Reviews for Down the Brain

[AdonCa]

As another reviewer said, this game is more about being 'emo' than real depression. People who are truly depressed want to get OUT of it, not deeper into it because it's cool and you dress all in black. It seems like the protagonist here is a stereotypical emo, viewing playing at being depressed as cool and somehow deep. Trust me, when you are depressed, blocking happiness is an involuntary reflex, not something you want to do actively. As someone with depression, I know whereof I speak.

Metalcan responds:

Yeah you're absolutely right, it's definitely not about real depression. It's simply a silly idea to switch the roles of happiness and depression, where depression would be something that you would seek out and use to battle happiness. It does indeed seem "emo", but we honestly didn't have that in mind when we made the game - with 3 days to do it, there was not much time to think. It's just meant to be quirky, not to offend anyone.

[SeyPenni]

Positives:
- Controls are solid
- Game play is solid
- Music is decent, a little annoying over time
- Item use and explanation is interesting
Negatives:
- No goals
- Mis-representative.

This is a game about Emo, not depression. No one with depression wants to stay depressed. Depression is not seen as something 'cool' to be or have, unless you're completely mindless. It feels like you took one of the most ridiculous stereotypes and made a game about it.

Metalcan responds:

Thanks for the review, I aggree on the "no goals" point, we simply ran out of time. As for being misrepresentative, see the answer above.

[Endiment]

It's a funny little dungeon crawler, though it really hasn't anything to do with the topic it highlights.
I know, as I'm one of those who suffer from returning depressions.
When depressed you aren't active at all, because nothing matters - it's not that you're sad per se, it's just an overall sense of greyness and odd indifference.
A depressed person wouldn't even bother to move, even when faced with danger.

Metalcan responds:

Thanks, yeah it's definitely not meant to portray any sort of real depression, see answer above.

[Hayther]

Good game, im afraid if i keep playing I'll became depressed.

Metalcan responds:

Thanks, stay positive.

[sleeplessCartoonist]

Well, the music is alright. The gameplay is fun at first, but gets repetitive (I assume that's the point of it) and I find it is a little easy. I like the graphics.
But I think that how depression is displayed in this game is a little peculiar. I've had depression before (still do, actually), and it's really not like this. Rather than battling happiness, and trying to stay sad and angry, a lot of people with depression try to get over it. Maybe it's just me, or maybe that's the type of person you wanted to display.
Overall, not a fantastic game. It's fine if you want some slow-paced game and don't mind repetitiveness, however.

Metalcan responds:

Thanks for the review, yeah we were simply trying to make something quirky, not to portray real depression. Yeah it's repetitive, we did what we could within the time limit.