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.
The year is 1923—step inside Castle Woods Sanatorium, where care and cruelty blur together. Disguised as a doctor, you’ll diagnose and treat patients using a deck of symptoms, tests, and outdated therapies. But tread carefully: one wrong move could expose you as an impostor.
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Face the challenges of Oppidum, a survival adventure for 1-4 players with a unique story waiting to be unraveled. Build a camp, collect everything a fantastic land can offer, and use it to push forward through the island. A world hanging by a thread needs your help – will you answer the call?
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Share your thoughts and discover those shared by others, in Fireside Feelings. Gather around the welcoming warmth of the campfire and take part in conversations between real people separated in space and time. Sometimes, we all need a good talk under the stars.
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A feud between old gods, a missing flock of faer, and every choice has consequences. Ren is in the middle of it all. What will her story be? You will decide in this narrative driven adventure.
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"The hardest part is not to speak up. It’s being heard." Part video game, part graphic novel, Wednesdays seeks to raise awareness about child sexual abuse through a surprisingly hope-filled story.
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Valley of Shadow is a narrative puzzle game that tells a poignant true story of loss and grief through the discovery of real-life home videos and photographs. Harness mysterious abilities to solve puzzles and heal a broken family.
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Closer the Distance is a slice-of-life sim that tells a deeply emotional story about the connections between family and friends in the face of tragedy.
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A narrative-driven game about rejection, belonging and the true meaning of home. It follows the story of a newly adopted shelter cat who becomes the victim of an elaborate plan when a jealous, stray copycat steals her place in the household.
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As a little girl and her shadow, overcome emotional struggles through surreal dreamscapes across a touching narrative filled with twists and surprises.
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A fateful meeting sets off a chain reaction, upending Mark's life. People disappear and memories prove unreliable. Uncover a hidden truth with Mark and his friends in this narrative adventure and race to unravel the mystery before it's too late.
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Vampire Therapist is a dark comedy/visual novel game from Little Bat Games, in which players navigate therapeutic conversations with vampires using real cognitive behavioural therapy techniques.
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A first-person narrative adventure game, telling the story of a sick child playing a 2D platformer. Made in partnership with Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity!
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A story-driven experience about two doctors traversing backwards through a dying man's memories to artificially fulfill his last wish.
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The End of You is a short, emotional narrative game about love lost, the ghosts of the past, and the painful crawl towards closure.
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Hyper Luminal Games' narrative adventure is a hopeful slice of blocky life, exploring how memory can help us process loss and overcome our fears - while keeping those we've lost close to our hearts.
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Birth is an adventure game about constructing a creature from spare bones & organs found around the city in order to quell your loneliness.
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At Vantage Point, we embrace “Learning to Unlearn”. Where we are moving towards as humanity, a lot of it has to do with education. Technology causes apathy - but we leverage emerging technology for education to drive empathy, and fundamentally make the world more human. This is our mantra.
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Bystander is a theoretically-based intervention targeting high school youth that aims to increase the skills, attitudes, and awareness to prevent sexual violence. This game lets the player explore, try different responses, and learn the right way to address sexual misconduct.
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The unique app identifies sexism and sexual harassment in the workplace.
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Face your fears in this chilling 2D survival horror action game about understanding and overcoming mental health struggles. Explore twisted nightmares, engage in challenging fast-paced combat and survive encounters with terrifying stalker enemies.
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What We Take With Us is a guided meditation and set of activities comprised of 10 questions to aid anxiety and assist your workday.
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Re:call is a narrative puzzle game that revolves around the central theme of changing the past to shape the present.
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A fun educational game that provides a safe space for early teenagers to interactively explore the topics of sexuality, gender, bodies, and personal boundaries.
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