and i started sobbing. if i watch this again, i'll be opening up dusty boxes within me that i am apprehensive of opening. it's scary. but maybe.. that fear is a good thing, to move on. thank you, dot.
I miss this game. I used to play it around every October, but I started college and scare acting, making my schedule more busy during this time of the year. I really need to play it again, especially with stuff I've been through since the last time I played. I live in a similar type of area, the characters remind me of people in my life or myself, and friendships are very meaningful to me.
i really love the way you structure these, it feels like such a natural progression. the older i get, the more relatable i find the characters in this game. and the more i like the game.
This game never made me cry while playing it, instead it left me feeling... Nostalgic, comforted, small, insignificant, trapped, and deeply, deeply guilty. It has a special place in my library purely from the complex emotions it kicked up in my chest that i still don't know how to name or even make amends with. How do you even grapple with the idea that you might not have made the right choice? What WAS the right choice? Are you doing this for yourself or because someone told you you should? How do you handle the fallout of a mistake? It left me feeling like i forgot something. Like i made a promise that slipped my mind and the person i made it to just quietly accepts the pain of my mistake. Like no matter what i do I'm hurting someone, even if they don't tell me. Like nothing i do will ever be good enough for those around me. This game read to me like trying to pick up the pieces of a broken picture frame only to find out the garbage can you're using has a hole in the bottom while still staring at a picture from times passed. What's gone will never come back, no matter how badly we want it to. Life. Goes. On.
i've only played through nitw once, and it's very hard to express my feelings about it. it didn't make a huge impact but at the same time it changed my life. i don't think about it very often but when i do it just gives me all these feelings. the way it really feels like you're playing through someone's life and experiencing things as they do, taking a peek into mae's relationships and history and memories and everything, is so interesting and amazing to me. i can't exactly explain how i connected to the story or the characters or the art or the music, it all just sort of fit in my mind perfectly and made a quiet little home that makes some noise every once in a while. always glad to see people talking about it!
When I played this game, I was in almost the exact same situation as Mae; I had to move from college back to a nowhere dying town with no goals or prospects. The only difference was that I had graduated, but covid killed off any job opportunities in my field. Playing through this helped me work through my own struggles, especially my crippling depression. I couldn't wait for a sequel or followup of some kind. Then I found out about the developer, and the mirror grew deeper.
This has me thinking that it was just one summer in my life when there was someone who would just 'hang out' the way I see in fiction like this. My brother, when I returned from college for a summer. I left for work after that, and the year after, he died, and I've gone the rest of my life more or less in a lonely seemingly pointless existence. Just what is there when there aren't any of these 'normal' moments in your life, and life is trying to avoid poverty just so you can continue to have food and a place to sleep, and you're just too exhausted for anything else, or even if I wasn't, there's still no one else to so much as talk to? And, yes, I've talked to plenty of counselors, but I'm getting really tired of hearing how 'that's hard' and 'you're a fighter' when there is no actual solution.
I was crying by the end of the video. Thank you for diving into this aspect of my favourite game and thank you for making me appreciate my friendships and all the nights I spent with my friends!
I’ve watched a dozen essays about this game but man, your presentation of the importance of small moments has me tearing up over a quesadilla at 10pm on a Monday. I watched a play-through of Night in the Woods when I was younger, but as the time closes in on my 20th birthday, only two months away, I find myself drawn back to it, seeing everything in a whole new light. So thank you for making this video and sharing your exploration of NITW to the world. Amongst the billions of videos out there, I’m glad I found yours tonight.
Hi dot, thanks for presenting Night in the Woods the way you did! I HATED playing the game... But after watching this and seeing it from this perspective, I realised I had missed the forest for the trees. Also thanks for the custom animations and on-theme art direction in your presentation too. Way better than just using gameplay footage - these little details don't go unnoticed, well done. Looking forward to seeing more from you and your team.
I think this is my favorite essay I've watched about Night in The Woods. I've never seen anyone interpret this game in quite the same way I did, and you worded your thoughts in such an eloquent way. Thank you.
i lost my bestfriend two years ago. when you said, for tonght, we are together, i teared up a bit. every night i had with her did matter, and it still matters. thank u for this video.
I love hearing people's perspectives on this game. I always learn something new about the game, myself, and the world. And I love how what our favorite quotes say about our perspectives. This whole video is in lovely contrast to my experience of the game and my favorite quote. Mine is the whole "I want it to hurt scene." Where your experience was a reflection on being there for people, on finding people who care in a universe that doesn't, mine reflects my personal experiences of losing everyone, of losing everything, of losing myself to the pain of it all, and needing to find a way forward anyways. And these perspectives end up complimenting each other, because I needed to find the people who care. I found people who I could hang on to, people for whom the pain is worth it, because they are there through both the traumatizing and the mundane. And it's nice to come across a piece that reminds me of that perspective. That holding on isn't just for me, but that these small decisions to hold on can profoundly help the people I care about too.
Thank you so much for making this! I finished playing NitW for the first time in January of 2023, and while I loved the dialogue, the characters, and what I felt the message was, the game/story felt incomplete. I felt like not seeing Mae's reaction or how Mae is in the spring, or after Angus and Gregg left for Bright Harbor, just left it inconclusive. It didnt make me dislike the game, I just wish I knew what happened and felt that Mae's story suffered because of it. Because we didn't see much more after the epilogue of how she processed everything. But this video made me realize that the way the game was made was completely intentional for the purpose you described. I didn't even catch the relevance or importance of Mae’s mom's Trees quote until you pointed it out. I got a lot out of the game, but now there's more to appreciate about it. Thank you again for the reminder that even the little things matter. Ive known that they do, but its always good to be reminded. Lastly, I'm very sorry for your loss, Dot.
