Steam recently Greenlit its latest batch of games, and within the list is Depression Quest. This very serious choose-your-path game deals with the issues of depression and has been lauded by many for its extremely stark—some might argue disturbing but true—depictions of your player character attempting to stave off depression.
The game itself is a lengthy affair, narrations of a day in your life and the choices you can take. These are nail-biting choices have often surprising, and sometimes shocking, turns of events. Please don’t try to cheat by hitting the back button. How do you deal with depression? How does it even feel like? Depression Quest does a simply unbelievable amount of work, the sort of work that requires one to think through what they are writing and how in order to provoke the sorts of strong emotional responses that the game has drawn.
Everything hinges on you actually reading, really reading, the text. Don’t speed read or skip it. Life feels sometimes like it weighs down, with cancelled options for choices that your too-depressed self just cannot drag to do. That really made me feel upset. How does work feel? The relationship you’re in? Would you think therapy could help? Will you take the first step?
The point, say the developers, is to help show sufferers of depression that they are not alone when they feel the things they feel. And for those who wish to have some light shed on the situation, it shows how deep the rabbit hole can go for those who struggle with it.
The developers intend to make the game free on Steam, and if you want to play the game you can also try it here. If you wish to give some money on a pay-what-you-want model, some of those proceeds go to iFred, a charity that aims to fight back against depression and the stigma that is associated with it.
Published: Jan 12, 2014 12:29 pm