Curate of Curiosities

Previously on Adventures with Anxiety, our human got Hadoken'd by their anxiety at a party, after futilely trying to shut it out.

A few days later, they decide to attend another party hosted by the same person as before, with the aim of silencing their anxiety for good.

There, the host dares them to jump of the top of the building into the swimming pool below. I suppose that's one way to silence your anxiety. Of course, it's also a good way to get yourself horribly maimed.

It's now that the human starts having doubts, now that they realize the danger.

But the host is quick to dismiss those doubts as little more than preachy self-help claptrap.

This is our final test. Can we stop our human from themselves?

Right from the get go we're given a choice.

It doesn't matter what you pick: the human takes a swig from their bottle, and we take damage.

Right after that, we're given another choice, similar to the one at the end of the previous chapter.

It doesn't work, either.

You are given one last choice. Guess what the "right" answer is.

Guess what the right choice is here, too.

In order to get your human to back down, you have to not only admit that you were wrong, but also double down on that sentiment.

This causes them to give up surprisingly easily.

Frankly, I'm just as disappointed as the host is. I expected this to be a bit more climactic.

We go back to where we started, where the human seems to realize that this whole story so far was just to facilitate a rather ham-fisted moral.

On top of that, they both realize that using a fighting game UI to represent anxiety attacks is kinda dumb.

And now, we get to the part where the game just disgorges its message at you.

Self awareness isn't going to help you here.

First, we go with the fear of being hurt.

Not only do we get lectured at, but for once, we make a decision on behalf of the human, rather than their anxiety.

Next, our fear of being alone.

The fact that the human turns toward the camera while saying this shows how this lecture is more intended for the player than the characters.

Last one.

In retrospect, maybe I should have picked either of the choices that dealt with manipulation, since I think that would make the most sense for one's anxiety to take advantage of.

I knew going in that this would be, at best, a grossly simplified of anxiety disorder. You don't have to call attention to it, especially since you have a companion site that's all about dealing with it!

Do you mind, miss? We're trying to deliver a message here. We don't have time to deal with you or that cat of yours.

Now, as we were saying...

Maybe we can, wolf. I can't make any promises, though.

For now, this is all we can do.

And that was Adventures With Anxiety. It was a somewhat more fleshed out experience than We Become What We Behold, but no less heavy-handed.