Games often have an effect on your mental health. Fast paced games will keep you on your toes and make you impatient, maybe even have anger issues. On contrary, slow paced games will make you a more calculating individual, albeit boring. Some games can remedy depression, something light-hearted like Kirby. Other games however, can make your day a whole lot worse.

The Cat Lady
This game is lauded as one of the indie horror games out there with the best story. Now horror games are already a no go if you're depressed, but there is something about The Cat Lady that makes it truly emotionally devastating. The Cat Lady is a psychological horror game that revolves around a chronically depressed woman who only has cats for friends. This game is a physical manifestation of depression. It deals with suicide very casually and is very disturbing in general. 

Undertale (Post-Pacifist Genocide Mode)
What makes this game so messed up is that they record every single one of your playthroughs, boiled down to all your decisions and battles. Post-Pacifist Genocide Mode is when you finish the game once without killing anyone after which you kill everyone on your next playthrough. Nothing is more soul-wrenching than watching old characters die off by your hand. While Pacifist Route is filled with jokes and happy music, Genocide Route is a nihilistic descent towards madness and no remorse, and the characters know how you've changed while they haven't. Genocide has a far more distorted soundtrack than Pacifist, and depressing dialogue that you would never find in Pacifist.

This War of Mine
This War of Mine is a one of a kind game. It's a survival strategy game, where you need to keep several survivors of war alive and well fed. This game focuses on the desperation and breakdown of mankind. Taking care of several people is nerve-wracking, and the health of these fictional characters is in your hand. The sheer frantic need for survival, the constant interventions and hard decisions you need to make, these are what make this game special. The graphics are in gloomy greyscale, which add in to the entire depressed feel.

To The Moon
This is an odd one on this list. It's an RPG Maker game, but it's so well made that it is sold on Steam; and for good reason too. It has a beautiful storyline, but it gets disheartening as it advances. The story involves a false memory creator that allows doctors to give people a happy memory before they die. You play as an elderly man who wants to be called Johnny, and his subsequent past selves. The more you go through Johnny's memories the more depressing it gets. If your family is going through financial troubles or you're facing a bumpy road in your relationship, this game is going to hurt you where it counts. 

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
Pretty self explanatory title, IHNMaIMS is a 90s horror title which deals with a bunch of heavy topics like genocide, paranoia, insanity and much more. The story is about an artificial intelligence (AM) that leaves only 5 people left in humanity and cruelly makes them play a game after around 100 years of torture, to prove that machines are better than humans. What made the game truly frustrating was that you could never actually win, meaning machines always would. The characters all have their exploitable flaws that AM takes advantage of.

All of these are 7/10 or 9/10 games, highly recommended if you are not depressed. Of course, some might argue there is nothing more depressing than the finale of a huge series you just finished; or knowing that your favourite game won't get a sequel. But anybody can get over that.

Honourable Mentions: Mother 3, Nier, Silent Hill franchise, Max Payne franchise, Limbo, Dark Souls, Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask, Heavy Rain, and Binding of Isaac.

Taimur Rahman is a man of few words. He can be reached at [email protected]