below

When you were younger and happier, you often spent hours in the woods, sitting quietly and drawing. Over time, you did it less and less: first homework, then the stress of a new job, then...you just didn’t. You were good at drawing once. Never great, but good—and it brought you so much joy. Joy is hard for you to come by these days.

So begins your journey in below, a solo journaling game about getting lost in a strange, uncomfortable place. Over the course of 10 days, you'll explore a remote area you find yourself trapped in. In responding to the journaling prompts, players are encouraged to draw parts of their responses, even if you don't think that your drawing skills are good. This is a game for you about falling out of your comfort zone.

below addresses many topics that could be upsetting to players. The narrative of the game addresses depression through metaphor, and as such, for players who aren't in a good place mentally, it may not be the game for you right now. In below, you play someone exploring an area they used to love but no longer feel connected to. At the end of the first day, you fall into a dark, unfamiliar region and cannot find a way out. Over the course of the ten days of the game, you'll keep a record of your explorations through words and images as you endure.

Content Warnings: below addresses, through metaphor, depression and the disconnection that comes along with it. There are prompts that address falling, being lost, not having food or water, nearly drowning, and harm to an animal caused by predation and its resulting suffering.

I need everyone who picks up this game to understand that this isn't a tool for the processing of or recovery from depression. I'm not trained to create those kinds of resources by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I think that for some people suffering from depression or seasonal affective disorder, some of the prompts might make things worse for you. But, again, I'm not qualified to make any claims on that front.

Credits

Design, Writing & Layout: Doug Levandowski

Cover Art: Fergus Ferguson