Night in the Woods' Alec Holowka has passed away

Alec Holowka - coder, composer, and co-designer of Infinite Fall's Night in the Woods - has passed away, as shared by his sister Eileen Mary Holowka on Twitter.

"Alec Holowka, my brother and best friend, passed away this morning," she wrote (via Kotaku). "Those who know me will know that I believe survivors and I have always done everything I can to support survivors, those suffering from mental illnesses, and those with chronic illnesses. Alec was a victim of abuse and he also spent a lifetime battling mood and personality disorders. I will not pretend that he was not also responsible for causing harm, but deep down he was a person who wanted only to offer people care and kindness. It took him a while to figure out how."

She adds that he had been getting support from crisis services at home in Canada, and that he'd become a "new person" recently, "working towards rehabilitation and a better life".

"And in case it's not already f****** obvious, Alec *specifically said* he wished the best for Zoë and everyone else, so don't use our grief as an excuse to harass people," she adds. "Go outside, take care of someone, and work towards preventing these kinds of things in the first place."

This is in reference to the recent accusations of sexual assault directed towards Holowka from Zoë Quinn, something that eventually caused the Night in the Woods team to "cut ties" with him.

Scott Benson, another mind behind Night in the Woods, took to Reddit to share an End of Summer Backer Update about the situation as well, talking about his history with Alec. Benson and Holowka got along, but Benson writes that he soon found that Holowka was "unstable" and had "volatile dating relationships". Benson also clarifies that Holowka wasn't exactly fired:

"Infinite Fall isn't a company, it's a name we adopted for our team. There's no salary to cut. There's no Infinite Fall bank account, not Infinite Fall HQ. Our merch operation is already something that just Bethany and myself do, aside from sales of the soundtrack digitally and on vinyl. It's more like a band broke up or something."

There's plenty more to read in Benson's lengthy update, but as for the future, he writes:

"Things are still happening with this whole godawful situation. Regardless, Bethany and I will continue working on our NITW things. I'll be back here with updates as things happen. Mostly right now we're just really torn up. We're angry, we're sad, we're worried about basically all parties involved, we mostly just need a nap."

We send our condolences to Holowka's family and loved ones.