If you are a fan of slow-burn narrative adventures, then Nook Fall: West Town is a game for you. I was drawn into this title because it attempts something I see very few games do. It takes the interaction design of an isometric point-and-click adventure game and layers it on top of a choices-matter visual novel. There aren’t puzzles to solve in the traditional sense, but West Town is a fully explorable town, set in the 1960s, for the players to explore. Visual novels rarely build out a full environment to interact with, and that’s what intrigued me to begin with. What kept me playing was the thoughtful story.
I’ll talk about the story in general sweeping statements to avoid the main mysteries and storybeats, as this is a game best played blind. Players take control of a character looking after a family member’s West Town tram station store in the 1960s. Over the course of up to 14 in-game days, you’ll tend to the store and its stock, serve customers for their chain-smoking and beer-guzzling needs, and chat to them about their personal lives and outlooks. Nook Fall: West Town is in no hurry for you to rush through the story, as characters introduce themselves like a small town, where everyone knows each other and their business. Choices are given in dialogue often, with story-impacting choices being highlighted before you make them. The overarching story is a linear one, but how much you see and understand will depend on your choices.
The story also depends on what you do when you aren’t playing shopkeep. Each night allows you to ride the trams or fenicular rail to visit the market, pub, record store, diner, and various other places and plazas in West Town. Characters you meet at your shop will move around West Town, and as you move, time passes, too. Deciding how to spend your time on days off and at night will allow you access to most characters, but not all of them, and that’s where some nuances of replayability come into play. You can’t do everything within the time limit. Equally, you can just stay in bed or play your vinyls and read books you buy with your wages in your flat. The freeform nature of your days off is refreshingly open, and your diary entries let you tailor entries to reflect that.
Whilst the 60s brutalistic architecture and angular retro fonts are fab, and the music sets out a 60’s rock and jazz vibe perfectly, it was Nook Fall: West Town’s story that left its mark with me long after playing. The overarching theme of the story is that West Town is a place in decline, and each character is impacted by the decline in different ways. The local drunk lost his job. The grandma wants to see the town restored to give her grandchild a future. The kids fear they’ll be a lost generation. Your Uncle Awa has fond memories of West Town’s heyday, but isn’t sure good times are ahead. Your neighbour is more interested in the big business of North Town and has an air of snobbery against West Town’s people. All of this takes place with the town’s festival as the main narrative event that each resident and business is preparing for. Every character has their own personal struggle or dilemma, and your dialogue choices and chats on your days off will determine parts of their story arc, but also how much of their personal history you’ll learn.
The slice-of-life nature of simple shop inventory and everyday slow-burn conversation lets players ponder life’s choices in a meandering way. If you are looking for quick narrative payoffs, this isn’t the game for you. Nook Fall: West Town is happy to provide you with short stories to read at bedtime, and a vinyl selection to listen to from your apartment balcony whilst contemplating life’s journey. Whilst not quite reaching the quiet beauty of a Hirokazu Kore-Eda film, there is a similar vibe here that I truly appreciated. One for quiet nights in.
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