Depression Quest

 PC
User Score
1.5

Overwhelming dislike- based on 298 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 35 out of 298
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 298
  3. Negative: 252 out of 298

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  1. brockcheese
    Jan 22, 2015
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. As someone who has had depression, this game doesn't really tackle it all that well. The guy has a better life than most people and the game wont even let you take some options that would obviously improve the morale of the character. Top it all off with a cliche ending about having enough friends to carry on and it stinks. A lot of the reasons people get depression is because they have nobody in their life, but in this game you have loads of friends supportive parents and a great girlfriend. While I do appreciate what the game was going for, it ultimately left a bad taste in my mouth.… Expand
  2. AyHy
    Sep 26, 2014
    5
    It's sort of hard to call this a "game." It's a piece of semi-interactive fiction. It's very short. I played through it three times, choosing different options, and found that, basically, making the best life choices you were capable of would cause things to get a little better, while making bad life choices would cause things to get somewhat worse.

    That's not really very profound.    It's sort of hard to call this a "game." It's a piece of semi-interactive fiction. It's very short. I played through it three times, choosing different options, and found that, basically, making the best life choices you were capable of would cause things to get a little better, while making bad life choices would cause things to get somewhat worse.

    That's not really very profound.

    That said, I thought the writing was good, and speaking as someone with depression, I found I could identify with it to some extent. It didn't match my experience perfectly, since the protagonist is so ashamed of his depression and determined to hide it, while I tend to whine about mine. But some of it was definitely very identifiable.

    This isn't exactly an impressive project. I feel like I could have made it myself in about four days, and I'm no video game developer. But on the other hand, playing Depression Quest for an hour made me feel something interesting, while playing a lot of games for an hour just makes me feel bored or annoyed. I'm not unhappy that I played it, though I probably won't play it again.    … Expand
  3. kelticpete
    Sep 8, 2014
    6
    This game was pretty much what I expected, and was ok. I did not start it expecting to be wowed. the bad reviews about this game are obviously from people who were not the intended demo. Don't play a non traditional, "arty" game and then whine about it not being fun. It was mildly interesting as an experience. I got it for free, I might have paid $.99 for it and been happy. I give it aThis game was pretty much what I expected, and was ok. I did not start it expecting to be wowed. the bad reviews about this game are obviously from people who were not the intended demo. Don't play a non traditional, "arty" game and then whine about it not being fun. It was mildly interesting as an experience. I got it for free, I might have paid $.99 for it and been happy. I give it a 7. the people who whine about this not being a game can just sod off. text based stories with choices have been a genre of games for decades.… Expand
  4. Esperantisto
    Aug 21, 2014
    7
    This isn't a game, but rather a text-based "choose your own adventure". It took me about an hour to go through it.

    I suffer from depression myself, and found the descriptions to be somewhat realistic, but not entirely. I'd be upset if I had spent a lot of money for this, but it's available for free or as "pay what you want", which is fair enough. There are a *lot* of zero ratings,    This isn't a game, but rather a text-based "choose your own adventure". It took me about an hour to go through it.

    I suffer from depression myself, and found the descriptions to be somewhat realistic, but not entirely.

    I'd be upset if I had spent a lot of money for this, but it's available for free or as "pay what you want", which is fair enough.

    There are a *lot* of zero ratings, but that's unwarranted. It seems that the cause is alleged misbehaviour by the author. I've ignored that completely and judged the "game" on its merits.    … Expand
  5. GamersInk
    Aug 24, 2014
    5
    Short hand:

    This game offers a look into a "lite version" of depression. The character's luck in having a strong support group with no limitation on medical help offers a soften approach to the very dark topic of depression and its effect on people. With good music, the story is told clearly and well though flaws mar the experience and pull the player out of it. This short game will    Short hand:

    This game offers a look into a "lite version" of depression. The character's luck in having a strong support group with no limitation on medical help offers a soften approach to the very dark topic of depression and its effect on people. With good music, the story is told clearly and well though flaws mar the experience and pull the player out of it. This short game will offer an overly simple look into depression and is a nice starting point to get a feeling about the subject. An okay experience that definitely could have been better.

