I obviously know nothing about depression, so I took a chance with this game to see not only what the hype was about, but also get a chance to look into a world unseen.
The prose the very determined to get you into the mindset of the world around you as well as the person you are roleplaying as. The cast of characters, however small, non-the-less react to your growing condition and your response to them about said condition. I received a sense of tugging and pulling with the cast, wanting to tell them what's going on but feeling like it wasn't worth it or wasn't going to mean anything in the end. The game even let me adopt a pet cat as a sort of personal Hope Spot, perhaps telling me that things will get better for me at baby steps if I starting taking care of someone else for a change. Alas, sometime during my playthrough, the cat disappeared from the story, never being mentioned again. Hopes dashed.
The Gameplay and Story Integration is fascinating in it's attempt and lesson. You start out with a regular choose-your-own-adventure selection of choice meant to progress the story, or just advanced to the next scene of dialogue with someone. Inevitably you grow more depressed, and as this happens you start loosing out on viable options for story progress, often having the happiest of these choices crossed out on the list and forcing you to 2 or even only 1 path. Reality Ensues as constantly growing world weariness dampen your though processes, makes you less confident or even aware of the choices yo u could have made in life. When I eventually reach my ending it seemed appropriately depressing, although I did not know at the time if the game had Multiple Endings to allow a happier life.
When it was over, I felt a little confused at first, but accepted the events before me. I did enjoy the time I spent of this game, so I write this review in hopes that others are willing to gives this thing a chance.
An interesting thought experiment.
I obviously know nothing about depression, so I took a chance with this game to see not only what the hype was about, but also get a chance to look into a world unseen.
The prose the very determined to get you into the mindset of the world around you as well as the person you are roleplaying as. The cast of characters, however small, non-the-less react to your growing condition and your response to them about said condition. I received a sense of tugging and pulling with the cast, wanting to tell them what's going on but feeling like it wasn't worth it or wasn't going to mean anything in the end. The game even let me adopt a pet cat as a sort of personal Hope Spot, perhaps telling me that things will get better for me at baby steps if I starting taking care of someone else for a change. Alas, sometime during my playthrough, the cat disappeared from the story, never being mentioned again. Hopes dashed.
The Gameplay and Story Integration is fascinating in it's attempt and lesson. You start out with a regular choose-your-own-adventure selection of choice meant to progress the story, or just advanced to the next scene of dialogue with someone. Inevitably you grow more depressed, and as this happens you start loosing out on viable options for story progress, often having the happiest of these choices crossed out on the list and forcing you to 2 or even only 1 path. Reality Ensues as constantly growing world weariness dampen your though processes, makes you less confident or even aware of the choices yo u could have made in life. When I eventually reach my ending it seemed appropriately depressing, although I did not know at the time if the game had Multiple Endings to allow a happier life.
When it was over, I felt a little confused at first, but accepted the events before me. I did enjoy the time I spent of this game, so I write this review in hopes that others are willing to gives this thing a chance.