What a fucking game. It was definitely a lot darker and grittier than the other pieces of media I was consuming at the time, but man if it wasn't utterly captivating.

I think I can attribute my understanding of my own struggles with mental health to Susan, actually. She begins the game in a horrid state: cynical and depressed. Life has dealt her shitty hand after shitty hand and she is all the more bitter for it. As she encounters the absolute worst that humanity has to offer, it'd be easy for her to spiral even deeper into her cynicism.

But this doesn't happen. Quite the opposite, in fact. And it's in that juxtaposition between grimdark and the very human interactions between Mitzi and Susan, as well as all the minor NPCs that Susan helps along the way that Susan's character really shines. Why is it that so many of us continue living on even when life seemingly does everything it can to ruin us?

For Susan (and for me, as I eventually grew to understand) it's the few relationships we cherish that gave her hope. She wants to help people. She wants to be a positive force in people's lives so that they don't have to suffer as she did. And that is a sentiment that deeply resonated with me.

Great game with a distinct, and stunning visual style that hasn't left me nearly a decade later.