! The remainder of this post contains minor spoilers for Night in the Woods

From left to right: Angus, Gregg, Bea and Mae from Night in the Woods.

In Night in the Woods, you play as a female 20 years old cat named Mae Borowski who returns to Possum Springs, her unimpressive hometown, to live with her parents after dropping out of college for unspecified reasons. She also reconnects with some old friends, including her best friend Gregg with whom she used to commit “crimes” during her teenage years. Mae is a character many 20-something can relate to, including myself. She is quite talkative yet somewhat socially awkward and makes extensive use of quirky, witty humour to mask her flaws and insecurities. She shows signs of several mental illnesses including depression, anxiety, body dysmorphic dysorder — she looks at herself in the mirror and calls out on her “crazy eyes” — , dissociative disorder, and anger issues. She used to be a troubled teenager devoted to pickpocketing and smashing things, to the point where she was sent to a therapist who suggests she keeps a journal (which she does).

You can access the options menu of the game through Mae’s Journal. Smile!

During a party in the woods in which she gets spectacularly drunk after two cups of watered-down beer, Mae reveals that she could not bear life at college anymore — not before threatening to stab people and proudly calling herself a “total trash mammal”. While she seems to get along with both of her parents, she admits that her father had to quit alcohol because he was becoming a threat for his family, and on one occasion we see her mother suffer from mood swings. But ultimately she feels that her family and hometown are what are keeping her relatively sane, in a world where everything else seems to change fast and lose meaning as you grow up. Unlike BoJack, we don’t see Mae make any particular effort improving her situation (besides her journal keeping), instead the game starts with her “giving up” and refusing to becoming an adult. Upon returning to Possum Springs, she falls back into old habits of pickpocketing, knife-fighting and smashing things, even dragging her old friends with her. But towards the end of the game we know that Mae has changed — even though we do not see a “breakthrough”, and her daily life stays as monotonous as ever, we know that something has changed.

Gregg questioning his own behaviour, worrying he will lose Angus.

The second-most popular character in Night in the Woods is definitely the fox Gregg Lee, also known as “GREGG RULZ OK”. Gregg is Mae’s best friend with whom she used to commit “crimes” during their troubled teenagehood. While Mae was in college, Gregg got a job at a snack store and had a plan to leave Possum Spring with his boyfriend Angus once they both earn enough money to build a life somewhere else. Gregg likely suffers from bipolar disorder, showing an energetic and overly enthusiastic personality for most of the game while suddenly becoming blue and worrying whether he is a good person and thinking about how much of a piece of shit he is (BoJack much?). When Mae is around, his manic episodes lead him to indulge with her in risky and dangerous behaviours such as intentionally stabbing each other and breaking cars.

Angus giving Gregg the silent treatment with Mae in the car.

Angus Delaney, by contrast, is always calm, quiet and unperturbed (also a bear). He seems to be a positive influence on Gregg and discourages his misendeavours with Mae. He also shows signs of cynism (and possibly autism) and has a horrible history of parental abuse: his father used to beat him down and his mother would lock him into the pantry for days denying him food.

Bea and Mae discussing things.

Last but not least, the crocodile Beatrice Santello, better known as Bea. She used to be one of Mae’s best friends as a child but she grew up to be a somewhat distant, gloomy and serious woman. She doesn’t like bullshit and unfairness and responds to everything with sarcasm, often picking up on Mae about her childish behaviour. Bea suffers from depression and grief due to her mother’s recent loss to cancer and the fact that she was left to take care of her sick father. Compared to any other character I have reviewed in this story, Bea is the one who is the most visibly sad. She gets mad at Mae for acting childish and for quitting college which she herself had to give up when her mother died. Her lack of enthusiasm is in direct contrast with Gregg’s exuberance and her vision of the world strucks me as brutal realism rather than sheer pessimism, especially given her backstory.

Ultimately, every character in Night in the Woods suffers from what is the dreadful reality of living in a small town like Possum Spring, struck by economic and industrial decay and by the lack of opportunities which makes the youth migrate to larger cities. Angus and Gregg lament being the only queer couple around and feeling the need for community, Bea wishes she could go to college, Mae cannot deal with growing up and things around her changing and tries to hold on to her past.