I have very complex feelings on Needy Streamer Overload. It is one of the most raw and accurate depictions I have ever seen of mental illness, with one of the most accurate characters struggling with their mental health. Everything about how Ame engages with the world and how she speaks is so stunningly accurate to how someone in real life would engage online. This includes how the game writes her flaws. Ame is not a good person, however her actions are never meant to dehumanize her or reduce her down to her struggles, and I appreciate how the game shows the raw human side of someone struggling so deeply like this. The true ending of the game stuck with me in a way I can’t really describe, even now. I just had to step away from my computer and think for a few days.
That being said, the game isn’t without its flaws. While it does give a proper flash warning in the beginning, I feel as though the content warning doesn’t properly prepare the player for some of the events that can happen in game. I’ve always had this issue with how media treats content warnings, oftentimes the creators are far too vague about the type of content happening in their games for fear of spoilers and just leave it at “This game contains dark themes.” Which, as a result, leaves the player to have a Russian roulette wheel of potential triggers that can be set off at any time. For me this was Ame’s first ‘Self Destruct’ mini game, and while I won’t say what happens here for fear of my post being taken down, it contain the topic of s/lf h/rm. I was completely blindsided by this, as I thought the game had already shown me the full extent of its dark content. Luckily I didn’t have a full blown panic attack, but it did leave me quite shaken for a while. So please keep that in mind if you ever play.
The second point of contention I have with the game is that I find the gameplay to be a bit to repetitive at times, especially if your going for all of the achievements and endings like I did. After a certain point of clicking around and figuring things out with no direction, I felt as if it started to play ‘reset the day’ simulator to get different results. After a while I resorted to using a walkthrough, which didn’t take away from my experience by any means— it just made me wish that there was some sort of checklist or hint system that could help you find endings.
Overall, apart from some design flaws, the games a solid 7.5/10 from me.
