itch.io

We're sorry to hear that happened to you but really appreciate you taking the time to share your experience with us. We agree that this is behavior that is not acceptable -- and is too often treated in our culture as "okay" or worse.

Like you, were this to happen to us in high school we would likely have dismissed it as not being an "assault." We would think that because that is how we've been raised to think of these issues: our movies, books, and songs have given us those messages for years - and we were never taught otherwise ... so how would we know differently?

Our hope is that young people who play this game will see issues like this in a new light and, as a result, be less likely to be engage in this behavior. We want very much to change the "norms" around what is considered acceptable behavior when it comes to non-consensual activities.

We know that Stuck in a Dark Place has some very dark moments but believe it is an opportunity to shine light on issues that aren't discussed as often as they should be. We have tried very hard to find the right tone here in order to inform players without traumatizing them; we hope that you found the game's use of these trauma-based scenes to be appropriate. This is an ongoing issue for us and we are constantly considering how we might need to make some changes to this game. 

We hope that Stuck in a Dark Place is effective at finding the right balance between informing players while not traumatizing them -- and that at least in some small way is helping to change some of the unhealthy social norms we've grown up with in our culture.

Thank you again for sharing your experience and thoughts.