For some, high school was the time of their lives. For others, not so much. Unfortunately, the latter is very much the case for Stiles - the player-controlled character in developers Genius Slackers’ psychological horror, What Happened. Created as a means to shed some light on the internal struggle of those suffering from drug usage, depression, and thoughts of suicide, What Happened is a game chews you up, spits you out, then goes back for seconds. And that’s kind of the point.

3 School Daze

What Happened puts players in the shoes of Stiles, a clearly troubled teenager who navigates the hallways and rooms of his school feeling invisible and unwanted. To add to this feeling, Stiles routinely consumes hallucinogens to escape the treachery of his reality, escaping from the unfortunate incidents that have happened to him, such as bullying and his father dying in a tragic accident, as well as problems he brought on himself, such as his relationship with his friends and former girlfriend.

With What Happened falling within the genre of psychological horror, most of the gameplay is spent in dark, gruesome, and otherworldly types of settings, making it hard to differentiate whether Stiles is still in the real world, or just on a crazy acid trip. For the most part - at least throughout the first half of the game - this works incredibly well. Some of the best parts are the more unorthodox situations that Stiles finds himself in, like the mini-game type of storybook-style scene in which Stiles is a marionette version of himself, or running underwater while being hunted by a massive great white shark. The emotionally-weighted scenery, imagery, and dialogue definitely takes its toll on the player, but does so without making the game unappealing to finish.

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2 Puzzling Inconsistencies

That said, some of the puzzles and exploration mechanics of What Happened did eventually start to get pretty tedious. Progress in What Happened is often controlled by finding objects like notes and pictures, or turning on hanging light bulbs (that sometimes need to be found as well). This means checking cabinets and drawers by opening every single one that you come across; an in-game mechanic that I never enjoy. There are a lot of drawers to be checked in the game, which takes up a lot of time. One of the most grueling instances involved finding a picture with a combination written on the back, and then locating the lock. I eventually just happened to stumble upon the lock, but I spent far more time than I would have liked searching for it.

The overall issue in this regard seemed to be a slight lack of consistency. Sometimes, indicators would provide easy ways of knowing where to go and what to do. Other times, I had to run around every area of multiple rooms and hallways in the hopes that I would trigger an event that would progress the story forward. However, much like the game's direction, I think that this was probably intentional.

1 A Vicious Cycle

While playing What Happened, the same stories of Stiles’ loss, heartbreak, and sorrow were repeated, but presented in different ways. For instance, the same scenes from the marionette part of the game happened in first-person gameplay later in the game. I started to grow tired of this mechanic, especially since whenever it seemed the game was coming to an end, Stiles’ mind sucked me right back into another round of reiterated memories. However, I eventually came to realize that this was undoubtedly intentional. As previously mentioned, Genius Slacker’s goal in developing What Happened was to put players into the mind of an individual suffering from suicidal thoughts to understand how someone could even contemplate such a thing. To that end, Genius Slacker’s gets a 5 out of 5.

Watching Stiles struggle against his internal self was brutal. Being repeatedly berated and verbally abused was exhausting. Going through the same awful memories, while only visiting happy memories for a single, brief moment was equally as awful. We’ve all had low moments in our lives and beat ourselves up over decisions we’ve made, but I can’t imagine routinely experiencing the same vicious cycle of internal hatred and abuse on a daily basis. Genius Slacker’s research with professionals is clearly shown in its depiction of mental health struggles, and for that reason, What Happened should be played by those who enjoy games that focus on themes surrounding mental health. There are also three different endings for players to experience depending on certain choices made throughout the game, though these choices don’t openly present themselves and require considerable thought while playing.

Created using the Unreal Engine, What Happened’s visuals look great, aside from some of the character animations. The game’s audio design, on the other hand, is phenomenal. The often chaotic and unsettling music, sound effects, and dialogue are best suited for playing the game with headphones. There were definitely times when the audio made it seem like there was someone or something behind me in real life; enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

What Happened won’t appeal to the masses, but the game does well to convey its message of the internal struggles that so many face on a daily basis. It’s a dark, gruesome, and treacherous trek through some incredibly difficult subject matter that is worth experiencing for those who gravitate towards games surrounding themes of mental health.

A PC copy of What Happened was provided to TheGamer for this review. What Happened is available now for PC.

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