Vampire Therapist

Most of the time the purpose of the videogames we play is fun. It can be clever fun or stupid fun but fun nonetheless. But it happens sometimes to find a game that is enjoyable and is also able to teach you [i]lots[/i] of useful things. Vampire Therapist might seem just another visual novel about vampires, but it's way more than that: the story is made by therapy sessions where you can learn actual psychology patterns, backed by real studies and real psychologist. Despite having different problems (dang I wish I was a bored immortal vampire too, but I digress) the characters' stories and traumas are often very relatable and grounded in reality. And while you know them more, you also know yourself more. It also happened to me to speak with a friend today and recognising cognitive distortions I had learned in the game... it's not something that happens every day. The voice actors do a very compelling job to characterize our vampires and the story is told in an open and mature way. I seriously recommend this game to whoever has the slightest interest in psychology or [i]horny bisexual vampires[/i]. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3735064836

This is a *soft* recommendation. The game is exactly what it says on the tin: you are a vampire who is a therapist to other vampires. If you are in for the concept, you will likely enjoy this. The setting, themes, story, and art are all very nice and well put together. I had a decent time rolling credits. However, there are some things you *might* want to know going in: - The story is entirely linear. No choice you make will deviate from the path of the narrative. - The gameplay is identifying cognitive distortions displayed by clients. This essentially boils down each conversation becoming a multiple-choice question test. I did not find this exciting and stuck through it for the story. Your mileage may vary.

Well, who doesn't need therapy these days? Especially when you are an old vampire, struggling with issues most of us humans know all too well, but they suffer for far longer than we do. According to the game, it was made with the help of a real therapist, so maybe there is some useful information for us to take to heart. The title sold me the game. I like vampires, and well, it is a little hard to find a therapist these days. I read through the game's info and noticed that you cannot lose the game. You can mess up the correct choices to spot the distortions of your patients, but the time is just stopped in order for you to try again with no negative consequences other than screwing up your correct recognition streak. That, on the other hand, is only interesting when you are looking for an achievement that requires a short, unbroken streak, which is easy to achieve. It makes sense that you don't get heavily punished for messing up since this is about a serious topic, and you don't want to end up with no patients or unhappy patients. We have our protagonist, the cowboy Samuel, and his desire to help other vampires to have an easier life. He travels to a city in Germany and meets his mentor, who guides him and brings him together with his own clients. Before we get to help others, though, we have to get through a little therapy session ourselves, since Sam also carries issues with him that need solving. So far, I only made it to the second client, but I have to say that the stories they come with are interesting. I like the accents some of the characters have, as well as the mixed German. Although I am not so sure if I would feel comfortable with a therapist who calls me "buckaroo", "partner," or any of the other names Sam uses while talking to the patients. While it adds uniqueness, it does feel weird, and I can't feel any other way about it, no matter how often I hear him say it. Other than that, I do enjoy playing and meeting the patients, hoping to give them useful advice.