Whenever you can breathe is a free-to-play role-playing game (RPG) from indie developer Nilson Carroll. It uses low-resolution pixel art that looks distorted and surreal, which surprisingly fits with the mature themes that it tackles. The developer describes it as a short autobiographical RPG revolving. It starts with a seemingly normal grocery shopping that branches out in unexpected ways.

It may sound simple and casual but whenever you can breathe actually covers a number of mature themes such as mental health, self-harm, and gender identity. Other similar games with surprisingly profound topics include CURTAIN or Drive Me To The Moon.

Scratch the surface

At first, whenever you can breathe looks like a casual 2D retro JRPG set in a 3D space. Most characters look like mosaics with color schemes to distinguish between them. The same can be said for the locations, using repeating tiles with the same mosaic-like textures. If you’re after good graphics, this is far from it. However, this surreal visual treatment makes sense as you go further into the story.

Speaking of the story, it starts out fairly normal. As you explore further and interact with other characters, their conversations touch topics that might be personal, unusual, or downright triggering—consider yourself warned. Impressively, this game offers mature and realistic explorations of mental health and relationships, although it also goes deep with depictions of self-harm. Also, there are a number of queer characters that appear in the story.

All these things come in a simple package. It has a small file size and simple controls. You use arrow keys for movement, Z for interacting, and the Q and E buttons for rotating the camera view. Lastly, the game has a rather short playthrough. You can complete a run in about 15 minutes. It has multiple endings to achieve, though, giving players an incentive to try again.

An opportunity to reflect

By giving players the opportunity to experience another person’s struggles and encounters, whenever you can breathe lets you take a step back and consider how seemingly normal encounters could mean so much more to other people. As a game, its graphics look poor and glitchy yet it somehow supports its premise. If you’re fine with the mature topics mentioned above, feel free to try this one.