History Tearjerker / NightInTheWoods

* Small one, but after nearly getting killed and getting caved in... Mae just ''[[BreakTheCutie collapses]]'' in Gregg's embrace. What makes it more painful is she was ''laughing'' only to then begin sobbing, implying that [[TraumaCongaLine everything she was enduring in the game (disappointing her family, knowing how much they put for her, mental issues, her friends being strained from everything she's done)]] was finally reaching her and she ''just can't take it anymore''.

* A meta-example: Alec Holowka, a developer and composer on the game, [[https://www.pcgamer.com/night-in-the-woods-developer-alec-holowka-has-died/ committed suicide after being confronted over multiple cases of sexual assault]]. Fellow developer Scott Benson [[https://medium.com/@bombsfall/alec-2618dc1e23e wrote an article]] detailing the emotional abuse he put the rest of the team through. Now that the news has passed, you'll never play the game in the same way again.

* Almost ''no one'' in Possum Springs is happy. Poverty, depression, stagnation, and loneliness are common refrains in the characters' lives.

** Mae upon returning to her friends after nearly dying decides to sacrifice herself to the cult because she's tired of fighting and running. [[DeathSeeker She wants to die]]. Had Gregg not showed up, she might have been sacrificed herself, and [[SenselessSacrifice it would have been for nothing]].

* If you know (or live in) a DyingTown yourself, much of Possum Springs is painfully familiar: "old faithful" stores that have been there for years suddenly vanishing and being replaced by chains that can afford to take a gamble, the migration of young people out of the area, longtime residents trapped in houses that they can't sell, and the town's constant state of being under construction without seeing any real improvements from said construction. The eeriness of a nearly-empty mall, with only a few stores still clinging to life, is particularly haunting, especially the scene where Mae plays with the PA system. Even the appearance of new shops (such as the taco place at the end of the game) feels more like a futile HopeSpot: one more new venture that's almost certainly doomed to go under within a couple of years. There's a desperate sadness that permeates the town -- its inhabitants simultaneously love the place and want/need to escape it.

** After her dream encounter with the [[EldritchAbomination Sky Cat]], Mae has an [[CrisisOfFaith existential crisis]] and can go talk with Pastor K about her experiences. If she tells her that she doesn't really believe in God anymore, K tries to assure her that it's alright if she doesn't and admits to Mae that she has problems with her own faith at times, even to the point that she doesn't believe in God herself on certain bad days. She intends for her response to be comforting and non-judgmental, but instead [[AssuranceBackfire Mae gets upset at this revelation]] and lashes out, [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech accusing the pastor of lying to her congregation]] by preaching from the pulpit every Sunday despite not being completely sure of God's existence herself, and ending by asking: [[ArmorPiercingQuestion "then what's even the point of you?!"]] The two separate on bad terms, and while they make up later, at the end of the game Pastor K is still left alone, her altruistic ambitions having come to nothing and struggling with her beliefs. Yet she soldiers on, [[GoodShepherd determined to serve as a spiritual guidance for her flock regardless of her own troubles.]]

--> '''Gregg:''' When I'm awake at night, I listen to Angus snore, and I stare at the ceiling, and I think about how I'm a complete piece of shit.

--->'''Mae:''' Bea/Gregg...I'm scared...
** Mae upon returning to her friends after nearly dying decides to sacrifice herself to the cult because she's tired of fighting and running. She wants to die. Had Gregg not showed up she might have been sacrificed herself.

** While a sweet moment in general, it is quite a TearJerker when Mae's mom reveals that Mae is the only successful child after ''many'' miscarriages. It's implied the parents have tried for ages to the point of giving up, only for Mae to make it through. It makes not only her parents concerns for her well-being much more understandable, but adds an entire new [[AdultFear point of view]] about how they must have felt when Mae almost died in the woods and then later disappears in the middle of the night to go to Gregg and Angus's.

** Jenny's Field. You don't get this story from the microfiche, but from Mae's mother while on an outing. Jenny was a little girl who was out walking with her mother when a sinkhole opened up beneath her. Her mother, walking just behind her, [[AdultFear saw her daughter vanish into the ground]]. [[NeverFoundTheBody They never even recovered her body.]] What caused the sinkhole? The mines that had been built beneath soft, boggy ground with props that weren't up to the job.