EarthBound-Inspired Indie Game About Depression - Me Showing Indie Game Devs an Emotion That Isn't Depression

its their main defining character trait.

And what's worse is that most of these games don't really inspire hope or idealism.

It truly a constant state of wallowing and retreading. The very thing that depression makes you do; self-deflecting than self-reflecting, thus leading to a lack of self-growth, the strongest form of treatment against depression.

Its the reason why a lot of these characters tend to be static, because why do THEY need to change? The world/other-person is the one that needs to change, its the one that made me like this afterall.

A good example of character growth who has depression is ironically not from an indie game: Psychonauts 2 Bob's bottles. In the mind of a character's sorrow is a kind soul that has been marred by tragedy and self-hatred. Its only when he realizes that his depression is clouding the truth is when he start's to show his true self.