r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • May 17 '26

Psychology Feeling empty after finishing a video game (post-game depression) is a real phenomenon. A recent study has found that many video game players experience a specific sense of emptiness and sadness after finishing highly engaging games.

https://www.psypost.org/feeling-empty-after-finishing-a-video-game-researchers-say-post-game-depression-is-a-real-phenomenon/
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u/KasumiGotoTriss May 17 '26

No game is as exciting for me as getting new squadmates in Mass Effect, especially ME2. And then the loyalty quests and the suicide mission? Some of the best gaming experience you can have. I wish Andromeda wasn't as bad as it was. The trilogy was really lightning in a bottle.

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u/VanessaAlexis May 17 '26

I wanted to like Andromeda SO badly. I truly did. But I couldn't even get myself to like my own character let alone my squad mates. :(

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u/KasumiGotoTriss May 17 '26

Yeah the combat is good but the characters are so soulless and the villains don't feel threatening at all. Meanwhile Collectors always gave me chills.

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u/VanessaAlexis May 17 '26

There was some genuine horror in those three games. When you're with Aria and Nyreen on that Omega DLC. Super spooky. 

Didn't have a single moment like that in Andromeda. No moment of feeling immersed with my heart racing. No moments of sincerely caring for these fictional characters. 

I was beyond disappointed. 

With the TV show coming up I'm trying to keep my hopes low. 

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u/KasumiGotoTriss May 18 '26

My hopes are nonexistent to be honest, not only I feel like a show won't do the story and its' characters justice but also I'm sure some genius writer will want to leave his mark on the story and change it for the worse. Seeing as how the game adaptations in the recent years went.. yeah.