Encoded in Nature: Mutual Care and Mental Illness in Video Games





What do a farming sim, a platformer, and a click-and-point horror game have in common? All three games initiate critical conversations about the relationship between the environment and mental health. Stardew Valley (Chucklefish, 2016), Celeste (Matt Makes Games, 2018), and Oxenfree (Night School Studio, 2016) explore our place in nature and how we act outside of urban societal expectations by creating a new narrative about the relationship between environment and mental illness. This narrative is one of mutual care—neither people nor nature can thrive in our contemporary society without fostering empathetic relationships.Stardew Valley, known as one of the greatest farming simulators of all time, is a role-playing game that evokes the nostalgia of its predecessors from the 1990s and early 2000s—the Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons franchises. The premise of farming games is simple: the playable character inherits a farm, participates in village life, and hopefully makes a profit by harvesting crops and raising livestock. While Eric Barone’s Stardew Valley is based upon this basic narrative, Barone does not stray away from conflict in this idyllic and colorful farmscape. Instead, he introduces multiple subplots into the game in which NPCs have storylines that detail their struggles with alcoholism, depression, anxiety, abusive relationships, post-traumatic stress, and even the waning economy of a rural village. My character fed her chickens and interacted with the townsfolk. As I continued playing, the NPCs incrementally opened up about their struggles, their coping mechanisms, and I even had the option to intervene in their lives. The interactive dialogue of Stardew Valley challenges the narrative that nature itself is a cure; instead, the player must actively care for the valley and everyone in it to progress through the storyline and unlock achievements.