The first thing I noticed about The Uncle Who Works for Nintendo was the level of suspense that it instilled in me. The sound effects, especially the thunderstorm, set the scene with an ominous tone. This resulted in a bit of fearful apprehension as I made each selection through the game. Although, since many of the sounds are from video games, I was comforted by Super Mario Bros, which I play often.

I found the Depression Quest to be quite different. The way some options were not available to you, but were visible , was particularly manipulative. I found myself wanting to select the only choice that was being kept from me. Call it human nature maybe, but I wanted what I couldn’t have. Then I realized the point of this game when I made myself stop and consider what those choices I was unable to make had in common, they were what I would consider to be the normal or respected choices, which she was unable to choose due to her depression. I related to a particular scene dealing with waking up in the morning. Even though the person woke up before her alarm she still snoozed it so many times as to cause her to be late for work, and instead of being able to just get up and face the day, she decides to stay in bed and call out sick from work. This game is actually a very good representation of what some people face when dealing with Depression.

I will go back to the topic of the creepiness factor of these games for me, but it may have something to do with recently watching Twin Peaks, X-Files, and Supernatural. I think that I am expecting things to take a supernatural or spooky turn with every word I read of the story I am creating in the game.