I played this before, back at the height of its controversy, and going back to it now it's impossible to imagine a game this mundane and small lead to...well, Gamergate and all the harassment and bullshit and awfulness that came with it. Just completely bonkers that somebody played a small, personal visual novel about depression and went "FEMINISTS MUST DIE!!!!" I don't really wanna examine all that, others have done it better, but it feels impossible to review this game without at least mentioning it.
Depression Quest succeeds at what it aims to do, which is how I typically judge a game. The writing gets a little hokey at times, but it's rarely BAD and is, at its best, really good. And it was fun coming back to it now, where I'm in a leagues better place mentally than I was when I initially played it, and seeing how my answers and choices changed. Being able to trace my own story, with finding the guts to see a therapist and growing brave enough to truly depend on my support system, and see it mirrored in the protagonist felt sort of warm and nostalgic, and it inspired in me a lot of affection and tenderness for the younger me who couldn't imagine ever feeling this good.
It's nothing mind-blowing now, and I've played better text-based games. But when it came out, it really and truly was something different. It's easy to brush that off now, when this sort of game — and games revolving around mental illness more broadly — are more commonplace, but it really did do something new. Something with — as we'd all see in the months and years that followed — real and genuine risks. I really enjoyed coming back to it.
Depression Quest succeeds at what it aims to do, which is how I typically judge a game. The writing gets a little hokey at times, but it's rarely BAD and is, at its best, really good. And it was fun coming back to it now, where I'm in a leagues better place mentally than I was when I initially played it, and seeing how my answers and choices changed. Being able to trace my own story, with finding the guts to see a therapist and growing brave enough to truly depend on my support system, and see it mirrored in the protagonist felt sort of warm and nostalgic, and it inspired in me a lot of affection and tenderness for the younger me who couldn't imagine ever feeling this good.
It's nothing mind-blowing now, and I've played better text-based games. But when it came out, it really and truly was something different. It's easy to brush that off now, when this sort of game — and games revolving around mental illness more broadly — are more commonplace, but it really did do something new. Something with — as we'd all see in the months and years that followed — real and genuine risks. I really enjoyed coming back to it.