Interactive Empathy

In this free horror-tinged visual novel, explore themes of empathy through branching storytelling and emotional choices. Developed by Animafest Workshop and published by cultural organizations, ‘Interactive Empathy’ immerses you in a haunting narrative where your decisions shape characters’ destinies.

Interactive Empathy: Review

1. Introduction

In an industry saturated with bombastic blockbusters and high-octane action, Interactive Empathy emerges not as a game, but as a radical social experiment. Released in December 2020 by a collaborative workshop between the Goethe Institute and French Institute in Croatia, this free, experimental title is a poignant exploration of empathy through the medium of interactive comics. Developed in just one week by non-professional artists using Gamechuck’s “Interactive Comics Editor,” it stands as a testament to the untamed potential of games as tools for human connection. While lacking the polish of commercial titles, Interactive Empathy transcends traditional gameplay to deliver a haunting meditation on emotional responsibility and the invisible burdens of mental health. Its legacy lies not in sales or technical prowess, but in its audacious question: Can games make us better people? This review dissects its ambitious design, thematic depth, and place in the evolving landscape of narrative-driven games.

2. Development History & Context

Interactive Empathy was born from a unique confluence of cultural ambition and technological accessibility. Conceived as part of a Zagreb-based workshop titled “Citizenship & Storytelling in Video Games,” it united Animafest Workshop 2019 and Gamechuck to create a project that prioritized social impact over entertainment. The developers—artists with no formal game design background—harnessed Gamechuck’s user-friendly “Interactive Comics Editor,” a tool that democratized game creation by emphasizing narrative over complex mechanics. This choice was deliberate: in a week, novices could craft interactive stories without coding expertise, aligning with the game’s ethos of accessibility.

The project was explicitly tied to the 2020 centenary of World War I, yet its focus on empathy reflected contemporary concerns about social fragmentation and mental health stigma. Released on Steam for free, it was exhibited at the Institut français de Zagreb, positioning it as a hybrid of public art and digital pedagogy. In a gaming landscape dominated by AAA epics and indie darlings, Interactive Empathy occupies a niche as a “critical game”—a work designed to provoke reflection rather than competition. Its constraints—short development time, non-expert creators, and minimalist tools—became its strengths, forcing a purity of intent that larger studios often sacrifice for market appeal.

3. Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

Interactive Empathy comprises two distinct yet complementary narratives, each dissecting empathy through a different lens.

3.1. “Empathy Path”

This horror-inspired interactive comic reimagines empathy as both a cognitive and emotional act, drawing from philosopher Heidi Maibom’s theories. Players navigate a slaughterhouse inhabited by five archetypes: a trapped girl, a suicidal clown, a pig, a butcher, and an artificial intelligence. The game’s core mechanic revolves around “empathy paths”—players must literally step into the perspectives of each character to progress, transforming objects (e.g., the pig, AI) into subjects with nuanced motivations. The trapped girl’s liberation hinges on understanding the butcher’s trauma, the clown’s despair, and the pig’s sentience—all while confronting the AI’s alien logic. Dialogue is sparse but laden with philosophical quotations, such as “Empathy is not feeling for others; it is feeling as them.” The horror isn’t visceral but existential, as players grapple with the weight of their choices: saving one character may doom another, and each perspective shift forces a reckoning with humanity’s fragility. The ending is deliberately unresolved, emphasizing that empathy doesn’t erase suffering—it demands ongoing responsibility.

3.2. “There Is No Cure (And That’s Okay)”

This first-person simulator confronts the stigma of mental illness by mirroring the fragmented realities of living with conditions like depression or anxiety. Players navigate mundane environments—a kitchen, a park, a bedroom—where interactions trigger “glitches”: distorted visuals, delayed responses, and sensory overload. A coffee cup might shatter into pixels; a friend’s voice warps into static. These mechanics aren’t abstract; they’re drawn from interviews with individuals living with mental illness, as documented in the accompanying booklet. The narrative unfolds nonlinearly, with vignettes revealing how ordinary tasks (e.g., grocery shopping) become Herculean feats. Key moments include a glitch-induced panic attack during a phone call or the isolation of seeing others’ faces blur into indistinct shapes. The title itself is a manifesto: mental illness isn’t a puzzle to solve but a reality to accommodate. The game avoids melodrama, instead fostering quiet empathy by making players feel the exhaustion of hiding symptoms and the small victories of self-acceptance.

3.3. Thematic Synergy

Both stories reject simplistic moral binaries. “Empathy Path” challenges players to sympathize with antagonists (e.g., the butcher as a victim of war trauma), while “There Is No Cure” reframes mental illness not as a defect but as a variant human experience. Together, they argue that empathy isn’t passive sympathy but active, often uncomfortable, labor—a theme reinforced by the workshop’s documentary, which records the developers’ own struggles to inhabit these perspectives. This aligns with broader discourse in game studies, where titles like Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice have used interactivity to foster empathy for marginalized experiences.

4. Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

As a visual novel with point-and-select controls, Interactive Empathy prioritizes narrative pacing over traditional gameplay. Its mechanics are minimalist yet purposeful, serving as conduits for its themes.

