14 DAY TRIAL // Depression Quest, a text-based adventure game developed by The Quinnspiracy, Patrick Lindsey, and Isaac Schankler, has landed on Steam.
You might wonder what's so important about this particular title landing on Steam, but it turns out that there is more to it than meets the eye. The main thing that draws the attention of players from around the world is the coincidence regarding the launch date and the death of Robin Williams.
The developers submitted the game a while ago on Steam Greenlight and it took some time to receive the confirmation that it would be published. The same day that they received the approval from Valve, actor and comedian Robin Williams chose to end his life after a long fight with depression.
The developers immediately thought about postponing the launch due to this extraordinary circumstance, but this is not a regular gaming experience. It's actually a game that tries to raise awareness about this terrible affliction that can affect anyone, regardless of any considerations.
“Literally minutes after we got the notification, beloved actor Robin Williams was found dead from a suspected suicide after a long struggle with depression. We were all ready to hit the big red button the minute that the news broke.”
“The game is available for free online using a pay what you want model including absolutely nothing, with a portion of the proceeds going to charity to combat the stigma and culture of silence around this debilitating disease,” says Zoe Quinn, one of the developers of the game.
Depression Quest is not actually a new game and it's been around for more than a year. One of the interesting aspects of it is that users can choose to pay what they want for it. As you can imagine, it's been quite a challenge to implement this kind of policy in Steam.
Some might interpret the launch of Depression Quest as a way of using the death of Robin Williams as a platform, but that is simply not true. If nothing else, the game will bring even more information about depression to people who are curious to know about it and how it can affect the lives of everyone.
Linux users will need at least Ubuntu 13.04+, Fedora 18+, Arch, or Gentoo to play the game and the rest of the requirements are pretty low. You can find more details about Depression Quest on the Steam website.