Duru – About Mole Rats and Depression

Duru – About Mole Rats and Depression

Twisted Ramble Games UG (haftungsbeschränkt) · 2023 · Puzzle Platformer, Education, Artificial Intelligence, Emotional, Adventure

PC
Positive86% · 28
This game is free to play. Get it on Steam →

Screenshots

About Duru – About Mole Rats and Depression

Tuli leads a simple life in the mole rat colony: she collects food, meets with her friends and paints the best pictures in the colony. All the while nobody but her sees the dark creature that makes each of those activities a near unbeatable task.

Duru is a 2D puzzle adventure about mole rats and depression. It shows how we all can help people affected by this illness.
Set in a West-African inspired mole rat colony you play Tuli, one of the gatherers of the colony. One day everything becomes harder as Bel, an AI companion and the personification of Tuli's growing depression, joins the party.
While running, jumping and painting your way through the tunnels surrounding the colony you have to find a way to deal with Bel and its manipulative behaviour. Your constant companion moves objects you painted around, eats them and holds you back in which ever way possible. Learn to use Bels behaviour in a way that lets you progress.

In the mole rat colony that Tuli calls her home her friends notice that she’s acting strange. She's less talkative, is always late and seems not interested at all in hanging out with them. Some of them get tired of her tardiness...
You can always see how Bel twists Tuli's thoughts, how it makes her not feel worth being friends with. Through exploring the mole rat colony and interaction with the other characters you can find out which behaviours are helpful to Tuli and which just make Bel grow.

Follow the story of Tuli – a story about the struggle with insecurities, depression and friendship, told in a colorful, accessible way.

What awaits you:
  • a puzzle adventure in a colorful, West African-inspired setting
  • a story about depression told through animation and picture dialog to enjoy regardless of language
  • an AI companion that works with and against you
  • drawing objects to puzzle your way through a lovingly designed world
  • cute characters of the mole rat colony to befriend and uncover their individual stories

What Steam players say

Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.

Recommended Jul 1, 2025
7 found this helpful
Not recommended Jan 24, 2025
"Duru – About Mole Rats and Depression" is a simple 2D platformer that single handedly solves the problem of mental illness and depression through a mediocre 2D retro platformer. No, wait, it doesn't do that at all. What do you do in the game? In this once-paid product, you do some platforming stuff that involves helping another, so you can learn how to cure depression. Trying to address mental health issues through the medium of video games is misguided and can be harmful. While it's plausible to suggest the intention was noble, this can do more harm than good. Game developers are not professionals in areas of mental health and social problems, and when they use video games to pretend they are, this can cause far more harm than good. Apart from the harm such hamfisted attempts at addressing mental problems can cause, this offers zero benefit to PC gamers. People suffering from health issues or other social problems should seek out professional help rather than going to crap shovelware video games attempting to get sales by exploiting such problems for their own benefit, as is the case here. The game features really lacklustre 2D visuals (does the developer not know 3D gra…
2 found this helpful
Recommended Sep 2, 2023
What a charming game! I'm intrigued by the idea of making a game about depression with a character, that is following you around and actually keeping you from doing stuff. I enjoyed the world and the characters as much as the gameplay. Just be aware, that the AI isn't always doing what you want - just like the game intended ;)
1 found this helpful
Recommended Jun 30, 2023
I was super excited for this game to release after following the kickstarter for years! The art style is beautiful and I think the way dialogue is expressed is really intriguing. I love love love the focus on depression and social interaction. However, I barely made it into the game before I had to take a break because I was so frustrated. I don't know if the game code I received recently from Kickstarter is an old version or what, but this game is so buggy. After completing the first real level (after the dream), I didn't get the option to move forward in the game. I played level one again but nothing changed. Luckily I was able to find a game-play video on youtube, allowing me to see that my game was bugged and not giving me the "mission" to go to bed to progress the game. Thankfully, going to bed without prompting from the mission allowed me to progress as normal. Outside of that, there were several times when my character got stuck on walls and they constantly fell through platforms. Several times the levels or home world area would just load in black and I would have to restart the level a couple of times to get it to load properly. It finally got to the point that I wasn't s…
1 found this helpful
Recommended Nov 14, 2025
Игра 'Duru – About Mole Rats and Depression' – это маленькое, но глубокое переживание. Визуальный стиль, выполненный в приглушенных тонах, отлично передает гнетущую атмосферу депрессии, с которой сталкивается главный герой, слепой крот. Простой геймплей с копанием туннелей и сбором семян становится метафорой рутины и поиска смысла в бессмысленной, на первый взгляд, жизни. Повествование не перегружено деталями, но оставляет место для собственных интерпретаций. Игроку предлагается ощутить одиночество и отчаяние персонажа, но также дается надежда на возможность найти маленькие радости и поддержку в окружающем мире. Несмотря на кажущуюся простоту, игра оставляет после себя сильное впечатление и заставляет задуматься о важности ментального здоровья. Это не развлекательное приключение, а скорее интерактивная медитация на тему депрессии, выполненная с большой деликатностью и пониманием. Рекомендуется тем, кто готов к интроспективному опыту и не боится столкнуться с непростыми эмоциями.
Not recommended Jul 30, 2025
Stream 211 - Duru : About Mole Rats and Depression 😔😔😔 Developer : Twisted Ramble Games UG (haftungsbeschränkt) Publisher : Twisted Ramble Games UG (haftungsbeschränkt) https://store.steampowered.com/.../Duru__About_Mole_Rats.../ Taking on the character of Duru, who is not only depressed but is hiding it from everyone around him. You will need to guide Duru as he goes to work each day, finds food for the colony, and adopts a depression pet. As you continue through the underground, where all the turnips grow, you need to make sure you don't end up injuring yourself. You can also use your talent as a painter to create new items to help you solve any obstacle you may come across. Not a bad game overall, but the controls are sort of clumsy. The story, while written and presented through phonographics, there can be some disconnect over all. The level design is fairly simple and logical, making game play much easier, plus there is no chance of accidentally soft locking yourself.

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