Bipolar Journey

Bipolar Journey is a game originally made in 2016, updated in 2020, and now released on itch.io in 2025. For Mac and Windows, this game gives a simulation of bipolar disorder based on the game developer's personal experience with Madness. Drawn by hand and then using Procreate in the last two levels, this game has the feel of a zine sold in the dingy backroom of a punk show. With four main levels, the first being depression, the second being mania, the third being in the psych ward, and the fourth being in the real world trying to take the right combo of pills to reach a hotdog, this game illustrates mood cycles and also the frustrating experience of going back to another unpleasant mood state if the meds aren't taken properly. Featured on Vice before they deleted a bunch of stuff. Also reviewed in https://reviewsindh.pubpub.org/pub/bipolar-journey/release/1 Reviews in Digital Humanities.