Between Me and The Night

About

Between Me and The Night is a surreal action-adventure game with a striking aesthetic. Players explore a dreamlike world as a young boy on the verge of adulthood, facing challenges and making choices that impact the narrative. The game masterfully blends atmospheric exploration with rhythm-based combat, offering a unique and immersive experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

69%

Audience ScoreBased on 267 reviews

story31 positive mentions

gameplay14 negative mentions

The visuals and atmosphere are stunning, creating a haunting and immersive experience.
The ambient music complements the game's mood beautifully, enhancing the emotional depth.
The story, while abstract, offers a poignant exploration of themes like trauma and escapism.

The gameplay is marred by clunky controls and frustrating mechanics, making interactions tedious.
There is a lack of clear direction, often leaving players confused about objectives and progress.
The absence of a save feature forces players to replay long sections if they need to take a break, which can be very frustrating.

story
125 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
70%
5%
The story of the game is described as intriguing yet often vague and abstract, requiring players to interpret events themselves. While some appreciate its deep themes of escapism and personal struggle, others find it lacking in clarity and engagement, with a disappointing ending and frustrating gameplay mechanics. Overall, the narrative is seen as a mix of artistic ambition and personal reflection, but it may leave players feeling disconnected or confused.
- “The title mentions this, and the same thought runs like a red thread through the whole story - a story about a man, about life and about struggle.”
- “The story of an escapist boy who grows up to be a man forced to piece his own life together like a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces.”
- “I tend to believe most of us can relate to the young boy in the story who is confronted with the realities of a modern world – including hot topics such as school bullying – and needing to escape it.”
- “I wanted to love it, but there is no clue what you have to do sometimes; the controls feel clunky, and the story feels like a generic gamer story.”
- “The story line isn't really set or sorted; you do a lot of interpretation by yourself to piece it together, so be aware of that.”
- “The game doesn’t tell you if the video games led to the protagonist’s failure in life or if the video games helped him out in times of crisis - there are hints of both, and much of the story remains obscure.”
graphics
77 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
42%
4%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their unique and beautiful art style, with many reviewers highlighting the polished visuals and smooth animations. While the atmosphere and artistic design are considered captivating, some players noted that the overall gameplay experience is hindered by awkward controls and a frustrating user interface. Overall, the visuals are a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's appeal despite mixed feelings about its gameplay mechanics.
- “The art style is very interesting, as is the level design.”
- “I really loved the story and the graphic style, and a great word play for night and knight!”
- “Firstly, the game has lovely graphics and an immensely beautiful and very unique style of art and animation.”
- “Interesting theme and visuals are let down by absolutely terrible UI.”
- “I would like to have seen far more done with the sharp art style and unusual interface, but it's all in service of a game that's too short and plain to do its themes justice.”
- “Horribly slow and inconvenient interface; no saves but only restarts from chapter beginnings, which is really frustrating due to bugs galore from getting stuck in several ways forcing you to restart to a myriad of just graphical glitches; the worst programmed minigames and action sequences I can remember to have ever encountered.”
gameplay
68 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
62%
21%
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it slow, clunky, and frustrating due to tedious mechanics and a lack of engaging content. While some appreciate the visual and atmospheric elements, they feel that the gameplay often detracts from the overall experience, with mini-games and puzzles feeling disjointed or pointless. Overall, the game is seen as having potential but suffers from execution issues that hinder enjoyment.
- “Sure, the game isn’t perfect and has a few flaws – the ending is disappointing and the minigames feel quite pointless – but they are forgivable simply because the game is fun, with a storyline and gameplay that are thoroughly enjoyable.”
- “Sometimes the player is allowed to escape to other worlds along with the main character of the story, and mini-games, as plot cuts, or just as a distraction, make the gameplay more diverse and richer to some extent.”
- “The gameplay basically involves collecting and combining items and using them in an effective location.”
- “This is clearly a very personal game, and I'm not questioning the vision behind it. It has a fairly basic but functioning art style and tells its story well, but it lacks severely in the gameplay department.”
- “The mechanic of having to push objects and then stand in specific places to climb them in order to attain unreachable objects is tedious and redundant.”
- “While the game looks nice and the music/sound are used well, the actual gameplay not only seems slow, awkward, and full of oddities, but the game also punishes you on top of that.”
music
35 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
51%
40%
9%
