Night In The Woods - chat with mom gets too real

Why Mae left college. Talking to parents about how you didn't accomplish enough in education, how you were a disappointment to how much they expected of you, is always a rough talk.

[@blackmould]

okay but having the “discussing your academic failure due to deteriorated mental health to the parent who sacrificed everything to project *their* hopes and dreams for *your* future” just hits different 😩😤👌🏽✨

[@TalkingSandvich]

oh my GOD dude like seriously

[@scott-gaming.8834]

They matter too.

[@toolbar12423]

This scene really hit hard. Word for word I've had this talk with my mom. I graduated college and I'm still working for much less than what I can do My car is a fucking mess 24/7, I'm depressed 24/7, I've wasted a lot of opportunities, I'm single because I have almost nothing to offer, and she's still grinding her ass off and supporting me. I know I'm still young but damn I feel like I should be making something, anything. I wanted to retire my mom by now, she's getting old and I know she's tired of working so hard for me and my sister. There's no fruit to show for my labors and we all know it and I'm just.... There, taking it and not knowing what to do. This scene really hit hard. The scene before this with Bea hit hard too. I need to grow up.

[@Bedhead_Brodi]

Been 2 years now man. How you holding up?

[@rey4874]

@@Bedhead_Brodi I'm wondering the same

[@Cluestblue]

Hope you're doing much much better

[@LordDragmire]

I hope things have gotten better..... I'm sorry to hear that, I too am in a similar situation, just dont give up and keep fighting.

[@toolbar12423]

@@LordDragmire im doing much better. Im actually the one paying the bills now haha. Crazy to think I was there at one point but I think I got this.

[@TheSongbirdo]

This part hurt bad

[@Skeebins]

oh man oh no

[@MisterJohnDoe]

It was quite unexpected.

[@the.engineer2514]

Germ

[@Sonicsgirl13]

It really bothers me how people say that Mae is a unpleasant character. It's their opinion though. I can't change that. It's more or less the reason why. I get it, Mae is that type of person that doesn't really think before acting and it gets on people's nerves. There were a few instances where her choices of dialogue are very cringy via hanging out with Bea at her house. But she has beautiful qualities as well. She's passionate about whatever she's into at the time, she puts the effort to make her and those around her happy unless they're Scrigens, not to mention she has the best comebacks I have ever seen. xD she's a beautiful character, and she grows up very nicely throughout the game.

[@Jullebratzia]

YES! Thank you! I love Mae!😍

[@fluffyquartz9668]

she’s realistically flawed, and that’s what makes her so wonderful

[@innerlonerism]

i feel like she just tries to help people regardless of how bad she is at it

[@GiratinaofFury]

The music just stops. As if the moment wasn't awkward enough.

[@OlanR24]

I do think Mae is a very sweet character. I know she was a bit snarky throughout the beginning of the game and has been a bit embarrassing when she went to Bea's house for dinner and at the college party too, but she just dropped out of college and she needed some time to regain her social skills and get used to being around her friends again. You see how much compassionate she became as the game went on after she needed sometime to be home again and get that home sweet home feeling inside of her. I love Mae very much, I think she's a funny, cool, kind and badass character, they did a great job designing her and making her personality!

[@DuckieMcduck]

Mae beat some kid's head in with a bat for no reason and has no remorse for it. She's a crapstain and characters that enable and coddle her are just as putrid

[@dodgedancesonyourgrave1702]

​@@DuckieMcduck "Mae beat some kid's head in with a bat for no reason and has no remorse for it. She's a crapstain and characters that enable and coddle her are just as putrid" - guy who has no derealization disorder and did not pay attention to the game at all. What do you mean by no remorse?? There was literally a convo abt how she felt bad for putting a random guy in a hospital because she didn't know what to do with whatever she was dealing with. Sure, Gregg(?) at some point in the game way before the reveal said Andy Cullen was probably a jerk but that was just an assumption from him because he trusts his friend too much. I am feeling pretty silly abt defending this video game cat but as someone who had multiple derealization episodes before, I shall not abide.

[@DuckieMcduck]

@@dodgedancesonyourgrave1702 Mae literally uses the event of beating that kid's brain in as a threat to bystanders during the college party to get people to let her jump on top their cars. She's sociopathic filth and literally dysfunctional. Maybe do some soul searching before jumping in to defend a shitty thing to relate to.

[@machy4266]

The ticking always gets louder.

[@roachFarmer757]

Mae *DESTROYS* Overworked Mother with *FACTS and LOGIC*

[@MayorGeorgeofficial]

is that sarcasm?

