Playing Every Game in the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality
PEGBRJE: ‘Conversations With My Anxiety’ and ‘down.’
Mental trauma ahoy!
Conversations With My Anxiety is a narrative game created by Digital Daydream, an indie team in the USA. Players are going on a first date with a lovely lady named Gina, but as with all firsts it is more than a little awkward. Hopefully that inner voice can help! Sike! It really won’t.
Watching the date unfold, players will slowly recoil from the sheer awkwardness as the protagonist talks themselves in to a corner for a multitude of reasons. It is here that a little window in to their mind occurs, and the debate between the self and the anxiety begins. This back and forth is only ended by a decision, which can alter the entire mood of the date depending on how the player reads the situation. The thing is, we as players lack some information. This makes decisions much more difficult to make, which ramps up the anxiety for everyone involved.
It goes without saying that this is the easiest way to present anxiety as a relatable issue thanks to the first date scenario. It’s a great way to make anyone with anxiety issues constantly granted second hand embarrassment and stress. It’s me, I was stressed for most of the game. It’s completely understandable to have jitters on a first date, wanting things to go smoothly so that there is a good environment to learn about the other person, but our protagonist cannot catch a break. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong, and since the decisions do not seem to have all of the context the player is immediately stressed that this decision could destroy everything the date has tried to build. I know from personal experience this feeling of pressure and dread, the constant second-guessing of whether or not the words I am about to say are correct, and then somehow state something insensitive minutes later without a second thought.
The best part of Conversations With My Anxiety is that it portrays something as simple as first date fears as something that everyone can get, but the severity of their reactions depend heavily on that ‘second person’. The anxiety persona in your head is someone that will never truly go away, but their influence on decisions varies greatly from person to person. All you can do is make the right call and hope for the best that the date — or any other interaction for that matter — can go well enough that you and the other person can form a connection. After all, it can’t get worse than running in to your date’s ex at the diner. Can it? Oh no.
Give this a whirl if you love stressing yourself out with small, adorable interactions of awkwardness.
Oh, and teenagers are scary. Thank you for reaffirming my beliefs.
down. is an atmospheric experience crafted by Pixelbark based in England. Players will follow an unnamed woman as she ventures through a bleak forest in the hopes of uncovering what is going on — and perhaps realizing that it might have been better to not know.
Moving through the forest with only two directional buttons, players will wander their way to the right and uncover notes left behind by someone unknown. Each message is more brutal than the last, detailing a gruesome scene while putting all the blame on to the protagonist. The player does wander out of the forest in to other areas, but they do not save them from the notes. Eventually visuals will confirm the fears and implications that the notes hinted at. I’ll avoid spoiling, as narrative games thrive on their timing and reveals, but do be aware that there are content warnings for a reason.
While this does make it hard to talk about down., I can gush on its aesthetic execution to accentuate the bleakness and despair. The visuals are not only in grey but foggy and pixelated, as if we as players are unable to see anything clearly. The protagonist lives in this colourless world, which is used to highlight just how little she can differentiate between anything anymore, a staple of showcasing depression for those that do not live with it. Every action is laboured, and every revelation is met with despair. There is also a very clear choice upon the player ‘finishing’ the game, but again I’m avoiding spoilers.
It is extremely short, only taking ten minutes, but that’s all the time you’ll need to realize just how depressing everything is. Give it a shot if you are comfortable doing so.
