I like both Oxenfree and Night in the Woods, but prefer Night in the Woods. Ultimately, I felt a much stronger connection to its narrative and characters. It’s my favorite ‘walking sim,’ although A Short Hike might challenge for that title soon enough.
My reading of the Cosmic horror aspects is the same as @Kolbex’s and, as stated, accurately reflects how millennials feel betrayed by previous generations, especially following the late ‘00s recession which destroyed many a small town like the one depicted in Night in the Woods. That said, it was a bit unnecessary and I really wish video game developers would read someone other than Lovecraft once in a while, or just some non-genre fiction in general.
Typo aside, it was sort of jarring in a sense that it comes right out of the blue right near the end of the game. Perhaps a second play-through would reveal how it inserts itself more throughout the game…not as a metaphor but the actual thing? I don’t really have any intentions to replay it though even though there is some value in doing so. (you can hang out with different friends…)
Truth be told I actually played Oxenfree and Kentucky Route Zero before this, and would probably recommend those over Night in the Woods, mostly because I found the daily routine structure in this game to be a bit of a drag. But if you really liked Night in the Woods you should probably play Kentucky Route Zero which has some very similar themes. (rust belt, capitalism, alcoholism)
I finished it. Thought the end game reveal was well enough telegraphed, but that may depend on how much time you spent poking around and talking to folks. Which I did a lot of.
Being from a small town, I found playing it a bit uncomfortable… Took me a while to play through as a result.
Never thought of it that way, but indeed they share themes. I really enjoyed KRZ though, probably because of its humility, and because it chose not to represent the world as light and dark horrific and sarcastic, but as shades of gray going from absurdity to eerieness.
KRZ is a lot better and more interesting with it’s narrative and I generally prefer a ‘journey story’ versus a ‘coming of age’ story. Also at the end of the day Mae is still a pretty hateable idiot-woman-child.
