So. I'm in love with a computer game. And although it's been six months, I haven't bought the actual game yet. (I intend to, probably when November closes in. It feels like an ace up my sleeve, a secret weapon against the dark days.)Of course, the game itself is relatively dark. The main characters struggle with depression and their futures in a rust-belt town full of lay-offs and closing factories. But during trivial squabbles and then real danger, their tight-knit friendship is believable as the force that helps them survive.
Here's the preview: NIGHT IN THE WOODS
Wikipedia describes it as "an exploration game focused primarily on story in which players control an anthropomorphic cat named Mae, who recently dropped out of college and has returned to her hometown to find unexpected change." This doesn't begin to express the artwork, music, relationships and depth of emotion in the story. You settle into Mae's rambling days: explore her hometown in autumn, play with her jam band, get yelled at by neighbors who remember when she was a punk, and mess around with her best friend Gregg (what he calls "committing crimes"). The dreams Mae has at night are lyrical or frightening, and touch on a terrible event in her past which involved a baseball bat. This issue--mental illness in young people--is part of the darkness; the rest hinges on a sinister storyline that leaps (literally) into play three-quarters through the game. At this point, the effectiveness of the plot relies on whether you are emotionally invested in Mae's world.
The bonds between Mae, a fox called Gregg, Gregg's boyfriend Angus (a bear), and a sarcastic girl named Bea who happens to be an alligator, are profound. I wasn't the only one who found some scenes heart-wrenching. Many gamers who reviewed it reacted similarly. One calls NITW "a game play novel." Others call it "Rust-belt gothic," and "Depression and survival." Pretty amazing for an adventure about a twenty-year-old two-dimensional cat.
My experience with NITW was watching a YouTube gamer play it. (Welcome to my exciting life!) Actually, there's a whole world of games played on Youtube that are entertaining to watch, and hey--it isn't like people don't WATCH other GAMES like, oh, say BASEBALL... I discovered this during one of my Blu-ray TV trips down the YouTube rabbit hole. One thing led to another, and I started following various games played by a cheerful fellow who goes by Mr. Kravin. The musical soundtrack includes more than a hundred musical cues, including several Guitar Hero pop songs where you play Mae's bass part and a whole soundtrack for another video game on Mae's laptop--a game within the game. Here's a sample: Rainy Town, part of the three hours-plus original score by Alec Holowka: Rainy Town
An interesting thing about NITW is that the characters' dialogue comes out in print on the screen. There are no voice actors, like in Fire Watch and other games. I liked Kravin's version because he did all the voices, which made me feel like a kid listening to a bedtime story. Other players I've watched just kept quiet and let the viewer read the conversations, which adds to the novel-esque quality. A reviewer pointed out that because there are no voices assigned to Mae and the others, they can echo the voices of our own friends...like in a novel.
I'm sure one reason this story has had such an effect on me is that I was a messed-up teenager wandering through my hometown (though on a horse, not on the telephone wires like Mae). The Hole In The Middle Of Everything can be interpreted as metaphorical or literal, but many of us are familiar with the personal version. What would I give to have had a group of friends like Mae's?
Looking at the stars, Angus tells her, "I believe in a universe that doesn't care. And people who do."
May you have a Weird Autumn. Remember, the third jump is the big one.
