dakai

Dakāi is a non-linear video game about exploration, reflection, and emotional healing. It gives players the chance to explore a carefully curated environment and ask questions about their journey. The world of the game takes the form of a forest walk, drawing from the concept of shinrin-yoku, or “forest bathing”, with the addition of objects in the environment providing prompts for reflection and the opportunity to think back on what it means to survive trauma. Players can use either a controller or a keyboard and mouse to engage with objects and explore within the game. 

The work plays loosely with the format of a game. There are no scores, no timers, nothing to measure your progress as you travel within the landscape, only your own feeling of progress and exploring your own past. The project draws on personal experience with trauma and uses these ideas to explore how we measure healing from emotional pain.