Video games can often reflect real-world issues and feelings. As mental health awareness has grown, more developers and storytellers are utilising games as a vehicle to say something, or to share an experience that is personal to them. Listed below are a range of games that were created to challenge how we think about mental health as well as help gamers cope with or understand their own mental health journey.
In A Taste Of The Past players will step into the shoes of Mei, a shy, Chinese-American high school student that is dealing with the sudden passing of her mother. After Mei loses her mother's recipes, she embarks on a train and realises that her ancestors have also boarded as well.
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Enter an inexplicable, abstract mansion to rescue a loved one in this fast-paced, brutal, and dark roguelite filled with precise but savage gunplay and time-bending slow motion. Face your inner demons and unveil the secrets of the Mansion.
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With an instructor-led classroom experience, ZenVR will teach you real meditation beyond relaxation and guide you to take your skills off the cushion & into your everyday life.
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In Promising Times players step into the role of Oliver. You'll experience four days in the life of Oliver in which he struggles with different aspects of his current life and isn't in the best shape.
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How To Say Goodbye is the story about a character that has recently passed away and turned into a ghost stuck between life and death.
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Welcome To Elk is a biographical adventure set on an island like no other, where every character you encounter has a story to tell.
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Find inner peace in a small, open-world game. On these carefully handcrafted islands, you can take a nap on a giant monster, feed baby dragons, take care of the fauna and flora... but demons from your past might come back to remind you what you want to forget.
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Brothers is presented from a third-person view overlooking the two brothers. The brothers are moved individually by two thumbsticks on the controller. The controller triggers also cause the respective brother to interact with the game world, such as talking to a non-player character or grabbing onto a ledge or object.
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Deficit is a Semi-Fictional Experiential ADHD Story, based on real-life ADHD experiences. Players will navigate their way through the game.
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The Safe Place, an app designed by Jasmin Pierre this app is a Minority Mental Health App geared towards the Black Community.
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Meet Mendü: a free companion to talk though problems with, right now. Learn how to de-stress, problem-solve, sleep better, relieve anxiety, gain more confidence and feel more balanced.
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Stress less, sleep soundly, and get happier. Headspace is everyday mindfulness and meditation, so you can make mindfulness a daily habit and be kind to your mind. Learn how to relax, manage stress, find your focus, and release tension in both the mind and body.
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The Longest Walk is a deeply personal biographical documentary walking simulator game about my father's experience of living with depression and suicidal thoughts. The game was created using audio recorded from a 54-minute-long interview that I conducted with my dad, which was then edited into this approximately 9-and-a-half minute long playable experience.
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Take care of your plants and yourself in a comforting, relaxing and lush atmosphere of your own design, completing daily acts of self-love that make the world a kinder place.
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Wayward Strand is a heartfelt story told in a curious way. Hop aboard an airborne hospital and meet its fully-voiced cast of eclectic characters.
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You Don't Look Sick challenges players to complete resource management-based narrative objectives through a month in the life of your chosen and fully customisable character.
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An immersive, narrative videogame that retells Joel Green’s 4-year fight against cancer through about two hours of poetic, imaginative gameplay that explores themes of faith, hope and love.
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What starts as a routine mission to an agrarian outpost quickly becomes the opening salvo in an epic war. As the newly appointed Executive Officer of the SSV Normandy, you'll assemble and lead an elite squad of heroes into battle after heart-pounding battle. Each decision you make will impact not only your fate, but the destiny of the entire galaxy in the Mass Effect trilogy.
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Remembering is scary, and reaching our for help can be even scarier, but that does not mean that we have to be all alone.
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Welcome to your Virtual Cottage! Please stay as long as you like and enjoy a cozy, distraction-free environment.
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A Bit of Light is a game developed for the 2020 Games Aid Mental Health Jam. Spend your time wisely and make every activity count.
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A first person narrative adventure which tells the story of a soul’s journey into the afterlife using your real-life blinks.
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Players Join Steve in ACTing Minds as he embarks on a journey into his own mind to face some painful past memories.
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In Valiant Hearts, the lives of all these characters are inextricably drawn together over the course of the game. Friendship, love, sacrifice and tragedy befall each one as they help each other to retain their humanity against the horrors of war.
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