Depressing vs. non-depressing

[Oma Tana]

Hi,

I played the demo a lot, trying again and again to reach a better outcome for my village. One time we managed to get bread befor the end, and I was really happy.

But finally I stopped playing it for the time being, because it was so sad to see my people die over and over again from poisoning and sometimes from hunger.

I understand, that this difficulty is something, that makes the game interesting and let's players play the demo multiple times, like I did. But on the other hand it is so sad and maybe even depressing, when people and Onbu can die so easily.

Then I startet playing Airbore Kingdom, another city building game, this time flying in the air. And I watch videos of youtubers playing it. And several of them compare the Airborne Kingdom to Frostpunk, and all of them say: "it's like Frostpunk but not as depressing. I stopped playing Frostpunk because it really made me depressed. This Airborne Kingdom makes me happy, especially in theses times."

That makes me wonder about the impact a game can have on your mood, even on your mental well-being.

And then I thought on The Wandering Village and how sad I became, playing it.

I wouldn't suggest omitting the dying from hunger and poison, because then lots of players would find it boring.

But I would suggest different levels of difficulty already when the game releases at early access.

I know, that different difficulty levels make it harder to develop and to work on the balancing. But I find it very important, that a game doesn't make you depressed when playing, especially in these times.

CU Eva aka Oma Tana

[pether]

I feel like this game has quite a good balance for fairy tale-like game, FAR FAR AWAY from frostpunk style.

But it is very subjective and may vary depending on a player, so maybe a good idea would be to add game difficulty setting so we could play on easy mode and not to worry about dangers ahead (or make things harder if we want more challenge)