Whenever we have a long day we just want a way to relax, and often one of those ways to relax could be playing video games. Maybe you just want to bash a few buttons, and kill a few zombies. That should be considered a method of relaxation, but depending on the game you play it could also make your anxiety worse.
I started to play this game called "Doki Doki Literature Club", it seemed like a cute little visual novel about romance it was also based in Japan and I do love Japan. I really did think it was going to be a cute game about romance but I was wrong.
Warning: spoilers ahead!
If you havent played the game yet and you want to play the game you may want to skip this part of the article.
The game started off with a guy as the main protagonist in which you got to choose the name of. He joins the school literature club with some push by his friend Sayori in which he meets other members in the literature club, Natisuki, Monika, and Yuri. You can create your own poem by picking words that match the interests of certain girls. You start to get close to them and you notice that your friend Sayori has some problems and you go to her house to ask her about it and you find out that she has depression and just wants it to go away. I did find myself relating to her a lot, having depression ending up not having any motivation to do anything. You do everything you can to reassure her that you are there for her and that everything will be okay. But it doesn't seem like enough. It seems no matter the choice you make, you find her dead in her room as she has committed suicide. Then the game restarts to the same intro screen only with Sayori glitched out because her file was automatically deleted.
From what I have seen, you can play the game to get the endings of the other girls which I will eventually do but I just needed some time to calm down.
I'll admit, after playing that game I was a little shaken and a little jumpy from some of the jump scares that I ended up experiencing and from some of the unsettling images. I probably should have read the warning when I found it for free on Steam and the fact that one of the tags said psychological horror. I should finish the game so then I can properly write about it and give it a genuine review, but I had to wait at least a week before I fully finished it. I am the kind of person that can easily get triggered by things and that kinda did trigger me seeing Sayori dead.
I think horror video games can have an impact on your mental health. You may end up having nightmares, and may never want to play these kind of games in the dark. I have played "Five Nights At Freddy's" in the dark and I ended up having trouble falling asleep. But weirdly enough, the merchandise is less scary than the game which is why I have a few key chains.
The game which most YouTubers have been playing, "Simulacra," has a ton of jump scares, some of which aren't even scary. It acts like a real phone but you also get background noises which make you turn around and make you paranoid, and it may even make you question your own phone.
I feel like if you do have anxiety and are easily triggered, then maybe you shouldn't play those games or play them with caution. Your mental health is important to you and you shouldn't mess with it just to get some thrills out of it. Maybe it does seem like spoilers but maybe watch a lets play so then you know what you are getting yourself into.
It is so important to take care of yourself. Play games but play them cautiously as you never know if it can impact you.
