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Josh struggles with anxiety in Sym

by: Sean Colleli - posted: 2/12/2015 9:46:00 AM
More On: Sym

Anxiety disorder just plain sucks. I've dealt with it most of my life and I have a lot of friends who've had an even rougher time with it. In my experience I've found that it doesn't matter what gender, orientation or ethnicity you are, anxiety can be a real problem. I think it's a common struggle among gamers, as we often use gaming as an escape from persistent insecurity; a place where we actually matter and can make a difference, if only for a short while.

But has a video game ever explored social anxiety? Not in so many words, I don't think; but Sym is going to change that. Sym is a puzzle platformer from ATRAX Games that tackles the subject head-on, telling the story of Josh, a teen with social anxiety who uses a fantasy world to deal with his feelings of inadequacy. The haunting, high-contrast visuals and gameplay don't appear to pull any punches, and neither does the theme. I would imagine that the various messages scrawled across the world, like "I'm in control here...or am I?", "I want to change...but I can't," and "Move right! Or die," could hit a little close to home for a lot of gamers.

The demo for Sym is on Steam now, with a full release planned for March. Check out the trailer for a closer look. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this one.


  

 
 
 

An upcoming exploration of social anxiety disorder that inverts the norms of platforming, Sym is the story of a young boy trying to navigate and reconcile a maze of two worlds.

 

DELVE INTO THE DEPTHS OF PUZZLE-PLATFORMER SYM DEMO AVAILABLE NOW ON STEAM!

 London ?? 11th February, 2014 ?? Game development studio ATRAX Games have teamed up with independent games publisher Mastertronic to bring unique puzzle-platformer Sym to Steam this March and have just launched a free demo!

Watch the new trailer at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz47fw3jbzI

Sym is a puzzle-platformer by ATRAX Games, with a theme inspired by social anxiety disorder. Play as Josh, a teenage boy tormented by a crippling form of social anxiety and navigate his journey to reconcile a maze of two contrasting worlds, coexisting within the blank spaces of each other - his perception of reality and the world he created to avoid his fears.

Josh exists in his own world as alter egos, Caleb and Ammiel. Caleb lives in the light, white world and wants to overcome his fears. For him, black is solid and white is hollow. With Ammiel, it is the opposite. Ammiel is representative of Josh??s inner, reclusive self where he wants to be lonely and where feeling ??safe?? is to escape totally from human contact. They cannot exist simultaneously. Both worlds depict dangers that the player must overcome, and an inner monologue written across Sym??s abstract spaces serves to illuminate the anguish the character endures.

Plunge into the Sym demo available now on Steam to help Josh solve his problems and navigate his journey through the realms of light and dark. Can you support Josh to find a path to safety?

Sebastiano Morando, Programmer, ATRAX Games, commented: ??Finally our effort is rewarded! I want to thank all the people who voted us on Steam Greenlight!??

Stuart Morton, Producer, Mastertronic, said: ??Sym is the perfect example of how games can push boundaries and combine great gameplay whilst tackling significant real-world issues. The team at Atrax Games handle the challenge with distinction. It??s a pleasure to be working with them to bring Sym to the world.??

Sym will be launching soon for Windows PC and Mac and the game demo is available now on Steam.

Steam Page
http://store.steampowered.com/app/342100/
 
 
 

About ATRAX Games
ATRAX Games are an indie game development studio, based in Verona, Italy. We are a team of three people with the passion of narrative games and puzzles. We started making point-and-click adventures in Flash and art games. Our last experiment is Endless Nonsense, a game about incommunicability. We are currently working on the Steam release of Sym.

About Mastertronic
Mastertronic is a multi-platform independent games publisher working with independent games developers making games that we want to play ourselves. We love games, games developers and gamers.