Actual Sunlight

"It's like you're drowning and asking people for help but they reply with: What's wrong? You can swim fine, you can handle it, stop drowning"

Today's review is a little different to give a break from the RPG realm and to emphasize my love for stories in games.

Actual Sunlight is an interactive text based short game that talks about depression. Depression is not an easy subject to discuss nor is it easy to relate to in our case. I've been exposed to the topic and have few people in my life with Clinical Depression, It was tough for me to deal with them and support them but there is no way I can imagine what they are going through. Actual Sunlight has one of these cases and from what I've been through, you know you hit rock bottom when you start contemplating suicide. That is probably the intention behind this game, to bring awareness to the whole topic. 

I like stories more than anything in my games. I also like them to be actual games instead of me reading through a so called game. It was different for me to actually purchase a visual novel on steam, but this topic drew me in and I can relate to it a lot, although not directly. Visual novels have been full of fan fiction stories made by RPGMaker and as far as I know, these games aren't serious or at least most of them. This is why I loved to check out Actual Sunlight. It was interesting enough for me to check it out.

Very much like To The Moon, Actual Sunlight convinces me you can create a good atmosphere in a simple template of a game.

I've been torn on whether I would recommend this game or not. There are many reasons for both in my own opinion. For example, I'd recommend it if it would raise awareness to depression and familiarize people with the topic so they can find a way to support someone before it is too late. I'd not recommend it because it is not a very engaging experience, however, that would be quite offensive to the experience on "Evan Winters". I decided I'd go with recommending it only because it is not a simple topic and I'd be happy knowing this game could spark a feeling for someone.

I bought Actual Sunlight on Steam and it is also available on the PS Vita. Check it out if you like story based experiences.