Encoded in Nature: Mutual Care and Mental Illness in Video Games

What do a farming sim, a platformer, and a click-and-point horror game have in common? All three games initiate critical conversations about the relationship between the environment and mental health. Stardew Valley (Chucklefish, 2016), Celeste (Matt Makes Games, 2018), and Oxenfree (Night School Studio, 2016) explore our place in nature and how we act outside of urban societal expectations by creating a new narrative about the relationship between environment and mental illness. This narrative is one of mutual care—neither people nor nature can thrive in our contemporary society without fostering empathetic relationships. The following analyses of the games include story spoilers. <h1>Stardew Valley: Sustaining relationships</h1> Stardew Valley, known as one of the greatest farming simulators of all time, is a role-playing game that evokes the nostalgia of its predecessors from the 1990s and early 2000s—the Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons franchises. The premise of farming games is simple: the playable character inherits a farm, participates in village life, and hopefully makes a profit by harvesting crops and raising livestock. <a href="https://aninjusticemag.com/encoded-in-nature-mental-illness-and-mutual-care-in-video-games-bb329a812966">Read More</a>