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
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.
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.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
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 👏👏👏
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 TH-cam 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 TH-cam.
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.
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
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.
Randomly found this video (TH-cam 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.
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 ❤
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
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
making the small decision of playing a game i like one day led me to my now boyfriend. my life has never been more full of love and happiness every day. im still dealing with mental illness, but everything is worth it now for him. he really loves this game, so i'll absolutely play it while thinking of this video and him. :3 ❤
"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.
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.
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 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!
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:)
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 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.
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
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!!
Night in the Woods will forever be one of my favorite games of all time. It’s such a profound and meaningful experience without going overboard. I love whenever people give it the attention it truly deserves. Fantastic work! Honestly had me teary eyed at the end
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.
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!
This is possibly my favourite night in the woods video on the entire internet. Absolutely beautiful, the way it was cut, the summary, and the quotes inbetween. it made me cry too, because this game means alot to me, probably like it does to many others too. And yes, this game is a masterpiece. My favourite quote is probably Mae saying "I want to hope again. And I want it to hurt, because that means it meant something". I dont even know why that is, but it just struck something within me when that appeared on my screen. Anyway, I'm rambling a bit. Thank you so much for this video.
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.
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.
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.
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.
How did you reach into my head and pull forth every thought I have about this game but have been unable to articulate? Bravo. NITW got me out of a really nasty nihilistic worldview, and probably saved my life in the process. I'm doing a lot better now, in a much better place than I was before. Thank you for bringing light to this gem of a game 💕
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.
An old friend I don’t have a connection with anymore told me to play this game in 2017 senior year bc Mae reminded him of me. I’m 26 now barely playing it & it resonates with me now more than ever
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
thank you for this. it feels like my life is crumbling to pieces before my eyes, and a reminder like this, to live in the moment and hold my people close, is exactly what i needed right now.
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
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 💖
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
"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
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.
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.
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.
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 👏👏👏
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 TH-cam 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 TH-cam.
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.
"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."
"At the end of everything, hold onto anything" 15:54
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!
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
This video has me crying over night in the woods again
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
Randomly found this video (TH-cam 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.
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 ❤
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
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.
I literally almost cried watching this because im in a hard time in my life right now and this was so fucking relatable 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
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 video essay destroyed me at the end. 10/10
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.
Just when I think Night in the Woods is done getting tears out of me, there's another video essay like this.
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.
This was a beautiful essay and I'm more than impressed with the quality of your writing. I hope this channel blows up!
This was astonishingly well put together! Thank you for the time and effort. It really strengthened my view on this game.
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!
This is an energy the world really needed right at the moment we got it. Thank you.
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.
The best analysis of nitw i've ever seen, hoping it gets more popular
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.
This was such a gorgeous essay!
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.
absolutely fantastic video!! wonderful job!!
Thoughtful analysis, wonderful visuals and an ending speech that made me tear up a little. Love this video essay, thank you for making it!
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.
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!
This is one of the best NITW video essays I have seen. Thank you for making it.
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.
making the small decision of playing a game i like one day led me to my now boyfriend. my life has never been more full of love and happiness every day. im still dealing with mental illness, but everything is worth it now for him. he really loves this game, so i'll absolutely play it while thinking of this video and him. :3 ❤
"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.
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.
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.
Been loving your unique videos and editing style, keep it up!
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!
Nice man you made me cry at the end
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!!
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:)
got me sobbing ugly, such a good video essay for an amazing game
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
RIP Alex
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.
Not me WEEPEING it the end of this, amazing work, you're video essays never fail to bring me to tears :)
Beautiful and profound. Especially loved the drawings that matched the game's art style. So glad I watched this.
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
The ending of this video made me tear up
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!!
What an amazing video. This is the first one that I've watched, and I really enjoy it!!!! Loved the title cards and animations.
Night in the Woods will forever be one of my favorite games of all time. It’s such a profound and meaningful experience without going overboard. I love whenever people give it the attention it truly deserves. Fantastic work! Honestly had me teary eyed at the end
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.
You did amazing justice for my favorite game!
Okay, I (40m) cried like a baby. 👌🏻 Great video
Your favorite quote is the one that stuck with me the most over the years too.
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!
this video came out just right when i needed it , love it
Love all the animation of the characters slowly coming together. Great video
I’m so sorry for your friend 😔
This is possibly my favourite night in the woods video on the entire internet.
Absolutely beautiful, the way it was cut, the summary, and the quotes inbetween. it made me cry too, because this game means alot to me, probably like it does to many others too.
And yes, this game is a masterpiece. My favourite quote is probably Mae saying "I want to hope again. And I want it to hurt, because that means it meant something".
I dont even know why that is, but it just struck something within me when that appeared on my screen.
Anyway, I'm rambling a bit. Thank you so much for this video.
This is simply beautiful. Great job mate.
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.
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.
you made me happy today, thank you
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.
Thank you for making this video, Nitw is truly one of the best games ever made so it's always nice to see it get talked about even 7 years later
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.
How did you reach into my head and pull forth every thought I have about this game but have been unable to articulate? Bravo.
NITW got me out of a really nasty nihilistic worldview, and probably saved my life in the process. I'm doing a lot better now, in a much better place than I was before. Thank you for bringing light to this gem of a game 💕
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.
Ever time you post a video, I just know it will be life changing. I love your stuff man ❤
This was beautiful, thank you for making this.
I don't think a video essay on a game has ever given me chills before
An old friend I don’t have a connection with anymore told me to play this game in 2017 senior year bc Mae reminded him of me. I’m 26 now barely playing it & it resonates with me now more than ever
I'm so angry we wont ever get a sequel to this game, spiritual or otherwise
It's a shame what happened to Revenant Hill. But perhaps it is for the best, it's a well packed game, a tiny safe space on the internet 😊
The writing and tone for this video is so lovely and captures the essence of the game, you got me a little choked up :,)
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
thank you for this. it feels like my life is crumbling to pieces before my eyes, and a reminder like this, to live in the moment and hold my people close, is exactly what i needed right now.
I love your videos, but this one is just extra fantastic. Really nice work friend, loved every second of it, super high quality