[@roachFarmer757]

@@MayorGeorgeofficial what's that?

[@user-tb9yv4zz3u]

“plans WE MADE for you” God that hits hard. I’m grateful for everything. Really, all the sacrifices, pain endured for my future. But I didn’t make those decisions. I am so thankful for what my parents did, as I should be. But that’s where it ends. Those “plans” were never my obligation. I don’t want a good future, I want my future.

[@theintrovertedaspie9095]

👍Amen. Not everything is your fault but everything is your responsibility. I learned that from Better Ideas. The choice of whether to fall through with your families plans for you or not is totally your responsibility. Dont EVER be afraid to say NO. I know it's hard and you feel a little guilty, but this isnt about your parents. It's about YOU. You are entitled to set your own goals and plans. And you are grateful for them looking out for you and that's good.☝️ ☝️YOU didnt choose life your parents DID. I know your grafeful for that as am I. But you didnt ask and neither did I. Nobody's children did. ☝️

[@Secret63333]

I haven't even played this game but that conversation just liquefied my spine. Like dang, the feels.

[@e7venjedi]

The struggle is real. What is the right balance between pushing your kids to get off their bum and stay focused on a goal [something I struggle with deeply], but also giving them space and security to dream and go after what they think they want. An eternal tension I would think while paying the bills isn't easy. Sometimes I wish my parents had pushed me harder, but then I probably just would've resented them more exactly like Mae, so I don't know if there is a perfect answer. Maybe we just have to accept responsibility for our own lives as early as we can, and recognize that our destiny is up to us, while still leaving room for things to be difficult because of circumstance.

[@the.engineer2514]

Good date

[@tappydani9378]

1 yr late but I totally agree blame is often pointless when circumstances are so trying for everyone. (Plus the real answer is the Republican billionaire class. The vast majority of blame can fall squarely on them.)

[@sebp9882]

I understand how Mae feels. I couldn’t get into the course I aimed for in college and was stuck studying something I hated. Then I got a job in that field that I hate doing. The alternative I guess if I quit this job is to stay at home as a NEET, which I fear even more. I often wonder if I’d be happy even if I got into the course I was originally aiming for because it wasn’t what I wanted to do; it was just what my parents wanted me to do, so that I’d be a useful member of society. So going through college didn’t help me grow as a person nor did I make any friends; it decayed me mentally and physically, making me a bitter person stuck in limbo. I think academic pressure from your parents along the vein of “we’ve sacrificed so much for you, so now you have to produce results” and the utter hopelessness and lack of support I felt during college broke the final hope I had in myself. Both Mae’s decay from her trauma internally and the decay of Possum Springs as a old mining town act as two sides of the same coin in this story, I think. Gosh I wish there was some sort of sequel to NitW but I guess it’s depressingly fitting we won’t ever see Mae’s story continue or Bea’s for that matter. Goths are cool.

[@ceilingeye]

This hits home My family is a long line of artists and creative people who never made something of themselves and ended up doing nothing with their lives. I have a lot of pressure to be the successful one in my family

[@stormyweraf7923]

Bro don't do shit, just chill and enjoy making subway sandwiches

[@stormyweraf7923]

@Furry-big_boi let the man do what he wants. Life is a marathon, it's about being comfortable, not comfortably numb

[@GameOver-nm2us]

@@stormyweraf7923 why subway sandwiches what the hell

[@RadishHead7]

​@@GameOver-nm2usbecause they're good as hell once a month.

[@pokemonmanic3595]

This was the realest scene for me of the whole game. I dropped out of college in 2016 mostly due to my ADHD, and it took until this year for me to return. My mom constantly pestered me about it, every time I was alone with her she always brought up the topic of college and it’s like she never understood why I didn’t want to go back. None of her solutions or suggestions came from a place of understanding my mental health. It took me finally getting a therapist and a new outlook to have the support system needed to finally take the steps to work towards a new degree I’m passionate about-however my mom wasn’t going to be that for me.

[@AKASnowballs]

I remember getting into an argument with my mom a while ago, while also playing this game. When I tried to talk with my mom the next day, she told me she was busy. I got back into playing this game the same night she told me that, and after this part went to see her mom at the church. She said the same thing ("...I'm busy.") and it made me feel really bad. Things are better now though

[@DeeDolp]

that got real dark real fast

[@thelightningrod]

No. Not dark. Real. Real in a visceral, uncomfortable way that anyone with even the slightest dysfunction in their family knows and feels in their very soul.