This video was astounding. The writing was thought provoking and invited me to explore this game I love to death's philosophy even further. The editing contributed alot too, I don't know if it was intentional or not, but the fragments of the characters assembling themselves throughout was evocative of the game's "Just Shapes" exploration. In isolation, a very nihilistic take that understandably gets in Mae's head and sends her spiraling, but in the context of the video, reinforces your assertion that despite being small pieces, they make up a whole greater than the sum of their seemingly insignificant parts. They might be just shapes, but those shapes have names and care about you, and that's real, much In the same way that this fictional setting full of fictional characters has had a profound effect on the lives of all the people I know who have played it, that experience is real. Subscribed and can't wait for more
I dragged my feet through high school, barely making up all my failed classes and graduating on time. I hit the ground running full time just 2 months out of high school and the few times I've tried to go back to school was just the worst, I never considered ditching class until I had the opportunity and met my own personal needs hanging out atop a building surfing the web or playing games alone. I'm turning 25 in less than a week, and I can't stop thinking about the few friends from school I cared about. One found me and we tried hanging out, but it didn't work out. I still miss one of them in particular, but I can't bring myself to start digging to see and find what's become of them 7 years late. I have a hard time pulling myself outside just to get out more than once or twice a month as is... I've found myself wanting actual friends again, after online relationships fading back into clouds and not talking to anyone but my immediate family (who I mostly dislike or am the opposite of as a person) and of course coworkers... who I only see as liminal. In every sense of the word. I'm standing still as I progress in life and while I am blessed with the types of traits I need to succeed there I find myself with habits that leave me inside 4 walls 99% of the time. Turns out I don't need or want community and as soon as one forms or I find myself inside, I feel like an outsider with a strong urge to just leave with barely a word. I may not need or want people in my life for the clear majority of my life, but my world has turned grey without anyone who I actually care exists. Nothing really motivates me, and I miss just being pushed around by other's wanting to do stuff, while I forget to even ask even as I want to.
I actually just started playing this game recently, fun how that works out. I’m only barely to Weird Autumn, so I can’t really say too much on the game. However i think it’s funny that the “friends are like trees,” was a line I didn’t really pay much attention to before this video. Goes to show that different people get different things out of media. Either way fantastic video (The editing and scripting is god tier) and thanks for the skip-spoiler timestamp!
Excellent analysis on an excellent game! I have been thinking about this game a lot and just randomly decided to search it here on YT to find this gem just got uploaded a few days ago! From one writer/editor to another, fantastic work.
This is one of my personal favorite games of all time, and I'm really glad to have discovered it when I did. Casey was a character I would've wanted to see in a dream of sorts, but I guess we can't have everything, heh. I always replay the game every chance I get, and I still find new things about it I didn't see in my first playthrough, or the one after that, or the one after that, and so on. I have chosen to play the game again solely for the chance to see this characters again. Your video is definitely one of the best I've seen from a game in its meaning. Commendable work, mate!
Wow! This is a great video. It's so cool to hear someone else's perspective on this piece. For me personally, Night In the Woods is a coming-of-age piece. By choosing Greg, you're choosing the path of infantilism, constant childhood, and abdicating responsibility. Greg is an eternal child, just like May. With him, you're on a path of abdicating adulthood, responsibility, and self-realization. But when I chose Bea, I chose the path of an adult. It was a path through everyday life, the difficulties of the real world, and growing up. It's funny that I chose Greg in my youth, and Bea when I graduated from college and got a job. For me, Night In the Woods will always remain a piece of work for me, something that reflects who I am. Thanks to Alec, thanks for the video. It was amazing, remembering the experience, a heart-wrenching experience.
This actually resonated very deeply with me. I feel like something I've always felt has been beautifully put onto words. Like finally letting out a heavy sigh. I'm touched. Thank you for this video. Truly.
Well fuck. Now I'm crying. Damn, y u do dis two me. Seriously though. A year or so back, I lost a friend who meant the world to me. He was there by my side for over 15 years, and he was robbed of a future at the age of 32 because of a cancer he had under 5% chance of actually contracting. Fate and luck weren't on his side, and I was left losing the friend who was the pillar for most of my other friendships. Soon, I became the outcast, and my friends drifted away. They moved on and left me behind. Yesterday, I looked up to my friend's picture and realized I couldn't remember his voice anymore. Not really. I have an idea of what it sounded like, but that's it. That hurt. I'm not an old guy, my memory is pretty solid, but life has no need for the sound of a voice, only the messages it delivered. It hurt, knowing I'd left a piece of him, this time. But your part at the end fucking broke me. "A best friend you can hold close forever, even if you drift physically apart. In a way, it doesn't really matter what happened yesterday or what tomorrow may bring. For tonight, we are together." I wish I had thought to say that to him. I may be an agnostic, but I do hope he can hear that somehow, some way. It was really beautiful.
Im watching this video right before starting what will be the final week of my second to last semester of college, and I played this game right before starting my third smester back in 2022 right on 22nd my birthday. I remember that when I finished it the first time, and every subsequent time, i just sat there in silence watching the credits roll, processing it all. I'm as close as I have ever been to finishing college after so much time and after messing up multiple times, at some point I was just going along with the flow of things, with no real aim or motivation to my name. Playing this game changed the way I view life, and I can describe it with two quotes from it "At the end of everything, hold onto anything" and "Nothing can save us forever, but a lot of things can save us today". This game has taught me that things will keep moving, and so will you if you chose to do so, what may or may not happen can be scary, but you will always be able to find something for yourself, even if it's just a little thing that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, all that counts is that it mattered to you. I may be scared and uncertain about my future, even now that I have put myself back together, in no smalll part thanks to NITW. I'm scared now as I write this. However, I am certain of something, I will sure as hell try anyway.
I'm so sad that we'll never get a sequel to NITW. Maybe its for the better but I just want the feeling of experiencing a game like NITW for the first time again.
this video destroyed me, im not a big fan of nitw, I just recently played the game because an ex-friend recommended it to me, but it felt so... weird, like if I was late on the trend, It felt like a time capsule where I was the only one playing it, it felt so lonely. later on i discovered about the main developer passing away, it felt worse in a way, someone that is not with us made this, it put his heart into it i took this game as a comfort zone for me, something that I will play until the day I die, no one will know I played this and that it is one of my favorite games, I will keep it for me, forever i took the desicion to play it and experience it late, and I think it makes the game feel like a brand new experience compared to anyone else, something fresh just for me, like a gift. I will miss the experience, but I will keep it in my heart, forever
I have nothing but respect for your channel my guy. This wonderfully written video made me cry, something most media fails to do. The ending card hit me the hardest, I guess because it kind of relates to me as well. I don't mean to overshare as some random stranger online, and you might not even believe this but what the hell. When I finished ANITW it was after an all nighter and the beginning of 5am when I rapped up the astronomer dlc. The message of things changing, some good things going to make room for the bad, and then the better just seemed right. A family member of mine was diagnosed with dementia for a while leading up to that night, and somehow I knew that it was the day they'd be gone. I poured out a soda I could only get from their country that I'd been saving since Christmas outside a couple minutes before sunrise and went to sleep. When I woke up, I got the news that they weren't here anymore but wasn't even surprised. It's weird yknow? The fact that I was so sure and confident that the day was the day, but not really sure why it was. I've never been good with change, it's something I struggle with for big things and small ones alike. That night was different though, something I don't think I'll ever fully know why. I'll forever be grateful for A Night In The Woods for ripping out my heart and gently putting it back in my chest, it's one of the few games I truly adore and feel grateful to have finally played (even eight years late). Thanks for the video, wasn't expecting to feel this way today but I'm not complaining. Please keep up the great work my guy. If something as simple as an 18-minute video on video games can make some bozo online feel this way, I can't imagine the amount of people you could reach and the extent you could make them feel. Here's to more art, gregg rulz ok!
like the other folk commenting here, this game/story means a lot to me, and it felt great to see that meaning articulated so clearly. thank you for making this.
gorgeous insight on one of my favorite games ever, your video made me tear up a little (in the good way!!) and i love your take away from this game and recognition of the simple things that make it so great. you really offer a unique perspective that i don’t see many others speak on, and your editing for this video is really great. love your little doodles!!
