The free, easy-to-learn tool has encouraged non-techies, many of them women, to create their own games and explore subjects far beyond the traditional shoot ’em ups, sport and space fantasies. But the change hasn’t gone down well with everyone…
Perhaps the most surprising thing about “Gamergate”, the culture war that continues to rage within the world of video games, is the game that touched it off. Depression Quest, created by the developers Zoe Quinn, Patrick Lindsey and Isaac Schankler, isn’t what most people think of as a video game at all. For starters, it isn’t a lot of fun. Its real value is as an educational tool, or an exercise in empathy. Aside from occasional fuzzy Polaroid pictures that appear at the top of the screen, Depression Quest is a purely text-based game that proceeds from screen to screen through simple hyperlinks, inviting players to step into the shoes of a person suffering from clinical depression. After reading brief vignettes about what the main character is struggling with – at home, at work, in relationships – you try to make choices that steer your character out of this downward spiral. The most important choices are those the game prevents you from making, unclickable choices with red lines through them, saying things such as “shake off your funk”. As your character falls deeper into depression, more options are crossed out. You can’t sleep; you can’t call a therapist; you can’t explain how you feel to the people you love. In the depths of depression, it all feels impossible.
New Normative takes a look at the status of horror video games. Specifically, how they treat mental illness and whether or not they're becoming less ableist.
Screw this article and that damn word. I've got a couple mental issues and it sucks, but I'm tired of all this microaggression BS. There are plenty of games with mental illness in them that do it well, just look at max payne for one example or psychonauts.
While Steam gets a lot of hype for discounted prices, you don’t actually have to spend any money to enjoy some of the best games the service has to offer. Over the years, Steam has accumulated a number of great games that are free-to-play, and I’m here to tell you which ones you should check out.
Some of these recommendations will be obvious, as some of Steam’s biggest games are free-to-play—so why wouldn’t I suggest them? But, I also want to make sure to tell you about the smaller free games you might otherwise not hear about, especially when it comes to games that try something new. With that in mind, here are our top free Steam games that everyone should try.
"Disclosure: I am friendly with the developers behind the game. "
we know what went down >_>
Marcus Estrada writes: "Video games have been around for dozens of years and yet we don’t have a long history of this form of media covering topics such as mental illness very often at all. In fact, it seems that most games finally testing the waters with such themes have come out in the past few years. These are titles such as The Cat Lady, Depression Quest, Neverending Nightmares, and a variety of others. Another trend which is readily apparent is that most big name teams are basically avoiding the topic altogether. Perhaps that’s for the best as introspective, painful stories might not mix well with high-octane FPS action and explosions. Or perhaps we’re just not open enough to that possibility."
