Sends a bad message – Town of Tides Review

(Non spoiler review) First off I really dont think parents should let their kids or teens play this game. One because it focuses heavily on suicide, two, it sends the message that it’s ok to treat people like garbage because you’re struggling with with depression (parents please read my spoiler review at the bottom). Now, I came here after playing bluebird by the same developer which I thought was a really fun puzzle game; driven by a good story. So I decided to give this one a try. However I honestly thought story for this game was really sick and twisted. First off it’s not really a game with puzzles and challenges so much as a never ending sequence of dialogue, and I would even be ok with that if I thought the story itself was good, but I just didn’t like how suicide was such a central theme to the narrative and I personally thought the main character was just an awful person who keeps getting rewarded for thinking hes better than everyone else and mistreating a girl with depression. (Spoiler review below) So here im going to focus more specifically on what I didn’t like about the story and why I think it may be bad message for kids and teens. The focus of this game is between a guy (who you play as) and a girl both of whom struggle with depression which is not a bad concept. I actually think the idea of a guy who helps put ghosts to rest while falling in love in a little beach town is a phenomenal concept. However just the absolute self centeredness of the main character is unbearable. He meets this girl on the beach where it’s implied she might’ve drowned herself had the guy not shown up at the right moment (at the very least she is severely depressed) they have one awkward interaction then from there he just treats her horribly. He constantly refuses her company, makes her cry, confesses he only does nice things for self gratification, then to top it all off he even says he lied about every nice thing he said to her (which weren’t many) then he calls her a fool whom he looks down upon. Now you also have to keep in mind he does all this knowing she’s struggling with severe depression and loneliness. At one point early on in the game the main character actually thought she killed herself, and when he finds out she’s still alive he’s not particularly happy or relived about it, instead he tries to get away from her. Then if thats not sick enough, for some inexplicable reason she keeps coming back to try and be with him and even moves in with him at the end. Oh! and when she offers to move in with him, she states that he doesn’t have to change either, he gets to keep on behaving the way he has the whole game. That to me personally that comes off as since you’re struggling with depression, you get to mistreat and look down upon others with no consequences whatsoever. Not only no consequences but you’ll get to live in small beach town with no job and have a pretty girl offer to move in with you.
Review by jfhfjfhvvh on Town of Tides.