I wish I could go back and play this game for the first time again. not because my first playthrough was bad or anything, in fact it was so good I just want to experience it all again for the first time.
such a touching and beautifully edited video! thank you so much for making it, made me cry my eyes out! i played nitw for the first time as a young teen and it genuinely affected me a lot. recently replayed it as a college student and the story felt so much more personal and relatable, it felt eye-opening in a way! truly my favourite game ever alongside disco elysium:)
no ones gonna read this comment but honest to god this is probably the closest i've gotten to reliving what i felt after playing nitw for the first time
Hi. I came across your video while in a difficult emotional state. I'll tell you my background a little bit. In my country, men over the age of 18 must serve in the armed forces for a period of one year. And it so happened that I had to leave right at the very beginning of my studies at the university (I was given a postponement due to college studies) leaving my old life, my boyfriend and my family for this difficult year. I will not go into details about what happened during this year. Upon returning, everything changed so much. Most of my friends have moved to other cities or are working, and my boyfriend has pulled away from me and won't even reply to my messages. I used to know what I wanted from this life, but now I'm so confused that I don't want anything. The feeling of being lost did not fade for a very long time. I was so upset that I would no longer be able to return to the time when I was having fun with my friends, but after your video, namely because of the last words, it became much easier for me. Thanks for your video
I remember how the game wrecked me on my first playthrough, especially the ending of epilogue. Never could formulate my feelings for it, or lessons I learnt. Watching your video and looking back at the life I lived after the game, now I understand NitW and realise that I lived by it's lessons ever since.
Oh my god, this is truly one of my new favorite videos on the platform. I played this game for the first time on 7/8/2024 (I remember dates really well for reasons I’ll get to) and I fell head over heels for this masterpiece of art, most everything and everyone in it resonated with me, Mae did for being a quirky, neurodivergent person and who just kinda flows with life, I saw myself in Gregg and Angus being a queer myself and seeing how we often go through the same hardships that straights and cis people go through and we really are just people, and don’t get me started on Bea. Bea by far is my favorite character, she’s the best written in my opinion, her design is my favorite, but I love her more for what she did for me as a person, she helped me come to terms with my gender identity and being less of a doormat. Truly the game of all time, also back to the video, easy 48/10, editing and visuals on point and made me teary eyed. Honestly, this was kinda a big yap session for me but if you read this far, glad you did.
every time you upload and i see that bell icon with a notification i'm excited to watch your work. (yes this is the only channel i activated the bell icon) you finally did it, you made me cry with your videos. As someone who struggles in many ways, this video hit close to home. Keep up the amazing work
This made me cry about this game all over again. At 16:00 on I was crying from the sheer weight of it all, and that it matters. I'm in the middle of a petty feud with my lifelong friend, a feud that I've been dragging out, that I made petty. I know what I want to do tonight. Thank you. RIP Alex. I can tell by this alone that you were loved.
I have to fucking comment and just commend you on this spectacular video, I think hands down this is THE best video ever made on this game and I can see it left a really strong impression on you and you had to do it justice. Well my friend, this is a video for the ages! Keep up the lovely work and keep up that creativity and may your flame burn as bright as day
Lovely video. I'm not familiar with your channel but I like your editing, it's high-effort without relying on live footage or distracting from the script, and that's not something I see too often in video essays. It's weird that most of the bigger concepts in NiTW are overwhelmingly depressing, but the game overall feels almost indulgently comfy despite that. God-Cat tells you the universe is beholden to inevitable decay or some shit and all you can do is wake up and meet your friends for band practice. Existentialism's a hell of a drug.
thank you, Thank you for making such a moving video on one of my favorite games. It really helped me and it's the first video essay of many i've seen that had me close to crying, thank you for making such a wonderful video and never let anyone get you down.
every time someone makes a night in the woods video essay my lifespan increases another year because that's usually how long it takes for another person to make a good night in the woods video essay
Immortality hack
Doctors hate him
are you ok?
@shieldgenerator7 i am now that there's another good night in the woods video essay
lmaooo truee
When you brought up no one mentioning or missing Casey, that was like a rude awakening.
Same bro, but I've been trying to get people to notice me, so I hope it won't happen to me
@@Makememesandmore This sounds kinda dark. Friend, may i recommend talking to someone before the darkness encroaches more?
@anxiety_elemental he just said that he is
@@zacky7572 "getting people to notice" and "talking to someone especially a professional" are two different things.
And the fact nobody cared about Casey goes against his narrative of us mattering.
9:13 the quote that stood out to me the most was from Bea:
"I stayed here and grew up, while you left and stayed the same"
christ that hits so close to home
I've been on both ends of that sentiment and it hurts both times
I can’t tell you how much this quote hurts me because it’s so true. I didn’t grow up.
Which showed a remarkable lack of insight on Bea's part. Mae isn't a screw-up because she wants to be. She's a screw-up because she's severely mentally ill, with an absolute quack for a mental healthcare provider.
She is doing the absolute best that she can, and her inability to function is through no fault of her own.
For me, Casey is one of the most tragic characters. Whenever I hear 'Die Anywhere Else' I think of him. He didn't get that. He couldn't escape.
Beautiful video, thank you.
Fun sad fact, Casey's theme plays intermingled throughout the soundtrack, forever trapped and forever missed.
@@MusicMyMind59 sometimes remember the "his parents put up POSTERS" line and i wanna cry
They said no one missed him, but everyone wanted to see him again. It's tragic and hypocritic of the cult to even say that no one will miss him.
I'm gonna name my Love in the Woods character Casey just to honor him.
A little game design decision i always treasure is that Mae's default response to being asked to do/talk/listen to something/someone is always a No. She has to actively force herself to answer yes to these questions, her first dialogue choice is her impulse. If you zone out through dialogue so does she.
She struggles with doing most things and has spent a large part of her past few months rotting inside a dorm, barely getting enough sustenance for her body to even function.
