If You Beat One Game This Week…

I cannot say I’ve ever actually been heavily depressed. I mean there was one year in high school where I convinced myself I was super depressed over a girl, but that’s about as close as I’ve gotten. I have those random nights where I just can’t stop telling myself how lonely I am, how my life is going nowhere, but I wouldn’t really call that full depression, just thinking too much. I have friends who suffer from actual depression, so I sort of get it but at the same time I can’t say I fully relate. I’ve lost my point somewhere in this paragraph… If you wanna see where this is going (and I think you do) it continues after the break.

You’re all probably wondering “DOBA. You do a podcast about nerdy fun stuff like anime and games, what are you writing about depression for? Isn’t this a little heavy for the guy who hosts Read the Manual?”

…Yes. It probably is. But I can tie this into a game, and I can do it easily. I can even do it in a way that everybody reading can experience. It’s free, will only take you around half an hour to experience, and is in fact a video game. See? I tied it into my work.

The game is called Actual Sunlight, and it’s an indie game that can be downloaded for free at a link I will give you below. There’s not much to say about this game. I’m not going to insert screenshots, I’m not going to pretend to be an expert. I just finished playing it myself about ten minutes ago. However, there’s a reason I’m putting this on the front page.

SMYNjas, Network fans, Network hosts, random readers, whoever you are reading this right now: Play this game. Play it in one sitting, play it immediately. I’m serious, I’m giving homework. I’m not saying it’s amazing or fantastic, but I am saying it’s important. It is not a fun game to play, not a fun game to read, but it is important. If you listen to one thing I ask any of you to do in your life, make it this. Play this game. Talk to everybody, interact with every object, read every line of dialogue, because it is important.

The game takes place from the perspective of Evan Winters, and it deals with some heavy subject. Loneliness, depression, anxiety, and a lot more. You don’t want to play this game, you will not have fun, but I once again stress to you that it is perhaps more important than any game you will play today. Or this week. Or this month. Maybe even this year. At least I think so.

So there’s your homework. Play Actual Sunlight, and maybe even talk about it here. Maybe I’m just blowing it out of proportion, I don’t know. But from where I’m standing this looks like something I need to tell you to do.

You can download Actual Sunlight for free at THIS LINK.

Warning: Contains strong language and mature themes.