WARNING: Spoilers Off applies to Moments pages.
In order for Night in the Woods to be such a bittersweet game, it needs its sweet moments too.
- Mae's easygoing relationship with both her parents. It becomes pretty clear where she gets her some of her good and some of her bad qualities from.
- Both of her parents are supportive and openly affectionate with Mae almost every day, greeting her in the morning and when she gets home at night.
- Mae's dad has nicknamed her "kitten" and happily watches TV with her. D'awww.
- Mae's a bit disconcerted that her dad looks older, but still thinks he's funny.
- Mae's mother at one point mentions that Mae was the first child that survived and wasn't a miscarriage. Which is why her parents are so concerned for her and did everything they could to make her happy.
Mae's mum: After all the miscarriages we'd given up hope. And then there you were!- Mae's mother also reinforces that no matter how old or independent Mae gets, Mae will always be her baby.
- At one point, Mae has a small breakdown in front of her mother claiming that everything wouldn't be so hard to them if she wasn't such a screw up. Her mother however only hushes her and states, that what's done is done and is in the past now, and that they'll deal with whatever it is to come as a family, and that she loves Mae very much. The scene is actually quite the tearjerker.
- At the end of the game, Mae decides finally open up to her mother about her troubles at that night. Her mom decides to make breakfast for dinner so they can all talk about it in family. When Mae is outside, by talking to her father, she can hear that he also has problems on his new job and they decide to talk about it during dinner as well. After all the trouble, they are finally opening up to each other.
- When Mae's mother mistakenly thinks that Mae is pregnant and that's why she came home, she doesn't freak out or get angry at all, and immediately starts assuring Mae that she and her father will do what they can to help. In fact, she even seems excited by the idea. That's not why Mae came home, but still. It's nice to see that Mae would've been supported if it were.
- After the argument with her mother, hard feelings last only a day. The next morning, Candy calls her over to "come say hello" and apologizes for how she spoke to Mae. No passive-aggression, no "I'll say sorry if you say sorry," no "I'm sorry for the way I said it, but it was justified," just a flat out apology. Unprompted, Mae immediately apologizes for lashing out at Candy as well. This is even more impressive as, once your realize the serious financial worries that preoccupy Candy, you'd probably forgive her for being a bit snappy — but in Candy's mind, that's no excuse for snarling at your child and upsetting her. They proceed to have a rather depressing, but mature and reasonable, discussion about what's really wrong.
- Post-argument, Stan is worried about Mae's relationship with her mother. He likes how well they get along, and doesn't want to see that threatened. Mae can set his mind at ease.
- If you visit Jenny's Field with Candy, she and Mae will tease each other during the visit, with Candy complaining that Mae didn't fall into any sinkholes and that she guesses she'll have to keep her daughter. It's obvious, however, that Candy just wanted to spend quality time with Mae and share some memories. When Mae gets home, her dad will tell her that her mother talked about the little jaunt all through dinner, and tells Mae that she should come home for dinner sometimes. Mae readily agrees. It's a lovely payoff for checking in on Candy during the day, since it shows that while Mae might think of herself as a screw up, to her parents she's the center of the world.
- Gregg and Angus' relationship is, like everything else in the narrative, not always perfect... but it is sweet.
- Angus tells Mae that while he isn't a party person, parties with Gregg are different, because when he wants to just go and stand in the corner, Gregg is his corner.
- Their affectionate nicknames for each other are cute: Gregg is "bug" and Angus is "cap'n".
- If you opt to go out with Gregg the day after the party, he eventually reveals that he and Angus are working on moving to Bright Harbor together, which is why they're both working, and why Gregg hasn't been getting up to trouble like he used to - he can't go through with the plan if he gets arrested.
- A Heartwarming in Hindsight moment that's just funny when you encounter it is Gregg wearing cups on his ears. If you ask him why, he explains that it's because he was thinking about how there were beaches at Bright Harbor (so he thought of the ocean, so he put cups on his ears and now it sounds like the ocean).
- Gregg and Angus really have no problem talking about how much they love each other, at several points in the game, especially if you mostly hang out with the two of them.
- Angus more or less believes that Gregg saved him from the dark places his childhood could have led him. Meanwhile, Gregg insists that Angus is who he is today because despite coming from awful parents, Angus is simply such a good person that he overcame that.