I am currently in a very similar position and have more or less been in it for around 3 years. It is very difficult to reconcile turning 20 beginning January when i really haven't had a substantial amount of even little social experiences since i was 16. Most of my changes came from singular reflection and engagement with art in my bedroom. I also have to ask myself what I'm gonna do today. I don't know if i will ever succeed in doing something today twice in one month.
Or its done to not incidentally agreed to something due misclick or skiping
@Chestet The analysis certainly fits with the established characteristics that Mei already has. This is the troughline of the game, that Mei learns to engage with her environment and rediscovers meaning and care in what her condition leads her to believe to be but simple meaningless shapes. The art style of the game consists of simple shapes, most small characters don't have immediately interesting dialogue, and there is nothing that forces or even directly encourages the player to seek them out. You get to know them only through repeatedly doing the thing Mei finds difficult.
"I get it. This won't stop until I die. But when I die, I want it to hurt. When my friends leave, when I have to let go, when this entire town is wiped off the map, I want it to hurt. Bad. I want to lose. I want to get beaten up. I want to hold on until I'm thrown off and everything ends. And you know what? Until that happens, I want to hope again. And I want it to hurt. Because that means it meant something. It means I am something, at least... pretty amazing to be something, at least..."
While i do believe this to be an intentional design decision, it ultimately doesn't matter all that much. Art is to be created, engaged and interpret. This is media analysis and i choose to engage with it because i believe it to be an important part of our experience engaging with art. Art isn't a math problem to solve and there is no art for which we know all authorial intent, very often the authors themselves wont be able to answer either. Humor me and engage the text regardless of your impulse to shut down thought, you might find something intended you previously overlooked, or something uninteded that is incredibly compelling regardless of its accidental nature. There is always something to gain when on chooses to think.
I am 28 and still stuck in my 19ish times as a person. I think I am just defective. Nothing will changes.
rotting in my room for 4 years now. covid, then war.
@@eg-draw There's a reason people say adults are just big kids.
I am who I was when I was 20, just with different beliefs, and more importantly with a more mature view on life. I'll still always want to spend my time playing games with my friends, I just have to do it differently now.
It took hitting 30 to really realize "Oh, I'm an adult now..." I still feel like I'm 20, I just feel more pains and discomforts lmao.
"I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and in people that do." I really resonated with that line as well. The past couple of years I've learned how much having people that truly care for you. I won't get too deep into it, but the short of it is that my family sucks. And the past couple of years I've built up what feels like the only real relationships I've ever had. And I'm so much happier because of it.
Even as my material circumstances have deteriorated and gotten worse in that same time period. It's so much easier to keep going when you have people you genuinely love and who love you right back.
I feel this too..stay strong 💖
“Ernest Hemingway once wrote, 'The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part." - William Somerset (Se7en)
Man, the "you cannot experience all of life" goes so against everything I've been taught, but it's just so real. Somehow I ended up believing that NOT experiencing life to the FULLEST is an unforgivable crime, because it would be like throwing away something infinitely precious.
Yeah maybe you can’t experience all of life, but you are still experiencing all of your life. I think that is still a lot and enough. I hate that FOMO I get sometimes, feeling I have to have been everywhere. I love that this game kind of just let me know that even if it feels like I’m not doing anything worthwhile, like just doing nothing with s friend is absolutely worth it. And that saying these things are worth less than other things is just making yourself miserable.
So many things could have been, but just one path is the one you walk in the end. Might as well enjoy that one, it’s still a path full of life :)
I was thinking, in profound disbelief, "man, you did not have to make this video half as great as you did", and then 17:18 hit me. I get it. I'm sorry.
Hugs
i am new here may i ask who alex is
I was basically just retelling every single point to a friend who has never played while I was watching it and then that moment hit. "Fuck"
Who’s Alex?
Someone who mattered to them
I stumbled across NitW after dropping out of university at 20 myself. This game landed in my hands at the rightest time possible, the fall after I dropped out, when everyone was going back to classes I was just at home, not doing anything with myself or for anyone. A weekend of playtime later & this game really dug me out of a hole, got back on my depression meds & kicked myself in the ass to get back into the world.
I’m proud of you!
I relate to BOTH Mae and Bea so much even though I never dropped out of college I got a degree in something I have no passion for because my parent forced me to - it was either that or just rot in my room like a NEET (like the way Candy complains to Mae they put a mortgage on the house and invested so much money and care into Mae- that scene stabbed me in the heart because I get where both Mae and Candy are coming from). Anyway now I can’t bear to work full time in the profession I despise (like Bea) and on my days off I wander around, do hobbies I don’t really have that much passion in (just killing time/emptiness) and try not to think of ending myself (like Mae- although a lot of Mae’s aggression is directed outward for me it’s purely inward).
I’m afraid this Limbo will last forever if I don’t take drastic action but I feel trapped already.
"At the end of everything, hold onto anything" resonates with me. It's a genuinely touching phrase that has stuck with me since the game. Thank you for making this and pointing out the sheer significance of that question that I didn't realize I was missing.
That quote has stayed me through all these years like a friend
Me too, it's etched into my brain
Iv clung on to it ever sense, its kept me sane through this past decade
This is easily one of the best Night in the Woods analysis I have ever had the pleasure of watching. As a directionless college dropout myself when I played it, this game hit me like a train. It really helped me appreciate the mundane futility of life and how life is just that. The profound message is a simple one.
Great video dot.
Night in the Woods saved me. It helped me at a time that nobody in my life knew how to or cared to. It's integrated into the very fiber of my being.
My first tattoo was a quote from it; "At the end of everything hold onto anything"
This video is beautifully made just like the rest of your videos.
So, if you don't mind I will take a piece of this with me as a small part of my anything, until the end of everything.
a tattoo ?
does not look like it helped much
@ I don’t follow, what do you mean?
@@AdventureHunters2013 just a silly joke about freaky people who have tattoos .
Was not intendend to hurt you .
have a nice day :)
@@igorigor3960 I don’t understand how having tattoos is a freaky or a joke.
I will.
@@igorigor3960 there's nothing wrong with tattoos. please be kind.
oh i absolutely fucking ADORE the visuals of the little custom notebook sketches. always love seeing people talk about this game, it's genuinely changed my life
Every time I think my "Night in the Woods phase" is over, someone makes another video essay that brings back that passion, but I must say that this video is different. This video didn't feel like a rambling on about what to take from the game, it didn't feel like an emotional regurgitation and it wasn't a cold analysis. This video has to be one of the best made NITW video essays I've seen, with a clear goal and a fun execution. Props to you 👏👏👏
My heart sunk when i reached the end, i had a friend named Alex too that died a few months ago, we drifted long ago and hadn't really spoken since, and yet ever since he died he's been on my mind more often than the past several years combined
fake friend
I get that feeling. Even if you knew them way back in elementary school, you'd still care. You remember everything you did, and wish you did more.
