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March 28, 2024, 08:48:08 AM

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Videogames attempting to cover mental wellbeing related issues

Started by Z, April 14, 2018, 06:41:08 PM

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Z

Any stand out to you? Any especially good characters/experiences that catch a certain feeling?
Both actual ones and silly in game character ones. Mostly just want to rant about one thing, but this seems like something games could portray pretty effectively. With so much freedom to poke around.


So I tried playing Actual Sunlight (Unity version) earlier this week.
Found it a colossal chore. In terms of capturing the feelings it was aiming for, it just felt like some guy lecturing at me as opposed to actually immersing me in any feelings. Compared to something like Anomalisa (which admittedly imo is still somewhat unsuccessful itself)  it all just felt so primitive and ham fisted with nothing truly though provoking or enlightening. Even in comparison to other story games that follow the "click to continue the onslaught of misery" approach like This Dragon Cancer, it felt more like some dude just making you wait to tell you his not especially revelatory revelations.

I know Cart Life is another one that is meant to hit on similarish vibes, not sure I can be arsed touching it after hating this one so much; and yet I really think a game, even a pretty poorly made indie, could potentially get some big ideas across.

The Beginners Guide didn't quite make it down this route, but I think it was a pretty good effort of attempting to contextualise a game developer with writers block.

BJBMK2

Doki Doki Lit Club felt like it was going to do an honest, understanding treatment of depression/mental illness.

But then it just turns into silly exploitation halfway through and pisses it up the wall.

Kelvin

Celeste was elevated to an indie darling partly on the back of it's handling of mental illness and anxiety, but it was actually the flippant way they handled the theme towards the end that slightly soured me on the game after hours and hours of loving it. It's one of the few times I can remember being actually pissed off at a game's story in recent years.

garbed_attic

Increpare is flippant to a point, but he's ingenious enough to successfully communicate mental wellbeing related issues haptically while aggressively avoiding sentimentality, I reckon.
https://www.increpare.com/

(I still think the best way to engage with his work is to random play the games when sleep deprived, not knowing what to expect).

But for specific recommendations w/r mental wellbeing or lack thereof:

- Therapy Game
- The Terrible Whiteness of Appalachian Nights (NSFW)
- Sad Forest
- Sleeping Scared
- Having Said Goodbye
- wear and tear


But generally lots of them feel numbed and alienated and generally reverberate best when you're not in the healthiest of minds.

I also personally feel that The Beginner's Guide is mostly about mental wellbeing related issues and that the meta- aspects are a bit of an evasion of this, but I can see why you'd say it doesn't quite manage this.

garbed_attic

I think like there must be a lot of (good) IF games that just aren't coming to mind. I felt Endless; Nameless was Adam Cadre grappling with his mental health in many ways... but then I've been a bloody devoted reader/ player over the better part of two decades so I probably have a lot of bio info with which to make contextualising assumptions!

garbed_attic

Oh- Ebi-Hime's visual novels tend to have at least one character who suffers with mental health issues, but Lynne, Lily of the Valley and Asphyxia are probably the most overly (and best) examples:

ebihime.itch.io

https://ebihime.itch.io/lynne is free and short so if you like VNs is probably the best place to start to get a sense of whether her writing is for you.

Z

Quote from: gout_pony on April 14, 2018, 08:32:01 PM
I also personally feel that The Beginner's Guide is mostly about mental wellbeing related issues and that the meta- aspects are a bit of an evasion of this, but I can see why you'd say it doesn't quite manage this.
Oh I meant that it doesnt quite go down that route in that it seems somewhat focused on trying to obfuscate exactly what it's shooting for. There's a good bit going on and it isn't totally coherent but I thought it was bold and liked it a lot.

(this thread was partially trying to bait you into giving an opinion on Actual Sunlight, btw)

Quote from: Kelvin on April 14, 2018, 07:09:02 PM
Celeste was elevated to an indie darling partly on the back of it's handling of mental illness and anxiety, but it was actually the flippant way they handled the theme towards the end that slightly soured me on the game after hours and hours of loving it. It's one of the few times I can remember being actually pissed off at a game's story in recent years.
I feel like videogame criticism (professional or otherwise) is often a bit overly willing to champion something relentlessly for trying to do something, with little thought around how well it done it.

garbed_attic

Quote from: Z on April 14, 2018, 08:50:41 PM
(this thread was partially trying to bait you into giving an opinion on Actual Sunlight, btw)

Aw thanks! i haven't actually played it yet but I will get back to you when I do!

bgmnts

Spec Ops the line is a huge stretch i know, as its more about psychological trauma than mental illness as such but its so fucking amazing it deserves a mention.