This review contains spoilers
I don't really want to have a conversation on this game. At the same time, I have a set of criteria for the games I talk about on Backloggd, and Depression Quest meets them: it's a game I've completed, I know when I completed it, and I am confident of my opinions on it. Actually, while I wouldn't call it a favorite by any means, I did find I ultimately connected with it, enough so that I still catch myself thinking about it now and again. Because of that, it's important to me that I somehow preserve those opinions.
After thinking about it for a while, I've decided I'm just going to present my opinions as isolated bullet points. No further summation, no point I want to drive at, just my naked opinions.
- It was very polite to release this game for free following Robin Williams' suicide
- Presenting choices, then striking them out and blocking the player from selecting them, is an effective analogy for experiencing crippling depression
- The moment where the player character is able to notice his hands shaking as a consequence of his bottled up tension, and that awareness of physical response to mental stimuli, is a familiar turning point for... a lot of things, in my experience
- I appreciate that the player can choose whether to address depression through drugs or therapy. I appreciate as well that neither is more correct, and each respective approach has its own ramifications.
- Adopting a kitten - and thus having another life to care for, as a means of combatting depression - is also familiar.
- I have no desire whatsoever to revisit this game to explore less-than-best endings and see what commentary the game holds there. Having said that...
- I am given to understand that the worst ending explains that the player character has given up on life but is too unmotivated to commit suicide; regardless, no happy ending is possible for him. I don't know if this is the text of the game. This is just what I have read elsewhere. Assuming this is true, I have mixed feelings on this. I do not want anything in this world to contribute to suicide rates, and I respect an artist trying to steer clear of that. At the same time, it would represent the lone pulled punch in a game that otherwise has an extremely frank conversation about depression.
After thinking about it for a while, I've decided I'm just going to present my opinions as isolated bullet points. No further summation, no point I want to drive at, just my naked opinions.
- It was very polite to release this game for free following Robin Williams' suicide
- Presenting choices, then striking them out and blocking the player from selecting them, is an effective analogy for experiencing crippling depression
- The moment where the player character is able to notice his hands shaking as a consequence of his bottled up tension, and that awareness of physical response to mental stimuli, is a familiar turning point for... a lot of things, in my experience
- I appreciate that the player can choose whether to address depression through drugs or therapy. I appreciate as well that neither is more correct, and each respective approach has its own ramifications.
- Adopting a kitten - and thus having another life to care for, as a means of combatting depression - is also familiar.
- I have no desire whatsoever to revisit this game to explore less-than-best endings and see what commentary the game holds there. Having said that...
- I am given to understand that the worst ending explains that the player character has given up on life but is too unmotivated to commit suicide; regardless, no happy ending is possible for him. I don't know if this is the text of the game. This is just what I have read elsewhere. Assuming this is true, I have mixed feelings on this. I do not want anything in this world to contribute to suicide rates, and I respect an artist trying to steer clear of that. At the same time, it would represent the lone pulled punch in a game that otherwise has an extremely frank conversation about depression.