@@citricdemon not really, friends drift apart, it happens. Doesn't mean you're not allowed to grieve the person you knew, jackass
Its is always amazing how every so often a brand new question can be asked about a 7 year old game. Its incredible how such a piece of media can be so close to myself and others so many years in the future. Thanks for continuing to look into this game and coming up with yet another way to look at it.
you say 7 years old like it's a long time, and it's making me rather sad thinking about how the culture is now moving so fast that we can so quickly treat pieces of media as consumables that are trendy for a few months and then "outgrown", outdated and forgotten about... we still find new things to say about classic books, and you know what? you'd probably find something new to say about a random, kinda forgotten book you'd find, that was written decades or centuries ago. and i think that's beautiful, and part of the reason we love art!
That was quite profound. While many of my years have felt short, this year, 2024, has been the longest of my whole life, and I really felt this message. Great job.
This game helped me process grief, grappling with being unable to return to college, unable to maintain real friendships with anyone who wasn't in physical vicinity. A lot of depression about who actually is interested in being a friend, and the realization that out of everyone I had regularly interacted with since middle school, through high school, and new friends in my first year at college, maybe 2 were still interested in keeping in touch once I couldn't regularly visit them myself. I had never understood how much I was scared of being alone until it was put into words.
the ending has no right making me teary eyed like that. i’m moving from where i’ve grown up from a kid to a teen to adult in 7 days and i have yet to digest that.
how are you doing now?
@@virtualv0id eh, okay. not perfect but i’m still able to be in the area i love to bits regularly. new place gives me more creative choice about how i decorate which is interesting!
holy shit.
the intro, the first 60 seconds; you told me an honest truth that i never figured out myself because i was too afraid to admit it.
additionally i played this game when i was stupid and young, not understanding anything but now i've been helped to know now. thanks.
"Gee Benji, what are we gonna do tonight?"
"The same thing we do every night Benji, stay up until early in the mourning playing video games."
As a Bea, Gregg, Bea path chooser I have always felt the same way about what could have been happening in Gregg's life. To this day I've avoided looking up what happens in preparation for the time I inevitably play this game again. That may be sooner than expected now after watching a video this absolutely amazing. Dot, you're the best in the gaming essay sphere right now.
"At the end of everything, hold onto anything" 15:54
Somehow whenever I start to feel at my lowest there’s Night in the Woods.
Every video about this game always adds a new layer of depth and emotion that I had thought about.
It makes me feel worse, but then a little better. My experience isn’t just a singular experience but a collective. And we share that collective.
I just started another run through of this game as the end of the year makes me lonely and suicidal. It’s like one of those games with still a dedicated fanbase. No sequels or no new media, but people still come back to it. Like Yume Nikki.
I feel a little silly to say something like a video game saved my life, but this game came out at a period in time where I did not know my mental health status. I was driving to work and on a whim swerved my car at a wall, a random unprecedented attempt at suicide. The game didn't fix me in any way, but it inspired me to leave my hometown, and surely that choice kept me alive.
I'm glad you're still here
I can relate so much. Happy that we're both here ✌️
"i believe in a universe that doesn't care; and people that do" was my high school senior quote- the town i grew up in was a podunk place a lot like possum springs and this game has always been so important to me as a result.
This has earned a place on my playlist of my all-time favourite videos on this platform. Concise but made me feel and think. This is the type of writing I wish I could do, I've pondered RUclips for so long but become discouraged when I realize none of my ideas are particularly poignant or interesting, just objective retrospectives of old games. Cheap content. This? This is art on RUclips.
I'm probably not the first person to tell you to "just do it" but seriously, man. Just do it. Take it straight from the heart and eventually, this is exactly the kind of writing you will be doing. Nobody makes their magnum opus at 3 years old, art has to come from a lifetime of experience and practice getting familiar with your chosen tools and medium coming together with a lifetime of experiences being ripped straight from the soul. That's what true art is, as long as you maintain your focus on what you always wanted to make and never sell your integrity, you'll make the top end shit. A mindset like you have might end with you never ever being satisfied with what you make, but if you go through with making shit anyway, maybe one day you'll stop to breathe and look back to find you did pretty good after all.
this has to be the most thoughtful analysis of night in the woods I've seen, gave me a new perspective, love it.
thank you!
I miss my friend Shannon a lot. We would talk about this game a lot and play it again around this time of year. I haven't played it since she took her own life because I see so much of her in every character, but especially Bea. This video helped me process some very difficult emotions, thank you
In my play through, I really liked both Bea and Greg but after my first choice of Bea I stuck with her. I was really curious about Greg too but the way the first night snuck in on you and the feeling of wanting to be there for the rest was really overwhelming. We really do have so much ‘water’ to go around, and sometimes I think simple decisions and luck snowballs everything else. Amazing video, thank you for making it ❤
Randomly found this video (RUclips doing a fine job tonight). Never played this game but I’ve seen a few videos that never stuck with me. This video, it’s editing and messages, was profoundly heartwarming. Cathartic, mostly, as it wasn’t entirely happy but definitely comforting.
And whoever Alex is, no doubt in my mind that they were a good friend with memorable nights to cherish.
The less witnesses a story has, the more worthwhile it is to remember. When it's a memory that only you have, that's the sort of thing you have to hang onto until you're gone.
Even if the story's not known, through your actions it serves as a root in your tree - unseen, but integral. Others will tell you that that's who you are, but they won't know why it is who you are. Perhaps even if you told them, they wouldn't care or get it, either.
Your actions are all that's remembered, in the end. Casey had no actions and for that, he was forgotten. Even amongst those who remembered him, the act that he died is all they will know. All that they'll remember, despite how they wonder. Value your memory and your presence as a living being. It's as endlessly precious as it is so easily smothered.
I played this game at 16 and didn't really understand it, back then it was just a cute game about funny animals going about their day to day lives, but at 21 I get it now, I'm slogging through a degree I've lost passion for, I feel neglected by my immediate family at home, I have barely any money and I have even less direction. my friends and my partner are my whole world, they're the reason I wake up in the morning, the reason I go to work and do what I can to build savings, the reason I went to therapy, the reason I take my meds, I've kicked addictions, stopped self harming, learned new things, and so much more I can't even begin to list because I have them to prop me up, I don't care that the world is uncaring towards me because I have people who are caring, and this silly game about silly animals helped me realize that, and I'm forever grateful for it.
Completely and utterly amazing. Your ability to provide analysis yet also show the emotional weight, depth, and meaning is an absolute treasure
i watched, and i started sobbing. if i watch this again, i'll be opening up dusty boxes within me that i am apprehensive of opening. it's scary. but maybe.. that fear is a good thing, to move on. thank you, dot.
