night with timber by nomnomnami
night with timber (itch.io page)
this post contains major story spoilers!
i started reading this visual novel because it was required reading for this year's nomnomnami april fools release, date senbei. i like dark comedies and i like character casts full of people who do terrible things, and i was already looking for an excuse to engage more with nami's work. the last time i read a visual novel created by nami was in my teenage years (i specifically remember reading syrup and the ultimate sweet and her tears were my light back in 2019). neither of the visual novels i read from nami much of an impression on me at the time, but her continued popularity and prolific catalog of visual novels has left me really curious to see her growth since then.
this is a story about a wolf boy who is at first presented as a dangerous villain, and as we get to know him better we understand his position as a survivor of genocide. the environment of his home territory has been severely damaged by a nearby settlement of rabbits claiming the land for their own and killing wolves who try to negotiate peacefully. after more than a decade, the wolf populations have decreased considerably due to starvation from environmental damage. i like this plotline and how strong of a character motivation it is for timber: it makes sense that he feels a rush of adrenaline and sense of fun in hunting rabbits. his clan has been nearly wiped out by them, his native land has been deeply harmed by his oppressors' disregard for nature and the local ecosystem, and his own father was beaten to death and displayed as a trophy by them when trying a peaceful approach to resolve the conflict. i'm not surprised that he admits he used to have fun when he killed members of the species that caused his suffering. the fact that he needed material consequences for it to stop being fun makes him really sympathetic to me.
in the latter half of the story, timber is captured and tortured by a rabbit, senbei, who is convinced that timber is the cause of the missing rabbits over the years. i like seeing how timber is affected by this, how his confident smug facade gives out after being subjected to torture for a few days. i'm impressed at how the story is composed for us to have sympathy for the killer rather than the investigating torturer, and how smoothly senbei's motivations turn from seeking punitive justice to obsessive lusting after timber himself. we've gotten to know timber pretty well over this point with several opportunities in previous routes to seduce and have sex with him, and it was easy for me to understand senbei's desire towards him. timber is really charming! it makes sense that he's obsessively lusting after him, feels like timber is the only person who konws the real him (the him that is willing to torture people for his goals). it's a fascinating character study of both timber and senbei, leaving me disgusted by senbei and feeling very bad for the pitiful bloodied fucked up timber who is forced to fake his death to get him off his trail.
i feel biased here because i already liked seeing cute boys get tortured in other fiction i've read. it's cool to see timber weakened and helpless, see how desperate he is to be free and how much he hates senbei. it's cool because we know the other sides of timber, the caring and cute and strong and intimidating and murderous sides. we've seen him kill us and now we see him get tortured and still feel bad for him. it's cute. he's cute when he's suffering. maybe i understand senbei a little too much in that respect.
senbei is a genocidal piece of shit nepo baby loser and i want to see him suffer a lot too, but i also love seeing him so stressed over his failures with getting anything from timber. the writing is so fun in letting me enjoy hearing what senbei has to think and feeling happy when he loses. he's a horrible person who likes feeling smart and strong and hates wolves for being wolves, so he wants to use the missing persons cases as an excuse to justify driving wolves to extinction. i'm fascinated by his character and want to keep watching him struggle and lose. he's in a much stronger position of power than any of the other characters in the game, but timber manages to hold his own against him physically and intellectually. this makes me like and respect timber a lot too! he's deeply traumatized by senbei but doesn't give up on his own life and his clan, and he finds a lot of support in trusting the player character in the wolf route. as the player, we get to play an active role in his recovery and growth.
i'm embarrassed to say that i underestimated nami. night with timber was really fun to play! more than that, it was interesting to read and learn about timber himself. i wasn't drawn in by the initial character art and felt that the crescent grin was offputting, but i realized that this was purposeful to give the audience expectations of him being creepy and villainous so that we could be intrigued and surprised at his depth. i find him really sympathetic and flawed, but i can't disagree with how he justifies his actions.
this is also a very carefully and neatly designed visual novel. i was delighted and surprised at how well the routes tied in with each other- everything led carefully and deliberately to the final route. i really liked that. the setup completely paid off. i like that theres a timeline feature and i really like the music room and the fact that theres a song sung by teto at the end of the main story. it's awesome... nami is a really competent songwriter!!!!
i'll be thinking about this visual novel for a while and i think it's going to be a big source of inspiration for me in my own projects. i admire a lot about the concept and the execution, and i hope i can make things as cool and fun as this someday.
here are some of my favorite screenshots i took during my playthrough! i liked the flirting and sex parts. i thought it was really cool how there were no explicit sex scenes but the writing made up for everything that wasn't shown in the art.
let me know if you end up playing the game too and what you thought!
