DON'T GIVE UP: A Cynical Tale

Many games about depression require you to go down a dark path, but Don't Give Up let's you choose the right answers. You are stronger than you think, and you know how to get through this. The combat was pretty fun and reminds me of Battle Network. The good of this game outweighs the nitpicks I will not list here.

Ok so I'm going to start by prefacing some things: This is a critique, not bashing on the creator. The developer obviously put a massive amount of heart and soul into the project, and I'm not saying it doesn't deserve recognition. Secondly, this is only from about 4ish fights in? Not terribly far basically. So for starters, there is a rather noticable juxtaposition between the overworld sprites and the dialogue portraits. Not a bad thing, but a bit jarring at first, especially since the dialogue portrait's art style is infinitely more interesting and engaging and feels less like an awkward attempt to emulate the graphical style of say the MOTHER series, though it is nice to see the inspiration. This bleeds into the battle scenarios in that they tend not to be engaging visually. The system is interesting and I personally think that it was a good call for the dev to, at least so far, leave out random encounters as this system is much better suited for occasional use as opposed to the st...

This game had a lot of passion put into it. Lots of pop culture reference, beautiful music and fun characters. The combat is different to any other RPG and can be really challenging. But you have the option to swap difficulties if your struggling. The main gripe I can give it, but can apply to a lot of RPG's anyways, is that it can be easy to get lost in certain area’s if you don't follow the plot or remember how to get from A to Z for certain missions. This can be easily fixed with a map though.

What if Undertale was written by a pretentious Hipster (besides YIIK).

So, I'm going to deviate just a bit from the norm here. For starters, I love the heart that was put into this game, but as a whole, I don't think I could recommend this game to my friends or those who suffer(ed) from depression. For starters... The Good: Good pixelated graphics, great modern-day world, nice soundtrack. The main plot, of a twenty-something (Tris) struggling to get by in the day-to-day is incredibly relatable. I appreciate the risk in tackling something as real as mental health, with some aspects of addiction, and how the Dev captures how it can impact almost every aspect of our lives. Given the Dev's history and the risks taken in making this game with little support, I'm amazed at the fortitude, vision, and courage. Hat's off to you! The Bad: While a great premise, it all comes down to delivery. Two playable characters, though there's little explanation as to this "Subris." Not to mention, multiple holes in the storyline and plot. What's with the sword exactly? And h...

This game is literally so good i cant stop playing it

Never enough urban JRPGs, great story and humour. Tris going to parties and flirting with girls is fun and relatable, seeing real life locations and situations in a "gameified" way is very entertaining. It's really hard to write about what makes this game good without playing it yourself, but the themes feel much more raw compared to the average JRPG, even ones that deal with similar themes (i.e depression and worthlessness in FF4, 6, 7, 8, etc). Furthermore, the game compresses more story and nuance in 8-10 hours than most JRPGs manage in over quadruple the time. Also I like the focus on story over gameplay, yet the combat system still manages to be fun without being bogged down in gear and stat optimisation. Biggest criticism is the Tris sections are much more interesting than Subris. Once you finish the game Subris' story retroactively becomes a lot more interesting at least, but it never hits the character highs of Tris Edit: Another small criticism is a sidequest log/exclama...

Playing this game is only marginally better than sitting in jail. I'M GIVING UP

To sum it up this game is undertale and pop culture mushed into one. Ive enjoyed the first few hours of this game but then it just took a different turn and I lost interest. I like undertale and i dont mind the pop culture references, also having the game address mental illness is a big bonus in my eyes, but in this case the resemblance to every other thing that ive seen before just killed the originality of this game. May appeal to a certain kind of crowd, that isnt as picky as me.

For me, this game was definitely worth playing. I don't know if I can finish it (technical/mechanical problems, not content problems) but I'm very glad I've played this far in (about 3-4 hours worth of gameplay). So I recommend the game, and also recommend that you start knowing you might not be able to finish. There's parts of this game I really like and parts I don't. Let's address those. Tutorial Too much too fast. I was told very quickly what a LOT of different buttons do, and I was then sent off into the game without much help reviewing what I just learned. I did figure it out in the end though. Humor This is one of the absolute funniest games I've ever played. I adore just about every single jab Tris makes and aside Tris says. But then. But then. But THEN you get these bad guys. And they are SO hilarious, especially with their responses to Smak Talk. When I got to the motel and saw the receptionist, I died inside. In a good way. I would love to see what other content the devel...