Angus: God never did [find me]. I was completely alone in the pantry, but a few years later, Gregg did.- After everyone involved has a miserable night at Donut Wolf on the Gregg path, the trio make amends and dump the animatronic in the woods and turn it on to scare whoever comes by. Not only is Angus uncharacteristically into it, he also joins in on Gregg and Mae's "you should have died horribly in such-and-such way" banter. And wins.
- If you've mostly hung out with Gregg, and you play as him during the Missing Main Character segment, he worries about Angus' slightly manic stress cooking, trying to get him to rest. He lets it go when Angus explains that cooking for everyone helps him feel better.
Gregg: Hey hon, you should maybe go sleep or something... You've barely sat down in the last 24 hours.Angus: Good dinner makes everyone feel better! Someone's gotta take care of you!Gregg: Dude, let me take care of you.- When everyone is in the mines and there's a cave in, with all characters afraid of dying there, Gregg tells Angus that he loves him.
- Angus and Mae stargazing at the park is as depressing as it is heartwarming. Despite his abusive childhood, Angus is still a nice person, who deeply thanks Gregg for finding him and saving him from the dark place he was in. Mae offers to kick Angus' parents' asses and states she really wants to hug him forever.Angus: I believe in an universe that doesn't care and people who do.
- Hanging out with Bea at the mall — specifically, the very end, where Mae takes control of the fountain jets and a mall P.A. system and proceeds to terrorize passerby and impersonate God. Bea's reaction to Mae's antics, especially after how poorly the party went, is a treat.Bea: Oh, my God.Bea: Holy crap!
- During the "Fix the heating" segment with Bea, Bea will be tired and depressed, claiming that Mae could try magic to cheer her up, if she wants. Mae ends up having fireflies follow her and Bea can't help but laugh about the odd and beautiful scenario. If Mae then claims that Bea is a wonderful person, she will even be a bit bashful.
- Pastor Karen trying to set up a homeless shelter in the local church and invite Bruce to come. It doesn't pan out because of meddling townspeople and Bruce leaving to who knows where, but she did try.
- When Mae and her friends are eating pizza, Angus won't get a second slice to eat unless the player picks one up and puts it under his paw so he can grab it. Mae can then eat a crust Gregg didn't eat. Giving Angus a second slice is a bit difficult to time, but it's nice when it pays off.
- As sad as the main story is, the ending implies that, slowly, things are getting better:
- One of the barflies hanging out in front of the bar has moved away for a job, leaving his friend alone. But with the right dialogue options, his friend gets someone else to talk to about sports - Mae.
- In a talk with her dad, Mae expresses fear that she could never hold down a normal job like everyone else. After talking to the Almighty Janitor, one of the notes in Mae's journal ponders whether she could become a janitor. And before that, during an outing with Bea, Mae gets the suggestion of working in the demolition business to get paid for what she is best at: destroying things.
- Mae's dad himself expresses an interest in unionizing the workers over at the Ham Panther, and if you found the combination to the safe, you can encourage him by giving him the secret society tooth.
- The Italian restaurant has gone out of business, but Mae is overjoyed to find out a taco place (a restaurant Possum Springs has never had) is moving in.
- Lori's dad is never home for Thanksgiving, so Mae insists that she celebrate at the Borowski house instead.
- Danny finally gets a job - albeit, a crappy one, but at least he's working again.
- Rats have taken over the Food Donkey. Notable, only Mae sees this as a good thing, but still.
- The Janitor checks on Mae and wishes her good luck. It takes a minute for Mae to realize that she never told him her name.
- At the end, after all the crap that has gone down with the cult, everyone gathers together with Germ listening, and end the game with one last practice.
- Listening to Selmers' goofy poems every day eventually gives her the courage to share a much longer and more serious poem at a poetry reading at the library. Just having the patience to listen to her share what seem like silly, maybe dumb poems, allows her to work out more complex poetry to share with a group (albeit a small one), and that's very sweet to think that something that might seem so inconsequential to the player could have such an impact on Selmers.
- As a nice little bonus, if you listen to one of Selmers' short poems, Mae adds a doodle into her notebook: "Selmers: poet." After hearing her poem at the library, however, Mae edits her doodle. "Selmers: GOOD poet!" She then notes that if she dies, she wants Selmers to write a poem about her.
- When it's Selmers' turn to read her poem, Mae happily cheers for her, even before hearing how good the poem is.
- At one point, Selmers recites a happy poem specifically to cheer Mae up when Mae's obviously in a bad mood.