This video has me crying over night in the woods again
I miss this game. I used to play it around every October, but I started college and scare acting, making my schedule more busy during this time of the year. I really need to play it again, especially with stuff I've been through since the last time I played. I live in a similar type of area, the characters remind me of people in my life or myself, and friendships are very meaningful to me.
i really love the way you structure these, it feels like such a natural progression. the older i get, the more relatable i find the characters in this game. and the more i like the game.
This game never made me cry while playing it, instead it left me feeling... Nostalgic, comforted, small, insignificant, trapped, and deeply, deeply guilty. It has a special place in my library purely from the complex emotions it kicked up in my chest that i still don't know how to name or even make amends with. How do you even grapple with the idea that you might not have made the right choice? What WAS the right choice? Are you doing this for yourself or because someone told you you should? How do you handle the fallout of a mistake?
It left me feeling like i forgot something. Like i made a promise that slipped my mind and the person i made it to just quietly accepts the pain of my mistake. Like no matter what i do I'm hurting someone, even if they don't tell me. Like nothing i do will ever be good enough for those around me.
This game read to me like trying to pick up the pieces of a broken picture frame only to find out the garbage can you're using has a hole in the bottom while still staring at a picture from times passed. What's gone will never come back, no matter how badly we want it to. Life. Goes. On.
i've only played through nitw once, and it's very hard to express my feelings about it. it didn't make a huge impact but at the same time it changed my life. i don't think about it very often but when i do it just gives me all these feelings. the way it really feels like you're playing through someone's life and experiencing things as they do, taking a peek into mae's relationships and history and memories and everything, is so interesting and amazing to me. i can't exactly explain how i connected to the story or the characters or the art or the music, it all just sort of fit in my mind perfectly and made a quiet little home that makes some noise every once in a while. always glad to see people talking about it!
When I played this game, I was in almost the exact same situation as Mae; I had to move from college back to a nowhere dying town with no goals or prospects. The only difference was that I had graduated, but covid killed off any job opportunities in my field. Playing through this helped me work through my own struggles, especially my crippling depression. I couldn't wait for a sequel or followup of some kind.
Then I found out about the developer, and the mirror grew deeper.
This was a beautiful essay and I'm more than impressed with the quality of your writing. I hope this channel blows up!
This has me thinking that it was just one summer in my life when there was someone who would just 'hang out' the way I see in fiction like this. My brother, when I returned from college for a summer. I left for work after that, and the year after, he died, and I've gone the rest of my life more or less in a lonely seemingly pointless existence. Just what is there when there aren't any of these 'normal' moments in your life, and life is trying to avoid poverty just so you can continue to have food and a place to sleep, and you're just too exhausted for anything else, or even if I wasn't, there's still no one else to so much as talk to?
And, yes, I've talked to plenty of counselors, but I'm getting really tired of hearing how 'that's hard' and 'you're a fighter' when there is no actual solution.
This was astonishingly well put together! Thank you for the time and effort. It really strengthened my view on this game.
I was crying by the end of the video. Thank you for diving into this aspect of my favourite game and thank you for making me appreciate my friendships and all the nights I spent with my friends!
I’ve watched a dozen essays about this game but man, your presentation of the importance of small moments has me tearing up over a quesadilla at 10pm on a Monday. I watched a play-through of Night in the Woods when I was younger, but as the time closes in on my 20th birthday, only two months away, I find myself drawn back to it, seeing everything in a whole new light. So thank you for making this video and sharing your exploration of NITW to the world. Amongst the billions of videos out there, I’m glad I found yours tonight.
Hi dot, thanks for presenting Night in the Woods the way you did!
I HATED playing the game... But after watching this and seeing it from this perspective, I realised I had missed the forest for the trees.
Also thanks for the custom animations and on-theme art direction in your presentation too. Way better than just using gameplay footage - these little details don't go unnoticed, well done.
Looking forward to seeing more from you and your team.
I think this is my favorite essay I've watched about Night in The Woods. I've never seen anyone interpret this game in quite the same way I did, and you worded your thoughts in such an eloquent way. Thank you.
Just when I think Night in the Woods is done getting tears out of me, there's another video essay like this.
i lost my bestfriend two years ago. when you said, for tonght, we are together, i teared up a bit. every night i had with her did matter, and it still matters. thank u for this video.
I love hearing people's perspectives on this game. I always learn something new about the game, myself, and the world. And I love how what our favorite quotes say about our perspectives. This whole video is in lovely contrast to my experience of the game and my favorite quote. Mine is the whole "I want it to hurt scene." Where your experience was a reflection on being there for people, on finding people who care in a universe that doesn't, mine reflects my personal experiences of losing everyone, of losing everything, of losing myself to the pain of it all, and needing to find a way forward anyways.
And these perspectives end up complimenting each other, because I needed to find the people who care. I found people who I could hang on to, people for whom the pain is worth it, because they are there through both the traumatizing and the mundane. And it's nice to come across a piece that reminds me of that perspective. That holding on isn't just for me, but that these small decisions to hold on can profoundly help the people I care about too.
I sometimes say out loud “everything sucks forever”
Thank you so much for making this!
I finished playing NitW for the first time in January of 2023, and while I loved the dialogue, the characters, and what I felt the message was, the game/story felt incomplete. I felt like not seeing Mae's reaction or how Mae is in the spring, or after Angus and Gregg left for Bright Harbor, just left it inconclusive. It didnt make me dislike the game, I just wish I knew what happened and felt that Mae's story suffered because of it. Because we didn't see much more after the epilogue of how she processed everything.
But this video made me realize that the way the game was made was completely intentional for the purpose you described. I didn't even catch the relevance or importance of Mae’s mom's Trees quote until you pointed it out. I got a lot out of the game, but now there's more to appreciate about it.
Thank you again for the reminder that even the little things matter. Ive known that they do, but its always good to be reminded.
Lastly, I'm very sorry for your loss, Dot.
This video was astounding. The writing was thought provoking and invited me to explore this game I love to death's philosophy even further. The editing contributed alot too, I don't know if it was intentional or not, but the fragments of the characters assembling themselves throughout was evocative of the game's "Just Shapes" exploration. In isolation, a very nihilistic take that understandably gets in Mae's head and sends her spiraling, but in the context of the video, reinforces your assertion that despite being small pieces, they make up a whole greater than the sum of their seemingly insignificant parts. They might be just shapes, but those shapes have names and care about you, and that's real, much In the same way that this fictional setting full of fictional characters has had a profound effect on the lives of all the people I know who have played it, that experience is real. Subscribed and can't wait for more
I literally almost cried watching this because im in a hard time in my life right now and this was so fucking relatable 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Having never played Night in the Woods, I still thought this video was incredibly moving, and it's motivated me to give it a shot. I'm so sorry.
how was it?
