Phantasmata is a strange RPG game with pixel-style art, which reminds you to take care of your mental health. The game was developed by XenOn - a man struggled with PTSD. Consequently, it aims to deliver a meaningful message about psychological health to its player.
You can watch the release trailer here:
Phantasmata Story Overview
You’ll start the game as Alice – a teenager dropping school for her quest of “urban exploring”. Joining with her best friend Drills, Alice is experiencing the best part of every rebellious kids’ youth.
But the storm is coming. The two girls accidentally discovered a hidden machine. The machine has the abilities to manipulate nightmares and brought them to life.
It turns out, the machine was a tool of the Mayor to take full control of the people’s mind. Eventually, the Mayor has to eliminate Alice by all costs and decides to capture her friend Drills to bait Alice in.
Alice immediately reports the case for her parents and other adults, but there’s no use. All grown-ups neglect her, and she’s on her own foot to solve this problem.
Fortunately, she’s only on her own in the beginning. As she makes rescue progress, she gained the help of other foes – other teenagers (and a spaceship??).
Backed by the teen crew, Alice has to defeat the nightmare monsters while maintaining her healthy mental states.
Will she be able to stop the wicked politician? Will she manage her mental wellness throughout the journey?
Let’s play to find out!
About The Gameplay
In Phantasmata, you’ll rescue your friend and stop the evil mayor by side-scrolling through the 2D scenes.
You are on your way to defeat the nightmare monsters that the Mayor has sent out and complete quests to find the villain.
The game turn-based combats, in which you’ll have to choose to blow normal or “magick” attack, guard or use items to defeat the weird-looking bosses.
At first, you can only control Alice. But as you discover more, you’ll have chances to gain up to 20 allies, each with their own distinctive quest.
If you look after them properly, you’ll have the teenager army following you, separated in various classes such as Witch, Wereraven, Succubus, etc.
However, the game doesn’t only focus on adventuring and slaying monsters. It also delivers a meaningful message about mental health.
To be more specific, Alice and her foes all have some kinds of mental issues that affect them throughout the journey. You’ll have to take care of them, using items like drugs, meditation or even cannabis to keep their mental state on track.
If you failed to do so, the damage will come immediately, stopping you from continuing any further.
Through the game, the developers want to remind people to keep track of their mental states and try to solve the problems as soon as possible, instead of covering them up with shyness. The game is under early-access phase and can be download on Steam, so check it out and show some support for the indie developer as well!
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