Lots of feelings and old memories from when I was 18-20 while playing NITW, which I really loved (mild spoilers ahead though it’s mostly just my personal take on it).
I remembered exploring forbidden basements at school, trying to find a secret place that was just “ours”.
I remembered an awkward campfire at night – not in the woods, in a vineyard- and everyone ending up pissed at each other or drunk because we were so uncomfortable with ourselves.
I remember going to college, knowing nobody and staying weeks without saying a word to any human being.
I remember the anger, the feeling that there was no future ahead that I’d like to be a part of. Instead of breaking things (or people) like Mae though, I put all that anger into political activism (which admittedly still involved a part of breaking stuff). It was nice and thrilling, but also mostly depressing as you come to realize things wouldn’t change as fast as you’d wish, or maybe ever?
I remember that anger and sadness and hopelessness. Wishing that some big revolution would happen and thinking that it if it did, I’d be ready to die for it because I was so useless anyway.
The semi-supernatural things that happen in NITW (trying not to spoil too much) remind me of that: a longing for something terrible and desperate, because accepting the world that was handed over to us seemed like an impossible and criminal thing to do.
Coming through to the other side knowing that there’s happiness to be found in this scary and broken world is how you become an adult I guess. It’s what NITW reminded me of. The game looks like a colorful and fantastic version of my memories. I didn’t have such good friends and such cool adventures and such interesting neighbors back then, but the game seems to tell me that everything was there all along, had I searched a bit harder. And after all I’m still in the process of becoming an adult, even now, so maybe there’s still more hope to find ahead!
Anyway, NITW is not a perfect game, but I really loved it, and I’m happy to have been among its backers :)