I dragged my feet through high school, barely making up all my failed classes and graduating on time. I hit the ground running full time just 2 months out of high school and the few times I've tried to go back to school was just the worst, I never considered ditching class until I had the opportunity and met my own personal needs hanging out atop a building surfing the web or playing games alone.
I'm turning 25 in less than a week, and I can't stop thinking about the few friends from school I cared about. One found me and we tried hanging out, but it didn't work out. I still miss one of them in particular, but I can't bring myself to start digging to see and find what's become of them 7 years late. I have a hard time pulling myself outside just to get out more than once or twice a month as is...
I've found myself wanting actual friends again, after online relationships fading back into clouds and not talking to anyone but my immediate family (who I mostly dislike or am the opposite of as a person) and of course coworkers... who I only see as liminal. In every sense of the word. I'm standing still as I progress in life and while I am blessed with the types of traits I need to succeed there I find myself with habits that leave me inside 4 walls 99% of the time. Turns out I don't need or want community and as soon as one forms or I find myself inside, I feel like an outsider with a strong urge to just leave with barely a word.
I may not need or want people in my life for the clear majority of my life, but my world has turned grey without anyone who I actually care exists.
Nothing really motivates me, and I miss just being pushed around by other's wanting to do stuff, while I forget to even ask even as I want to.
I actually just started playing this game recently, fun how that works out. I’m only barely to Weird Autumn, so I can’t really say too much on the game. However i think it’s funny that the “friends are like trees,” was a line I didn’t really pay much attention to before this video. Goes to show that different people get different things out of media. Either way fantastic video (The editing and scripting is god tier) and thanks for the skip-spoiler timestamp!
Excellent analysis on an excellent game! I have been thinking about this game a lot and just randomly decided to search it here on YT to find this gem just got uploaded a few days ago! From one writer/editor to another, fantastic work.
This is one of my personal favorite games of all time, and I'm really glad to have discovered it when I did. Casey was a character I would've wanted to see in a dream of sorts, but I guess we can't have everything, heh. I always replay the game every chance I get, and I still find new things about it I didn't see in my first playthrough, or the one after that, or the one after that, and so on. I have chosen to play the game again solely for the chance to see this characters again.
Your video is definitely one of the best I've seen from a game in its meaning. Commendable work, mate!
The best analysis of nitw i've ever seen, hoping it gets more popular
Wow! This is a great video. It's so cool to hear someone else's perspective on this piece. For me personally, Night In the Woods is a coming-of-age piece. By choosing Greg, you're choosing the path of infantilism, constant childhood, and abdicating responsibility. Greg is an eternal child, just like May. With him, you're on a path of abdicating adulthood, responsibility, and self-realization. But when I chose Bea, I chose the path of an adult. It was a path through everyday life, the difficulties of the real world, and growing up. It's funny that I chose Greg in my youth, and Bea when I graduated from college and got a job. For me, Night In the Woods will always remain a piece of work for me, something that reflects who I am. Thanks to Alec, thanks for the video. It was amazing, remembering the experience, a heart-wrenching experience.
This actually resonated very deeply with me. I feel like something I've always felt has been beautifully put onto words. Like finally letting out a heavy sigh.
I'm touched. Thank you for this video. Truly.
Well fuck. Now I'm crying. Damn, y u do dis two me.
Seriously though. A year or so back, I lost a friend who meant the world to me. He was there by my side for over 15 years, and he was robbed of a future at the age of 32 because of a cancer he had under 5% chance of actually contracting. Fate and luck weren't on his side, and I was left losing the friend who was the pillar for most of my other friendships. Soon, I became the outcast, and my friends drifted away. They moved on and left me behind.
Yesterday, I looked up to my friend's picture and realized I couldn't remember his voice anymore. Not really. I have an idea of what it sounded like, but that's it. That hurt. I'm not an old guy, my memory is pretty solid, but life has no need for the sound of a voice, only the messages it delivered. It hurt, knowing I'd left a piece of him, this time. But your part at the end fucking broke me.
"A best friend you can hold close forever, even if you drift physically apart. In a way, it doesn't really matter what happened yesterday or what tomorrow may bring. For tonight, we are together."
I wish I had thought to say that to him. I may be an agnostic, but I do hope he can hear that somehow, some way. It was really beautiful.
Im watching this video right before starting what will be the final week of my second to last semester of college, and I played this game right before starting my third smester back in 2022 right on 22nd my birthday. I remember that when I finished it the first time, and every subsequent time, i just sat there in silence watching the credits roll, processing it all.
I'm as close as I have ever been to finishing college after so much time and after messing up multiple times, at some point I was just going along with the flow of things, with no real aim or motivation to my name.
Playing this game changed the way I view life, and I can describe it with two quotes from it
"At the end of everything, hold onto anything" and "Nothing can save us forever, but a lot of things can save us today".
This game has taught me that things will keep moving, and so will you if you chose to do so, what may or may not happen can be scary, but you will always be able to find something for yourself, even if it's just a little thing that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, all that counts is that it mattered to you.
I may be scared and uncertain about my future, even now that I have put myself back together, in no smalll part thanks to NITW. I'm scared now as I write this. However, I am certain of something, I will sure as hell try anyway.
I'm so sad that we'll never get a sequel to NITW. Maybe its for the better but I just want the feeling of experiencing a game like NITW for the first time again.
This is one of the best NITW video essays I have seen. Thank you for making it.
This is an energy the world really needed right at the moment we got it. Thank you.
this video destroyed me, im not a big fan of nitw, I just recently played the game because an ex-friend recommended it to me, but it felt so... weird, like if I was late on the trend, It felt like a time capsule where I was the only one playing it, it felt so lonely.
later on i discovered about the main developer passing away, it felt worse in a way, someone that is not with us made this, it put his heart into it
i took this game as a comfort zone for me, something that I will play until the day I die, no one will know I played this and that it is one of my favorite games, I will keep it for me, forever
i took the desicion to play it and experience it late, and I think it makes the game feel like a brand new experience compared to anyone else, something fresh just for me, like a gift.
I will miss the experience, but I will keep it in my heart, forever
"At the end of everything, hold on to anything"
I have nothing but respect for your channel my guy. This wonderfully written video made me cry, something most media fails to do.
