One of the cool things I'm surprised by in Night in the Woods is that, while you control the main character in the story, other story happens whether you're there to interact with it or not. Stories don't just get put on hold and wait, and only advance while you're part of them. Logical, but actually rare enough in video games that it surprised me.
"End of the world is coming? Hold on, I need to spend a month breeding and racing giant chickens..."