{"id":268264,"date":"2020-09-10T06:54:53","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T10:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=268264"},"modified":"2020-09-10T06:54:53","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T10:54:53","slug":"night-in-the-woods-the-video-game-that-captures-bittersweet-millennial-life-under-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/09\/10\/night-in-the-woods-the-video-game-that-captures-bittersweet-millennial-life-under-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Night in the Woods: the video game that captures bittersweet, millennial life under COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"

Night in the Woods<\/a> is a video game about strange in-between spaces: between youth and adulthood, between a rose-tinted past and an uncertain future.<\/p>\n

Released in 2017, it feels especially resonant in a time of COVID-19. Its themes of underemployment, decaying cities and youth disenfranchisement, combined with a mood of uncertainty about the future, presciently capture this moment.<\/p>\n

A single player adventure game, the narrative of Night in the Woods begins with the protagonist, anthropomorphic cat-punk Mae, dropping out of university for mental health reasons and returning to her rural hometown. Her father forgets to pick her up from the bus stop, so Mae finds herself walking home through the dense, shadowy woods.<\/p>\n