The beginning of the game, Depression Quest. The coloured options at the bottom are your possible reactions/interactions, and these vary depending on the route you choose as you play this game. The red option with the line through it means you cannot choose it, and depending on the route you choose throughout the game, more or less or the options become red.

The grey boxes at the bottom give you information about your situation throughout the game-play – if you decide to see a therapist or try medication or adopt a cat (all options in the game) then this is reflected in the grey boxes at the bottom of the game.

I think what struck me with this game is that as this part explains- nothing has really “happened” to the main character to cause the depression, it just sort of crept up on them, which is often what happens in real life- it hits home to the player that this really can happen to anyone.

This is the part of the game where you have the opportunity to adopt a kitten, which if you say yes helps you to take care of yourself and the kitten, but if you decline nothing really changes. I felt that this was a powerful moment in the game, as it shows that sometimes even small things can make a huge difference to our wellbeing.

This is one of the scenes that comes about if you choose the “bad” route, which can mean the end of your relationship. As you can see there are a lot of red options that you cannot choose- because of the negative options you have previously picked leading up to this moment.

The “bad” ending, which I got to by choosing all the “negative” options throughout the game, it shows how difficult it can be dealing with mental illness on your own, and the toll it can take on your life.

Whilst this game is not visually engaging it is well written and tells the story well. I think it is a fairly accurate depiction of depression, from my own experiences, and it could be used as an educational tool for people who have not experienced depression if they wanted to try and understand what it is like to live with. I think I would like my game to be educational and well written, like this game, however I would like to make mine more visually engaging and stimulating for the player, with more interactive options. I feel this would open it up to people who cannot or prefer not to read large blocks of text, and would help to keep players interested as they play the game.