The ending card hit me the hardest, I guess because it kind of relates to me as well. I don't mean to overshare as some random stranger online, and you might not even believe this but what the hell. When I finished ANITW it was after an all nighter and the beginning of 5am when I rapped up the astronomer dlc. The message of things changing, some good things going to make room for the bad, and then the better just seemed right. A family member of mine was diagnosed with dementia for a while leading up to that night, and somehow I knew that it was the day they'd be gone. I poured out a soda I could only get from their country that I'd been saving since Christmas outside a couple minutes before sunrise and went to sleep. When I woke up, I got the news that they weren't here anymore but wasn't even surprised. It's weird yknow? The fact that I was so sure and confident that the day was the day, but not really sure why it was. I've never been good with change, it's something I struggle with for big things and small ones alike. That night was different though, something I don't think I'll ever fully know why.
I'll forever be grateful for A Night In The Woods for ripping out my heart and gently putting it back in my chest, it's one of the few games I truly adore and feel grateful to have finally played (even eight years late). Thanks for the video, wasn't expecting to feel this way today but I'm not complaining. Please keep up the great work my guy. If something as simple as an 18-minute video on video games can make some bozo online feel this way, I can't imagine the amount of people you could reach and the extent you could make them feel. Here's to more art, gregg rulz ok!
like the other folk commenting here, this game/story means a lot to me, and it felt great to see that meaning articulated so clearly. thank you for making this.
gorgeous insight on one of my favorite games ever, your video made me tear up a little (in the good way!!) and i love your take away from this game and recognition of the simple things that make it so great. you really offer a unique perspective that i don’t see many others speak on, and your editing for this video is really great. love your little doodles!!
I LOVE THIS. And I never comment!!
This video is gut wrenching and I cried the most at the end. KEEP UP THE AMAZING WORK.
Beautiful and profound. Especially loved the drawings that matched the game's art style. So glad I watched this.
Thoughtful analysis, wonderful visuals and an ending speech that made me tear up a little. Love this video essay, thank you for making it!
Thank you for making this video and putting the focus where you did. It means a lot to me personally.
Been loving your unique videos and editing style, keep it up!
Not me WEEPEING it the end of this, amazing work, you're video essays never fail to bring me to tears :)
This video essay destroyed me at the end. 10/10
I wish I could go back and play this game for the first time again. not because my first playthrough was bad or anything, in fact it was so good I just want to experience it all again for the first time.
This serious has got to be one of the most amazing video essays Ive watched in a while. Thank you for this.
such a touching and beautifully edited video! thank you so much for making it, made me cry my eyes out! i played nitw for the first time as a young teen and it genuinely affected me a lot. recently replayed it as a college student and the story felt so much more personal and relatable, it felt eye-opening in a way! truly my favourite game ever alongside disco elysium:)
no ones gonna read this comment but honest to god this is probably the closest i've gotten to reliving what i felt after playing nitw for the first time
absolutely fantastic video!! wonderful job!!
This is my favorite game of all time. Your video essay captured the ideas I had that I couldn’t put into proper words, thank you for sharing!!
Hi. I came across your video while in a difficult emotional state. I'll tell you my background a little bit. In my country, men over the age of 18 must serve in the armed forces for a period of one year. And it so happened that I had to leave right at the very beginning of my studies at the university (I was given a postponement due to college studies) leaving my old life, my boyfriend and my family for this difficult year. I will not go into details about what happened during this year.
Upon returning, everything changed so much. Most of my friends have moved to other cities or are working, and my boyfriend has pulled away from me and won't even reply to my messages. I used to know what I wanted from this life, but now I'm so confused that I don't want anything. The feeling of being lost did not fade for a very long time. I was so upset that I would no longer be able to return to the time when I was having fun with my friends, but after your video, namely because of the last words, it became much easier for me. Thanks for your video
Damn I'm actually crying right now. This entire video was really well written. I can tell you put in a lot of effort and heart into this. Thank you.
Night in The Woods videos are always a treat.
What an amazing video. This is the first one that I've watched, and I really enjoy it!!!! Loved the title cards and animations.
I remember how the game wrecked me on my first playthrough, especially the ending of epilogue. Never could formulate my feelings for it, or lessons I learnt. Watching your video and looking back at the life I lived after the game, now I understand NitW and realise that I lived by it's lessons ever since.
As someone who’s been a fan ever since Night in the Woods first came out, this video is beautiful, thank you so much for making it
Oh my god, this is truly one of my new favorite videos on the platform. I played this game for the first time on 7/8/2024 (I remember dates really well for reasons I’ll get to) and I fell head over heels for this masterpiece of art, most everything and everyone in it resonated with me, Mae did for being a quirky, neurodivergent person and who just kinda flows with life, I saw myself in Gregg and Angus being a queer myself and seeing how we often go through the same hardships that straights and cis people go through and we really are just people, and don’t get me started on Bea. Bea by far is my favorite character, she’s the best written in my opinion, her design is my favorite, but I love her more for what she did for me as a person, she helped me come to terms with my gender identity and being less of a doormat. Truly the game of all time, also back to the video, easy 48/10, editing and visuals on point and made me teary eyed.
Honestly, this was kinda a big yap session for me but if you read this far, glad you did.
every time you upload and i see that bell icon with a notification i'm excited to watch your work. (yes this is the only channel i activated the bell icon)
you finally did it, you made me cry with your videos. As someone who struggles in many ways, this video hit close to home. Keep up the amazing work
This made me cry about this game all over again. At 16:00 on I was crying from the sheer weight of it all, and that it matters. I'm in the middle of a petty feud with my lifelong friend, a feud that I've been dragging out, that I made petty. I know what I want to do tonight. Thank you. RIP Alex. I can tell by this alone that you were loved.
Gosh, even the intro with the shapes is so good. Great work, gotta love a good nitw video essay
I have to fucking comment and just commend you on this spectacular video, I think hands down this is THE best video ever made on this game and I can see it left a really strong impression on you and you had to do it justice. Well my friend, this is a video for the ages! Keep up the lovely work and keep up that creativity and may your flame burn as bright as day
this video came out just right when i needed it , love it
Lovely video. I'm not familiar with your channel but I like your editing, it's high-effort without relying on live footage or distracting from the script, and that's not something I see too often in video essays. It's weird that most of the bigger concepts in NiTW are overwhelmingly depressing, but the game overall feels almost indulgently comfy despite that. God-Cat tells you the universe is beholden to inevitable decay or some shit and all you can do is wake up and meet your friends for band practice. Existentialism's a hell of a drug.
thank you, Thank you for making such a moving video on one of my favorite games. It really helped me and it's the first video essay of many i've seen that had me close to crying, thank you for making such a wonderful video and never let anyone get you down.
you're incredibly well-spoken, and the editing is amazing. keep going, brother. thank you for your contribution to one of my favorite games ever