In addition to what has been mentioned before:

- Life Is Strange (sadly it's Steam only)
- Winter Voices (Steam only as well, but it might be DRM-free once it's downloaded; haven't played it much yet myself)
- Gravity Ghost (available DRM-free, it partially deals with tragedy and loss, but maybe not in the way you're looking for ...)
- Loving Life (short visual novel about a guy who learned to appreciate life after a near death experience)

I can't vouch for the therapeutic effects of all of these games though. While I enjoyed games like Life Is Strange, The Walking Dead and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, I found them pretty bleak even without directly trying to cope with loss. I could imagine that they'd inspire more sadness and hopelessness instead of helping you to deal with it ...

The two ones I can remember now are the first Max Payne and Silent Hill 2.

Vampire the Masquerade Redemption.

I'm deeply sorry for your loss. You've been a great supporter to our community and i hope you will recover.

From my own experience i can suggest to play Sanitarium game, it's very good plotwise, full of melancholy and sadness (music, characters, ethereal mood, you name it). And it's not a hard point'n'click game either, the outro could get you some redemption even.
In case you don't have it, i can gift it to you, just chat me any time

I have thought of an idea for music:

The game Undertale has some nice music, some of which would just fit your mood. In particular:

Waterfall
Oh! One True Love!
mus_kingdescription.ogg (this track, commonly called King Description, is unused in the game and not present in the soundtrack)
An Ending

The game itself has a reasonably cheerful atmosphere, but also does have its sad moments. (And, of course, there's the depressing genocide route, in which everyone dies and it's *your fault*.)

(By the way, I noticed that you didn't comment on my mention of Depression Quest.)

Was posted in another thread & find the topic interesting enough.... so maybe, being Canadian & loving information, would CBC's Idea's Rethinking Depression - Part 1 (Mar. 7, 2013 Encore) do?

I'm still hoping for a DRM-free version of Life is Strange since it looks like a really unique experience.
Downloaded Loving Life, hope I find the time to try it soon.

I have bought The Walking Dead since it was so heavily discounted. Started Season 1 and - 0_o... It's great but the beginning is... if the game goes on like this, it's right now too much for me.

Max Payne is a regular on my HDD ;-)

I've played the first Silent Hill (with ePSXe) and I loved it. I've heard a lot about the series, esp. SH2 and they're definitely interesting. Right now they're too much down the horror track for me.

Seriously? I've completed this one twice (German (with uncensor) and English version) and it didn't strike me as sad or melancholic. But if you feel that way about the game: Why not?



I have Sanitarium. Will try it. I always thought it was more like sick, twisted, bizarre than melancholic - we'll see.

Undertale looks interesting in it's own right - wishlisted.

Now... Depression Quest, if you insist...

First of all, I was explicitly not asking for games about depression or depressive games, but for sad/melancholic games. There is a difference.

Secondly, I have played this game a while back (or tried to). And to put it plainly: I found the writing horrible.

I've dealt with depression since my teens and it has been real bad ~20 years ago. It's a constant companion of mine, though I've learned to deal with it and most of the time I can keep it at bay and prevent it taking control of me. So I think I can speak with some authority here.
Of course there different people and different kinds of depression but to me the game seems written by people with no actual experience explaining the issue to other people with no actual experience. The behaviour of the protagonist is mostly depicted ok, but the emotional side is... dunno... off, and it actually made me angry to read some of it. I guess it's better than people telling you "to snap out of it" or "try a little harder", but it's far from good.
If you want a pretty accurate depiction of how depression feels like and works, play the The Cat Lady, Chapter 3 (trying to relax at home) several times and try different endings of that chapter. When I played this, I felt it hit that mark so accurately that it hurt and I felt constricted. That part of the game is IMO a true masterpiece, but I wouldn't play it when I'm actually feeling depressed (and also not right now, since it might drag me down).

Inspired by mrkgnao's nomination in the Community GA it occurred to me that LOOM (at least for me) has a nice melancholic touch to it. Beautiful game. Wish could get their hands on the EGA or FM Towns version, since the VGA-Talkie version had some dialogue cut (didn't fit on one CD...).

