Words of Hope: Depression Quest

One of the first words to come to mind when games are mentioned is the word “play.” Video games in particular are marketed, and tend to be most often perceived, primarily as entertaining distractions from the real world, fantasy expeditions filled with big, flashy action sequences and the latest in graphics and surround sound technology. Rare is the title that tells the player flat-out from the start that it will not be fun, yet that is exactly what Zoe Quinn’s Depression Quest opens with.

“Depression Quest is a game that deals with living with depression in a very literal way,” reads the first line of the introduction. “This game is not meant to be a fun or lighthearted experience. If you are currently suffering from the illness and are easily triggered, please be aware that this game uses stark depictions of people in very dark places.” This warning is followed by a link to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline’s Lifeline Crisis Chat for those suffering from suicidal thoughts or tendencies.

Depression Quest is an interactive fiction story which casts the player as a young adult suffering from depression. The goal of the game is to balance support systems, therapy and prescription medication in order to find the best possible solutions. The severity of the protagonist’s emotional status alters based on the player’s choices, and is reflected in subtle changes in the musical score and in how many options open up or become unavailable as the story progresses. Unlike most games, there is no perfect score achievement. As the conclusion of the game says, regardless of which finale the player reaches, “There is no neat resolution to depression … Instead of a tidy ending, we want to just provide a series of outlooks to take moving forward. After all, that’s all we can really do with depression — just keep moving forward.”

Though one popular critique of the game is that the protagonist is too privileged in terms of having a strong support system and affordable mental health care available to him/her, Quinn argues that the point of the experience is to show how depression can happen to anyone, no matter how well off they may seem or how simple the solution may seem to others. Quinn, who herself attempted suicide at age 12 and was officially diagnosed with depression at 14, has indicated that the game’s main function is to help those who have never battled serious depression understand what those who do suffer from it struggle with on a daily basis, as well as offering hope for recovery to those who may feel there is none.

Received with largely favorable professional reviews and a fair amount of positive fan feedback, Depression Quest has also saddled Quinn with unwanted attention in the form of hatemail. Initially released on Valentine’s Day of 2013, the game’s August 2014 port to Steam sparked (more) controversy by coinciding with the announcement of Robin Williams’s suicide. This in addition to the scandal social media has dubbed #GamerGate led to increasingly serious accusations and threats directed at Quinn. Later that month her personal information was “doxed” — that is, leaked to the public — and the severity of the threats she became the target of led Quinn to contact the police and seek refuge away from home. This situation remains ongoing at the time of this writing.

In a blog post, Quinn explained her decision to go ahead with the Steam release: “I can’t in good conscience hold back offering someone something that could help them start making real changes in their life for the sake of reducing the risk of offending people or hurting my own reputation.” Furthermore, in spite of accusations that she intended to capitalize on Williams’s death, the game is free to play with an optional donation, a portion of which will in turn be sent to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.

To learn more, donate, or play the game for free, visit the Depression Quest website or check out the game’s official profile on Steam.

Alz: A Walk Through Alzheimer’s

Described by developer Dylan Carter as, “A short game. Well more like a short film. Well more like an experimental short film in ever-so-slightly interactive of a format,” Alz is an exceptionally brief but memorable exploration of the experience of living with Alzheimer’s disease.

Created in just four days by Carter, a 21-year-old animator with no previous coding experience, for Stencyl Jam 2014, Alz takes about two to three minutes at most to complete. Using the right and left arrow keys to move and spacebar to interact, the player controls a man with a blank face who goes out for a stroll. As with real Alzheimer’s, however, what should be a simple, straightforward day becomes unfamiliar, confusing, and strange.

Alzheimer’s is a progressive type of dementia that causes brain cells to degenerate and die, affecting various facets of cognitive functioning, including memory – particularly semantic memory, which stores information about meanings and concept relationships. Behavior also becomes altered, with depressive symptoms and apathy being among the most commonly observed effects. Current treatments can only delay, not permanently halt, progression of the disease, and a cure has yet to be found. According to a report from the Alzheimer’s Association, as of this year one in nine Americans aged 65 or older has Alzheimer’s.

Alz promotes not only awareness of the disease but understanding living with the reality of it, inviting gamers to talk a walk in the shoes of an Alzheimer’s patient. As the game instructions read, “Enjoy your walk. Interact with your surroundings. Or don’t. Have a forgotten, but hopefully not forgetful, experience.” Carter’s own grandfather, who passed away before Carter was born, suffered from the disease.

You can play the game online for free at Newgrounds.com.