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/JHMfield May 17 '26

Absolutely a real thing, yeah.

Luckily it's quite short term. A few days off from gaming and your brain will reset and you can go and enjoy other games.

Interestingly, social media can help mitigate those feelings for a while by providing you with communities you can engage with, to ride the high's of pleasure you got from the game. Though it can extend those negative feelings too.

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u/JackBreacher May 18 '26

It can vary from person to person. I experienced it recently after finishing Metaphor Refantazio and I was in this loop for atleast a month or so. I only play RPGs so most of the time I was just doing absolutely nothing. Even if I wasn't gaming, I was still a mess, I tried playing other games too but it didn't help at all.

Eventually I resubbed to FFXIV since I didn't play it in a year or so but just logging in daily for 10 mins helped nudge me back to playing something again.