- During the church scene after Mae falls while running from the cultists only Mae's parents and neighbors were present. When taking time to befriend more people around town, Selmers, Lori M, and Mr. Chazokov may all show up and will be very emotionally distressed by the state Mae's in. It's incredibly sweet to see how much of an impact Mae being home and taking the time to talk to these people daily has had, and shows that despite her trouble-making nature, Mae really has a good heart and a good impact on people around her.
- Aunt Molly and her partner Dan saved Mae's life after the weird cultists shot at the kids and caused Mae to have a potentially fatal head injury. Bea, Angus and Gregg recount that she found Mae collapsed in a ravine and got her to the hospital. If they talk about it in the epilogue, Mae doesn't exactly thank Aunt Molly for saving her life, but she is nicer about it.
- Bombshell. The cute girl Mae can meet at the college party. Despite how short their interactions are, they seem to hit it off and Mae is upset she didn't get Bombshell's contact information. We hope that Mae reunited with her at another party after the game.
- Every band practice, which doubles as a Moment of Awesome since it's implied Gregg wrote the songs for Angus. Mae despite having to sightread enjoys herself, and she says she thinks the band is good enough to play gigs.
- Mae hanging out with and befriending other people like Selmers, Lori, and Germ.
- Mae's obvious love for her late grandfather. The first doodle in her journal is a simple, "R.I.P. Granddad." She also mentions him frequently, especially when examining the bookshelf or the clock. At the end of the game, when examining the clock, she simply says, "Hi, Granddad."
- This is taken even further in the Weird Autumn Edition, in a scene that's equal parts heartwarming and Tearjerker; While visiting her mom at church at one point, she seems to realize how much stress Mae is under, and asks her to go take a nap in the library room in the back of the church. If she does so, then while Mae's sleeping, the ghost of her grandfather appears and sits on the couch with her, smiling softly. Because of the game's Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane nature, Mae's friends aren't sure ghosts exist. But this scene turns that trope on its ear and proves that Mae's grandfather is watching over her.
- "R.I.P., Casey."
- The sheer rage felt by the others, especially Gregg, when they find out the cult killed Casey. Even Bea, the aloof girl, gets angry and later apologizes to Gregg about what happened. Especially poignant as the cult's rationale is, "He wouldn't be missed." Not true, assholes.Gregg: You son of a bitch! He was my friend!
- In the Gregg ending, Mae and Gregg talk about Casey. They spend a few minutes mourning him before band practice. You can choose to have Mae say that they have to tell Casey's parents the truth. Gregg agrees if Mae comes up with what to say. She says she'll try her best.
- In a weird way, the donut outing. While Angus is mad at Mae for enabling Gregg's worst tendencies, they finally talk out how the past few days have been. The boys are forced to concede when Mae points out that she's not responsible for the choices that Gregg makes, and he is an adult. Gregg then asks Mae to stop tempting him, and she agrees that's fair enough, to let him go. They end the night happily eating the donuts.
- The only time Gregg actually snaps at Angus is when Angus yells at Mae.
- If Mae finishes, and enjoys, Demontower, she and Angus can have a geek-out session about how fun it is, and he'll offer to give her the rest of the series. Mae will tell Angus he's a good guy, and he'll be too flustered to do anything but smile.
- Dummied Out of the game originally, but reinserted into the Weird Autumn Edition, is the conclusion of Germ's storyline, where he invites Mae over to his house for dinner. After meeting his family (including some oddly threatening moments) and spending time jumping on a trampoline with him, Mae asks him why he invited her. His reply? He'd noticed that she had been having a hard time for some reason, and just wanted to extend a nice gesture her way.
- If the player has completed Germ's story, Mae includes him in her late-night message to her friends after their ordeal in the mines.Mae: Germ, buddy. Germ, you don't even use Messenger. I guess I'm just typing at you wherever you're at. You're, like, the most stuck here of anyone I've met. But you're the least trapped. That's some beautiful shit, dude.
- If the player has completed Germ's story, Mae includes him in her late-night message to her friends after their ordeal in the mines.
- During the epilogue, Mae's mother is reading a new book, about the miners who died in Possum Springs. She sings one of the old miner's songs, with some sweet sentimental lyrics.Far from here the ocean's roarin'
Far away across the din
I hear the Lord a-call their children
Bringing in, bringing in
I'll see you walking through the barley
We'll find each other, friend and kin
I hear the Lord a-call their children
Bring 'em in, bring 'em in
Tarry with me for a moment
Talk the places we have been
The Lord will call us both to Heaven
Bring 'em in, bring 'em in
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