The music in the game is generally praised for its atmospheric and nostalgic qualities, enhancing the overall experience with beautiful ambient tracks that complement the art style. However, some players noted that the music is limited and not always present, which can detract from the gameplay. Overall, while the soundtrack is well-received, it is overshadowed by gameplay issues that affect the enjoyment of the game.
- “Great ambient music with beautiful illustrations.”
- “The music literally makes the atmosphere very nostalgic and sentimental, so a point for that.”
- “The music in this game is greatly atmospheric, adding to the game’s heavy themes to increase the sense of madness, isolation, and paranoia.”
- “I hardly hear any music in the game, but whenever I do, it sounds relaxing.”
- “Glaring issues like lack of music, narrative, direction, and bugs really show the kinks in the title's armor.”
- “The soundtrack is very limited, but it plays where it matters most and is generally welcomed during the seldom times it does play, be it the chilling pieces during encounters or even the somber main menu.”
atmosphere
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
22%
11%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its strong visual and auditory elements, creating a moody, haunting, and immersive experience. Reviewers highlight the effective use of sound design and music, which enhance feelings of nostalgia, eeriness, and intrigue. While the atmosphere is compelling, some players feel that it lacks substance in gameplay, leaving the overall experience somewhat hollow despite its aesthetic appeal.
- “The music literally makes the atmosphere very nostalgic and sentimental, so a point for that.”
- “The atmosphere of the game is amazing, and it makes you think a little bit in some parts.”
- “The atmosphere of the house is slightly creepy and ominous.”
- “Art, animations, sounds, and music are very well done and create a calm and somehow eerie atmosphere.”
- “The atmosphere is well crafted and gloomy, so that's a plus.”
stability
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is heavily criticized, with numerous reports of bugs and glitches that significantly hinder gameplay, including frustrating restarts and graphical issues. While some players note that the glitches are not overwhelmingly detrimental to the experience, many express disappointment, particularly with the lack of save options and the game's overall clunky interface. Overall, the game appears to require further patches to address these stability concerns.
- “Learned this by watching some playthroughs; I cannot recommend such a buggy game.”
- “Horribly slow and inconvenient interface; no saves but only restarts from chapter beginnings, which is really frustrating due to bugs galore from getting stuck in several ways, forcing you to restart due to a myriad of graphical glitches. These are the worst programmed minigames and action sequences I can remember encountering.”
- “Sad to say, even though I’ve been playing the game for five hours, I could not beat it because of the glitches that kept surfacing for me.”
emotional
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its touching storytelling and captivating graphics, which evoke a range of feelings, particularly during key moments and the ending. However, some players found the emotional connections lacking, especially between the character and the player, and noted that certain gameplay elements, like item management and saving systems, detracted from the overall experience. Despite these frustrations, many players appreciated the emotional depth and relatability of the themes presented throughout the game.
- “Very interesting concept, and certain parts of the game are actually quite touching and emotional.”
- “After that, I thoroughly enjoyed the game and am about to play it again to get the rest of the achievements. It is a pretty difficult game, but more so the emotions that you feel as you go through the game and realize that this happens to a lot of people. Truly captivating, some great graphics and an emotional ending.”
- “The world is moving, emotionally, in ways.”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
83%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious and repetitive, often requiring exhaustive exploration and cumbersome mechanics like pushing objects and climbing. The puzzles are viewed as uninspired, contributing to a sense of monotony in gameplay. Overall, the grinding experience is seen as a frustrating element rather than an engaging challenge.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “This forces the player to tediously explore every corner looking for some little detail that might help somehow.”
- “The mechanic of having to push objects and then stand in specific places to climb them in order to attain unreachable objects is tedious and redundant.”
- “Puzzles are tedious and not very inventive.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game has been criticized for its low replayability, with many users rating it as 1/10 due to its pacing, length, and minimal incentive to replay, aside from pursuing achievements. Overall, players find little motivation to revisit the game after completing it.
- “Replay value: 1/10 - sadly, none.”
- “-½ for pacing, length, lack of replayability.”
- “- no replay value.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is noted as simple yet effective, contributing to an enjoyable experience that appeals to players even if they initially purchase it for other reasons, such as collectible cards.
- “Interesting game, simple and funny.”
- “I just bought it for the cards, but it's still funny.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
While the game features appealing music, art style, and an intriguing story, the lack of engaging gameplay detracts from the overall experience, leading to a diminished investment in character development.