Berlin, 19.08.2020: The Berlin-based three-women team of Twisted Ramble Games is currently working on „Duru” with which they want to destigmatize the topic of depression. The game does not aim to “experience” this illness. Instead its goal is to create a better understanding for it from an outside perspective and show practical advice on how one can help someone who is suffering from depression. It depicts that rather dark topic in a colorful, light-hearted yet respectful way.
Duru is a 2D puzzle adventure in which players control the mole rat Tuli who is living a simple life in a West-African inspired mole rat colony. One day she meets an ominous creature that is the personification of Tuli’s rising depression and life gets less simple. It brings a twist into the gameplay as well: players have to solve puzzles with and against this unfriendly AI companion that they can't loose.
< gif: "Bel kicking stones" or alternatively (if gifs are not possible) jpg: "AI-bel-raging" from attachment >
Players witness the story of Tuli’s illness and her changing behavior. Her social environment also changes due to her distancing herself from everybody. Through this Duru shows common misunderstandings that often occur in the environment of people affected by depression. Moreover it offers solutions for dealing with them. Twisted Ramble Games wants more people to understand the symptoms of this illness in order to be able to better help those suffering from depression.
Kerstin, one of the co-founders and initiators of the company shares her experiences:
„When I was finally able to talk about my depression I noticed two things: I faced much more understanding as I would have thought. And there were many people who didn't know what they should say… and that often ended up in stereotypical phrases like „things could be worse”. We want to show better ways to offer sympathy and help and stop counterproductive behavior.
To make these information accessible for as many people as possible, Duru also explains these situations without words, but with picture dialogs.
< jpg: "Picture Dialog" from attachment >
You can see how Bel, the dark creature, twists Tuli’s thoughts, how it makes her not feel worth being friends with. Through exploring the mole rat colony and interaction with the other characters you can find out which behaviors are helpful to Tuli and which just make Bel grow.
The team wants to release Duru for PC and Mac, later also for the Nintendo Switch. With this they aim to reach families and a younger audience as depression also hits 3-10% of adolescents between 12 and 17 years.
Organizations related to depression wrote about the project as it currently is on Kickstarter. Over 280 people already pledged for the game and nearly 70% are funded. It can be supported until August 29. More details about the game and team behind it can be found here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/twisted-ramble/duru
About Twisted Ramble Games
Twisted Ramble Games is a Berlin-based indie studio that focusses on stories about stigmatized topics like mental illness, social constraints and cultural differences. Their goal is to depict these topics in a serious but light-hearted way. Currently they are working on Duru, a colorful game about mole rats and depression.
Website: https://www.twisted-ramble.com
Mail: contact@twisted-ramble.com
Further information for press representatives
All media information can be found on our Press-Kit:
https://www.twisted-ramble.com/press-kit-duru/
You can download the demo with 1-2 hours of play time under the following link after entering the password “Play-Duru”. Please note that this password is for press representatives only and don't publish it on your game news site. As this is an early version of the demo, bugs may occur: