Tag: mental illness
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Horror Games That Don’t Rely On the ‘Mental Illness is Scary’ Trope
If I asked you to think about the average horror game setting, then chances are that your mind probably wandered to an abandoned mental hospital, or a spooky forest inhabited by “crazy people.” I know mine does. The horror game market is so overly saturated in games about mentally ill villains, that it’s clear many…
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Are Horror Games Becoming Gradually Less Ableist?
It’s dark, you’re alone, and you find yourself walking down a long, dank and dirty hallway. Something is groaning and screaming in another room, so you look for a weapon. In a set of drawers filled with unwashed medical equipment you find a meat cleaver. The wailing is getting louder now, and you hear desperate…
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Fighting The Stigma of Depression and Anxiety With Games
Though approximately one in four people will experience a mental health issue in their lifetime, there is still far too much stigma and misunderstanding surrounding them. By creating games about depression and anxiety, two of the most common mental illnesses, developers have been demonstrating openly their own experiences in a way that helps both sufferers…
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Asylum Jam Returns To Show Horror Without Stigma
Now in its fourth year, Asylum Jam is a 48 hour game jam where developers must create a horror game. There is just one catch. “The only rule,” explains Jam creator Lucy Morris, “is that you can’t use inaccurate stereotypes.” This includes using, “psychiatric institutes, medical professionals or violent/antipathic/’insane’ patients as settings or triggers.” The…