    Full Review:
    This game offers something unique, a look into the mind of depression and the lows it brings to those who suffer from it. Though its attempts seem rather limited and shallow. If one looks at the game from two perspectives, an art game designed to create a point and create an emotional response or entertainment designed to educate and teach people about depression then it fails to provide a decent experience. If one were to look at this from the perspective of an art game, the problem with the game and its message is the game doesn't allow for the true nature of depression to hit. It pulls punches and always seems to have a slightly positive spin to it which should not happen in a game that is meant to bring to light the depths of depression. It doesn't allow for the character to go to the point of no return where only one choice is allowed. It doesn't force for your choices to be meaningless to drive home the hopeless that depression tends to bring. Instead it offers just a taste of it that can be easily avoided by those who are not depressed and by those who have had depression. It fails to truly teach how dangerous depression can be. Maybe this was meant to prevent the game from being too harsh but if this game is an art game with a message then it must go to the greatest extreme or at least allow it to occur. Suicide and death are horrible realities of depression and can be the final moment of power that people who are extremely depressed have, a final way out. To not include this most final of acts in a game about depression is depriving the player from truly sympathizing with the torture of depression. If the player is not allowed to dabble with this deed then the player cannot truly understand what depression does to the mind and this only mentions the internal struggle of depression.

    On the other hand, if this is a game designed to educate then it also fails for a similar reason. The game doesn't offer details about the actual effects depression has on the people around him and does not allow for NPCs to react accordingly to a depressed person. In such, the game does not show the stigma normally placed on people with depression. The character is never told by others to bite the depression in the butt, to suck it up and be a man. The character is always surrounded by positivity and without the internal strife and consequences mentioned beforehand, the game doesn't adequately emulate the experience.

    Other faults exist as the character drinks alcohol while on medication (a no-no and shows that no one in the project ever dealt with full-blown clinical depression as mixing medication with alcohol can be fatal). As well as offering certain actions that would never be possible under any level of depression. If the actions failed while picking them then it would be nice. If the character's life actually changed with his support group leaving him or treating him differently the game would be better.

    The game does some stuff well though. The music sets the mood well though it does not change with the mood of the character. It would have been more effective in the sad music became more and more deafening the character went into depression. It also would have been better if the music was tinged with happiness as the character got better to emphasize the feeling of conquering the brain illness.

    It's a flawed experience. One that does not warrant a second look into as the direction certain actions take are painfully obvious. The game's detail, length, and overall production value is meaningless in a review of a free game but still remains disappointing.    … Expand
  6. redplague
    May 15, 2015
    5
    It's sad how a lot of the troll '0' reviews are made by people who feel at pains to make personal attacks or slanders on the developer. What a coincidence, it's a woman. If it was a man they wouldn't even address such things.

    This game is a bit heavy and in a way it's not really a game as such. it's good as an educational tool but not much in the way of fun and can get extremely    It's sad how a lot of the troll '0' reviews are made by people who feel at pains to make personal attacks or slanders on the developer. What a coincidence, it's a woman. If it was a man they wouldn't even address such things.

    This game is a bit heavy and in a way it's not really a game as such. it's good as an educational tool but not much in the way of fun and can get extremely boring at times. It's doesn't take that long to go through and is obviously very cheap so give it a go if you fancy something a bit different but this isn't going to appeal to most gamers. Ignore the **** trolls that give it 0 out of 10. Do you honestly think they would have played the game given their hatred of female developers.    … Expand

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Critic score distribution:
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  2. Mixed: 1 out of 1
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  1. ActionTrip
    Sep 2, 2014
    50
    While it does an okay job presenting what it is really like to have depression, it sets the player down the exactly same depression path, no matter what is chosen.
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