Check out the Unwording Preview for Steam Trailer:
Overview
Unwording is a puzzle game developed and published by Frostwood Interactive that takes players on a journey through the mind of Tom, a character dealing with symptoms of depression, specifically, negative thought patterns. As player’s solve the game’s puzzles, they also help Tom gain a new perspective about the world around him.
Story
Unwording follows a character named Tom who is struggling with negative thought patterns. His negative thoughts flatten his world into a mirror that reflects the negativity inside him. As Tom looks around his room, his street, and his office, he sees messages that remind him of all he lacks.
One day, a ‘birb’, who Tom unknowingly insults, enters Tom’s life and sets Tom on a healing path, by…pooping on his bed and phone. The ‘birb’ breaks through Tom’s negative thought patterns and forces Tom to change how he sees the world.
Gameplay
Unwording’s gameplay centers around solving word puzzles. The game is split into three sections, each representing a stage in Tom’s healing journey. The puzzle solving mechanics change with each day Tom gets better, with the actual game controls telling a story of their own.
In the beginning, the puzzles involve guessing unknown words by rotating blocks of letters. The rotation mechanics are teeth-grindingly frustrating, and I started to have several negative thoughts of my own.
Once the ‘birb’, whom I nicknamed Zoloft, enters Tom’s life, the puzzle mechanics shift. Instead of clunkily rotating individual blocks, players have to manipulate and rotate a 3-D mass of letters, attempting to line them up to form words. At first this way of solving puzzles was even more frustrating, but once I figured it out, it became infinitely easier. And that was the point where I realized Frostwood Interactive intentionally made the first stage of the game so frustrating on purpose. It’s hard work creating a reality that is actually as negative as you think it is, and to ignore all the little goods in life.
After Tom eats a hotdog and coffee, he wakes up to find he doesn’t need to solve puzzles anymore, he is actually able to type in words (but players still have to figure out the right word) and he can create the world that he lives in.
Final Reflections
As someone who is actively in therapy, and has been in the mental health game for years, the flow of the gameplay felt very familiar to the successes I’ve achieved, which tells me that it was created with love and passion by someone who has actually experienced this journey, and for that I’m willing to forgive certain things like the game’s pacing (players do in two hours, what I have spent six years, thousands of dollars, medication, and a brief stint in a cult to gain, and with none of the back sliding caused by a global pandemic).
There is one point though that I really struggled with, and that I want to explicitly state here. Recognizing you are dealing with negative thought patterns and other depressive behaviors is not the cure for those things, it is the first step, maybe even the first half step. The effort and energy it takes to find help can feel overwhelming. The game shows Tom struggling with fatigue, lack of appetite, anxiety, and then he just wakes up and can see the world in a different light.
While cognitive behavior therapy, family systems therapy, and good old regular talk therapy can help put tools in a person’s toolbox to challenge negative thoughts, nothing can ever erase them. They are always there, and the hope is that people can get better at recognizing and setting them aside.
This was the reason why I nicknamed the ‘birb’ Zoloft, because I think the game fails to represent the actual journey to find a support system and seek help that a person dealing with these symptoms would need to travel.
That being said though, if someone plays this game, and it helps them realize that life doesn’t have to feel so bad, and they do decide to start their mental health journey, then awesome, I just wish more thought had been put into how to trigger Tom’s call to action, or maybe showing Tom looking up therapy resources by the end of the game, rather than cleaning his apartment.
Unwording’s focus is a great concept, and I love that video games are being used in this way. The puzzles are frustrating, but convey the developer’s message, and are well-integrated into the story.
Unwording is available to wishlist for PC via Steam. There is also a free demo available right now.
Related: Reviews by Michelle Jones
I'm a completionist gamer who just needs to find that one last object and clear that final dungeon. I love all video games, from open world sandboxes on a console to a mindless match three on my phone. In addition to gaming and writing, I am a graduate student working on a thesis about the ancient Icelandic Sagas. Feel free to ask me anything about Vikings.
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