14 DAY TRIAL // The people behind the upcoming exploration adventure game Night in the Woods have released a supplemental video game for players to enjoy before the big release.
The game, titled Lost Constellation, is a sort of parallel, small-scope release, taking place in the same universe as Night in the Woods.
The developers has mentioned that the game is not a demo or preview of the upcoming game, but instead a side-story, a sort of tangent to the bigger game that enabled them to explore something a bit more off-kilter.
Granted, Night in the Woods itself is a rather quirky adventure experience about an anthropomorphic creature dropping out of college and returning to her small home town, exploring the theme of reluctantly growing up and dealing with the everyday dread of existence.
The action is set in Possum Springs, a fictional town with an interesting melange of characters inhabiting it, as well as numerous secrets to discover.
The title's main goal is to offer a pleasant exploration experience through tone, visual atmosphere and a feeling of mystery, by enthralling gamers with a lively, colorful world filled with enchanting people, relationships and problems.
The game explores the theme of learning when to hold on and when to let go, and how we try to adapt to the knowledge that everything eventually ends.
A supplemental offering
The adventure game underwent a very successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter at the end of 2013, and Lost Constellation is something that the developers worked on during the last weeks of 2014.
In the game, players assume control of an astronomer alligator wandering through a mysterious part of the frozen woods. You can meet a cat, build snowmen and set skeletons on fire, and the focus is on character development and story more than mechanical action, in spite of the 2D side-scrolling viewpoint.
Lost Constellation has a distinct creepy vibe to it, as you explore the story and build snowmen that turn into vessels for the souls of the departed, offering you glimpses into lives long past, and as you listen to the musings of a dancing mouse priest.
The game is available for download for free on itch.io, for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The gameplay is said to clock in at around 2 hours of game time, and you can also donate what you deem fit to compensate the authors for their effort.
Night in the Woods is also coming to the PlayStation 4 home console from Sony, sometime during 2015.