4.1. Core Loops

• “Empathy Path”: Players click on hotspots to switch perspectives, with each shift revealing new dialogue options and environmental details. For example, viewing the slaughterhouse through the pig’s eyes exposes hidden passages, while the AI’s interface glitches reveal code-based metaphors for emotional detachment. Puzzles are abstract—aligning perspectives to unlock paths—rather than logic-based, mirroring the game’s focus on emotional reasoning.
• “There Is No Cure”: Interaction is limited to clicking objects (e.g., a door, a mirror), triggering randomized “glitch” sequences. These are designed to evoke unpredictability, mimicking the chaos of mental illness. No points or scores exist; success is measured by completing vignettes, which unlock diary entries from fictionalized sufferers.

4.2. Innovative Systems

The most radical mechanic is perspective-as-inventory. In “Empathy Path,” players “collect” viewpoints like keys, with each one altering the game’s visual tone (e.g., the clown’s segment is monochrome, the AI’s is glitchy). This literalizes the idea that empathy reshapes reality. Conversely, “There Is No Cure” uses environmental feedback to simulate cognitive load: the more players interact, the more the screen distorts, forcing them to “rest” by clicking a “pause” button—a mechanic representing self-care.

4.3. Flaws and Limitations

The lack of save functionality is a glaring oversight, forcing players to restart entire segments after a perspective shift. Additionally, the point-and-click interface can feel clunky, with hotspots occasionally unresponsive—a byproduct of the rushed development. These flaws underscore the project’s experimental nature but may frustrate players expecting polish.

5. World-Building, Art & Sound

Interactive Empathy’s power lies in its atmospheric subtlety, where art and sound amplify its themes.

5.1. Visual Direction

• “Empathy Path”: The slaughterhouse is rendered in muted, industrial tones (grays, rust, blood splatters), but perspective shifts alter the palette dramatically. The clown’s segment bursts with garish, circus-like colors, symbolizing manic energy, while the AI’s world is a pixelated void, evoking digital detachment. Character designs are symbolic—the pig’s large, sorrowful eyes humanize it, while the butcher’s face is obscured, forcing players to project empathy.
• “There Is No Cure”: First-person visuals blend photorealism with surreal glitches. Textures ripple like water; backgrounds dissolve into static. The art style shifts between warm (e.g., a sunlit garden) and cold (e.g., a shadowy room), reflecting emotional states. These choices align with research linking visual distortion to anxiety, making the world a character in itself.

5.2. Sound Design

Sound is sparing but potent. “Empathy Path” uses dissonant piano chords during perspective shifts, jarring players out of complacency. The AI’s segments feature digital beeps, while the pig’s world is punctuated by distant, mournful oinks. “There Is No Cure” relies on ambient noise—a dripping faucet, a muffled conversation—that distorts into white noise during glitches. The most striking moment is the silence after a panic attack, where only the player’s breathing is audible—forcing confrontation with vulnerability.

5.3. Atmosphere and Immersion

Both games create a sense of embodied empathy. In “Empathy Path,” the claustrophobic slaughterhouse becomes a prison for players too, while in “There Is No Cure,” the glitches induce genuine unease. This immersion is rare in games, which often prioritize spectacle over introspection. As scholars argue (see Game Studies journal, 2021), such “affective design” is key to fostering historical and emotional awareness—here, it’s weaponized for social change.

6. Reception & Legacy

At launch, Interactive Empathy garnered niche attention. It was downloaded over 50,000 times on Steam, with players praising its “unflinching honesty” (Steam reviews). However, its experimental nature polarized critics: some called it “a brilliant failure,” others “a pretentious essay.” The lack of traditional gameplay alienated gamers seeking escapism, while educators lauded it as a tool for mental health awareness. Notably, it was featured in academic discussions on public history (see Game Studies journal, 2021), where scholars like Abbie Hartman highlighted its role in “democratizing empathy” through interactive archives.

6.1. Influence and Evolution

Its legacy is twofold. First, it paved the way for “public history games” like Valiant Hearts, which blend education with interactivity. Second, it influenced indie developers to prioritize social impact—e.g., Essays on Empathy (2021) cites it as an inspiration. Yet, its greatest impact lies in its documentation: the accompanying booklet and workshop video offer a blueprint for using games as civic tools, ensuring its ideas outlive its technical limitations.

7. Conclusion

Interactive Empathy is not a game in the conventional sense—it is a mirror held to society’s capacity for compassion. Its flaws—clunky controls, rushed development—are inseparable from its strengths: raw emotional honesty and a willingness to wrestle with discomfort. In a world where games often trivialize suffering, this workshop experiment dares players to inhabit the perspectives of the marginalized, the broken, and the “other.” Its legacy is a challenge to developers: to move beyond entertainment and toward empathy. As one Steam reviewer noted, “It’s not fun. But it’s necessary.” For this reason, Interactive Empathy deserves a place in gaming history—not as a masterpiece, but as a vital, unapologetic reminder that the medium’s highest purpose may not be to thrill, but to connect. Verdict: Essential. Imperfect. Indispensable.