Surviving in a zombie apocalypse is a draining experience, in more ways than one. Not only will constant vigilance drain the survivors' food and ammunition, it will drain on their emotional state as well.
The Indie Stone's Project Zomboid is all about this dynamic. Not only do players have to manage their character's physical health, but their mental health as well. The game's "Moodle" system gives players debuffs for states like "panic" and "boredom."
One of Project Zomboid's more debilitating moods is depression, which will increase the completion time for most actions. It's the most severe form of the unhappiness debuff, so pulling out of it, while possible, is difficult.
Handling Depression in Project Zomboid
It's telling that, in-game, the boredom moodle and the unhappiness moodle are connected. Having one makes the player more likely to get the other. This gives an important clue on how to treat both.
Handling depression and boredom is a game of finding positive stimulus. One of the most common examples will be food. Not only will it deal with the player's hunger, but their mood as well. If the player finds good tasting food, like chocolate, or spruces up bland food with salt and other ingredients, it will improve their moods.
A rarer but more effective source of enrichment is entertainment. Players can improve their character's mood by listening to music or watching TV. The most effective mood lifter comes from reading one of Project Zomboid's many in-game books. Players should consistently be on the lookout for media while they scrounge for food.
It's a well known saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Doing these things ahead of time is the best policy. That being said, if the player falls deep into depression, there is an item to get them out of it fairly quickly.
Project Zomboid features anti-depressants as a way to fix depression quickly. Players can find them in medicine cabinets and in pharmacies. If they're lucky, one will spawn from a dead zombie. Players should be wary that the effect isn't immediate, it takes two in-game hours for the anti-depressants to take effect.
Project Zomboid is still in early access, and it's likely that mechanics like the moodles may change in the future. While most planned changes are unknown, the developers have stated that, once NPC survivors are added, talking with them will help both parties keep their spirits up.
Project Zomboid is available now for PC.
