User blog:Metool Bard/Discussion: Is Royal Woods in the Rust Belt?

This just kinda came to mind after going through videos analyzing the video game Night in the Woods. For those who don't know, Night in the Woods is an adventure game where you play as a college dropout returning to her home town of Possum Springs, trying to relive her past and have things go back to the way they were. A significant fact about the game is that Possum Springs takes place in an area of America known as the Rust Belt. This area encompasses most of Michigan, Ohio, and some of western New York. And it's called the Rust Belt because, basically, it's falling apart. Think of everything famous about the city Detroit, and then spread that over several small cities throughout the aformentioned area.

Now, we know that Royal Woods is located in Michigan, but beyond that, I'm not sure if we see any signs of it being part of the Rust Belt. While I haven't seen every episode, I have seen enough to get a general sense of what Royal Woods is like. And despite being in one of the poorest areas of the nation, the characters seem to be doing quite well for themselves. Every time money problems are brought up in an episode of TLH, it's because the Louds are a large family, and not because of any form of economic turmoil in their region.

Then again, I guess there's only so much realism you want to portray in a show like this. Perfect example: The Royal Woods Mall seems to be doing just fine, even though most economic experts say that the Internet is rendering malls obsolete. Plus, I guess socio-political issues such as these are a bit too complicated for a show like this to handle, even though they have broken a few boundaries. Even so, I thought it was an interesting subject to bring up. And if there is an example of Royal Woods being part of the Rust Belt, I'd certainly like to know about it.