[@Permasnivy]

I've been in more or less Mae's exact position years ago, and this conversation was the one that cemented this game in my mind as one of the best narrative games I've played. I was just like Mae too, the first in my family to go to college, and we all had a long history of mental health problems. I had dropped out during sophomore year too and thought my life was simply going to end in failure. No degree but a mountain of student debt. No idea what I was going to do with my life, what place I even had in society. I'm in a better place now. I went back to college, majored in something I was good at and I am much more confident that I do have a place somewhere in life. I have a job. I no longer feel like I am just going to fail and die in a ditch all the time. When I played this game, I was more or less right where Mae is. Now I can look back at this game and think to myself, if I can become okay, Mae can become okay too.

[@theannoyingdahg]

My relationship with my mom has started to get kind of rocky and when I tell you the first time I saw this I cried--

[@Bedhead_Brodi]

At this point in the game, doesn't *EVERYTHING* get too real?😂

[@lonleystranger]

Okay this game just hits too close to home every single time I play it. Even though I played it fully already I'm just.. It's feels real. That's why I love this game.

[@ThatAzureFluff]

And the music stops as things get too real...

[@jelenajelena4317]

Many people in their families are supposed to be the successful ones,just like me....however I think I am a failure.I dont really know if I will ever make somethinf out of myself

[@blueismefavoritecolor8860]

Jelena Jelena do whatever you want, there are opportunities every where, your not a failure dude, we all make mistakes, don’t be too hard yourself, now you go out there and have a great day!!

[@user-xh8df9oz4y]

@blueismefavoritecolor Old comment but this is very good advice 😁👍

[@palmsky1119]

Never played this game. Idk how i ended up here but this situation is very familiar to mine. Guess that will change in a few months at least.

[@FoxtagtheFox]

How are you now? I'm kinda in this familiar situation too.

[@papuloeritomatoso5924]

Even I, who don't understand much English, knew this moment was screwed.

[@toksykus770]

Gee, Mae - that's harsh.

[@burningsnow9870]

But is it entirely unfair? That's the big question I've had.

[@Adam0Null]

Shit Went From 0 To 100 Really Fast

[@ChilledFox]

0 - 100

[@bloodydragon]

I thought this was an all cute game why did this get too real its zootopia all over again

[@tailedgates9]

This was really harsh on both of their ends. Damn......

[@primalflower7253]

ouch

[@SantiagoRevecoLepeReborn]

Shit just got real.

[@vriley81]

What's maes mom names

[@Rackune]

One year late but, Candy

[@the.engineer2514]

Ah fuck nostalgia much nostalgia

[@torixon9902]

This scene hits different when your mom died 4 days ago and never confronted her on her bs because you were too anxious to speak.

[@dantecortez787]

Jesus mae

[@pumpkinpiemassacre6799]

Jeez...

[@AllAcacia]

I just hope I can endeavour for long enough, I may be the only (academic) sibling going to university (in second semester of first year). The pressure is scarily there and unwritten.

[@AllAcacia]

2nd year has come and I've plummeted a bit, and exams start in a week :(

[@Geoform187]

2real4u

[@zatehlq345]

sahut up mae broski - Delet This

[@maeborowski1315]

No

[@MayorGeorgeofficial]

i didnt liked it because it was to accurate to myself

[@ahousecatwhohasacellphone]

i hate the way mae talks to her mom.. it gives me second-hand embarrassment

[@leoo232]

what do you mean?

[@mynciee]

her mom kinda threatened her they might not have a house anymore in response to their child doing an attempt to open up about their mental health crisis that made them quit school

[@jinhunterslay1638]

What a failure! Haha! She dropped out of college!

[@theweatherdog1816]

Two years late, but is everything alright?

[@eaglefirestudios3470]

Mae is such an unlikable Character, this entire game seems like Liberal/Millennial pandering tbqh

[@hthagomizer8729]

Eaglefire Studios i dont see how unlikable mae is because personally to me she is a sass machine that i can relate to

[@redvelvett22]

Eaglefire Studios I thought the old men in the caved in mine were supposed to be dead? Must be typing from the after life.

[@fireboykez]

Mr.Penderson, is that you?

[@breakfastMcgull]

There are countless main protagonist who aren't likable in the sense their opinions don't match yours, that doesn't mean they're badly written.

[@toolbar12423]

I mean... did you play the game?

[@86Corvus]

why is everyone in this game incapable of behaving nicely?