Don't bother with LiS if Walking Dead is too much for you right now.
*spoiler*
It deals with bullying and suicide.
*end spoiler*
Might be a bit too depressing.

The constant crashing and glitches are sure to make you depressed. :P

Thanks for your comments on Depression Quest (and for your mention of a part of The Cat Lady that does something similar).

If you want, there is a demo version of Undertale you could try. It's just the first area of the game (including the boss), but could give you a good feel for the game (though I hear the story doesn't really pick up until after the end of the demo).

Incidentally, the demo contains an in-game manual (which can change) that is not present in the full version of the game.

(Also, I think you mean "its", not "it's".)

I played it years ago, but crashing ? Never for me. Gliches ? Yes, a big one at the end, but there was an unofficial patch which fixed them.

So many times. xD
Usually occured when moving cabinets.

Victor Hugo

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List of suggested games with a few comments:

The Walking Dead (pretty hefty beginning)
Dear Esther (don't have it yet)
To the Moon (crashed at startup - DEP exception didn't help 0_o)
That Dragon Cancer (Steam only?)
The Banner Saga (yet to try)
Xenoblade Chronicles (lacking the hardware)
Montague's Mount
Chains of Satinav (waiting for the German version)
Bioshock Infinite (Steam only)
Shadow of the Colossus (lacking the hardware)
Fragile (Wii, lacking the hardware)
Gears of War series (Surprising! Is there a DRM-free version?)
Fran Bow (don't have it yet)
Syberia series (queued)
Kingdom Hearts (there's no PC version, right?)
Eternal Sonata (lacking the hardware)
Eternally Us (free: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/1303, use mirror, have yet to play it)
Kholat (wishlisted)
Braid (yet to try)
The Whispered World (don't have it yet)
One Chance (interesting, not yet played)
Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons (Steam only?)
Valiant Hearts: The Great War (UPlay...)
Limbo (have yet to play it)
Papo e Yo (DRM-free version somewhere?)
Human Resource Machine (wishlisted)
Dropsy (not sure about that one... the PC looks rather creepy)
Massive Chalice
Shelter
Unrest
Reus
Din's Curse
The Story of The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel (Completed it years ago. Good game)
Max Payne series (esp. 2 - I think both qualify, played them, though I got stuck in 2 - that exploding guy you have to protect)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (have played it, beautiful but bad save system)
STALKER series (currently playing SOC)
Blackwell series (Completed all of them - really good suggestion)
Shadowrun: Dragonfall (currently playing "Returns", might play that after)
Transistor (gave it a short try - looks good)
Gemini Rue (not yet played)
Vampire Bloodlines (yes!)
Dying Light (kind of wishlisted, blocked in Germany)
Silent Hill series (yes melancholic, but also very creepy - not right now)
Grim Dawn (wishlisted)
Wasteland 2 (wishlisted)
Bastion (yet to seriously try - didn't see the melancholy... yet)
Primordia (have yet to play it)
Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within (have yet to play the whole series)
Penumbra (probably too much horror - have yet to try)
Alan Wake (have yet to play it)
Gone Home (gifted it a number of times, don't have it yet myself)
Home is Where One Starts... (DRM-free?)
A Bird Story (wishlisted)
Life Is Strange (Steam only...)
Winter Voices (Steam only...)
Gravity Ghost (don't have it yet)
Loving Life (yet to try)
Sanitarium (yet to try)
LOOM
Planescape: Torment
Witcher series (esp. 3)

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Games I personally don't see as qualified but might be of interest for other people seeking similar experiences:

Depression Quest (depressive, and I frankly don't like it)
Master of Orion 3 (um... too depressive for... reasons)
The Cat Lady (love it, too depressive right now for me)
Vampire the Masquerade: Redemption (didn't find it sad/melancholic)
Call of Cthulhu : Dark Corners of the Earth (too depressive/creepy for me)
This War of Mine (too depressive for me right now)