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This game really nails the little things man. I'm totally guilty of skipping teeth brushing every now and then. In my opinion, this game has a very uplifting ending placing the responsibility on the main character as well as on the players who relate. At the end of the day, it's your life. You must take every day into your hands and take care of yourself before you take care of business. For those who prefer to watch, this is my playthrough of Paper Cages:
I have a brief discussion about my experiences at the end of the video and the things that I've learned through those experiences. If you're interested in the final thoughts and not so much in the gameplay, you can find that at timestamp 21:08Thanks for making games!
I uh, should've read the warnings before I started, lol!
This game was really cool! The concept and design were really nice, and as a person with depression (as well as anxiety and dysphoria, woo!) it felt very real and relatable. The frustration and disgust in particular is 100% accurate to my experience. And I appreciate the message at the end.
That said, I do think the positive message is slightly overshadowed by the jumpscare and scary movie vibes right after the player admits their depression. That moment is what took me aback and while I liked it, I feel like leaning so heavily on the 'depression is scarier than any boogie man monster' concept is counter-productive for some if you're trying to send an encouraging message. I definitely felt more anxious about the in-game scary thing at that moment than the real life reminder the game was trying to give me. Also, the prompt to get dressed on day two feels kinda broken? I understand they're supposed to be way harder, but every other prompt on day two was either doable or, once failed, still progressed the dialogue. I had to try to get dressed 10+ times before it worked.
Overall though, this was really cool. I love the art style, the cat, the gradual shift in colors as you fail activities on day two, the self-talk loop... this is a very intimate portrayal of mental illness that I think will make people who struggle with it feel seen and people who don't have a slightly better understanding of it. And as a horror fan, I'm enjoying the trend of people sympathetically incorporating mental illness into the genre to explore and vent those issues. Thanks for sharing this!