Here I’m mainly referring to “Weird Autumn” and “Die Anywhere Else,” the only songs that have “lyrics” (that said, the soundtrack by Alec Holowka with its mostly ambling, slow beat songs nicely captures the spirit of Possum Springs). The music played in Gregg’s band further reinforces these ideas. What does coming of age mean in a place and time of uncertainty? How does one come of age-or perhaps more pointedly, should one even bother coming of age- in a world of rapid change? Mae’s behavior, the options for playing as her, and her dialogue all reinforce the portrait of someone struggling to come of age. Likewise, the game’s protagonist Mae invokes this rust belt coming of age spirit: she wants the world to be the same as it was when she left for college, only to find everyone around her has moved on, grown up, no longer considered as “kids.” Having defined herself and found some form of stability in the familiarity of place and people, she finds herself struggling to cope in a world where the old Food Donkey has closed, her parents talk about selling her childhood home, and her best friends talk about how they’re planning to move out. In a way, Possum Springs is coming of age: questioning its placement in the world around it, and how to cope with the changes it faces. The identity Possum Springs held for so long has changed, and the town doesn’t know what exactly it is anymore, or what its future will look like. The young are doing everything they can to move out and “die anywhere else.” With the major industry gone, there are limited jobs, and little prospects for how the town can “reinvent itself” to survive-a struggle many rust belt towns are facing today. Local businesses are closing, and large chains are filling only some of the vacant shops left behind. Once a booming mining town, Possum Springs is dying. Taking inspiration from the rust belt of the United States (and more specifically, creator Scott Benson’s local state of Pennsylvania), Possum Springs as a location and culture powerfully reflects contemporary concerns in similar areas today. The game takes place in Possum Springs, an old mining town that nostalgizes its past and looks with wary uncertainty towards its faltering future. Perhaps the best place to start regarding this idea is the place of NitW. The brilliance of NitW’s theming is that it pervades naturally in every level of the game: its narrative, its characters, its setting, its mechanics, and even its music. This ultimately hits at the heart of Night in the Woods: the themes of the relentless march of time, and an external urgent pressure to “come of age,” disrupting everything that once was familiar. I’m also haunted by that idea of time: of someone being there one minute, and gone the next. She only exists in this song in the background of a mini-game: as someone who disappeared who is “weird ” whose house in her absence remains empty, abandoned and “weird.” I’m haunted by the idea of Autumn: who she is, and what was “weird” about her. I find the song fascinating in part because we never hear about this character Weird Autumn anywhere else. Something about the song compels me, the same thing that makes me continue to return to the game it originates from, Night in the Woods. I listen to CG5’s remix of “Weird Autumn” on loop, and have been doing so for the past 2 years straight.
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