A Novel Experience

ELIZA is the name of a natural language processing computer program designed in the 1960s.  It was pretty limited in what it could do, and by modern standards it would be considered little more than a "chatbot".  Even so, the program drew out a surprisingly strong emotional response in some people at the time such that they would confide personal thoughts and feelings to it.  That feature of the program is what partially inspired the indie visual novel Eliza.  

Despite sharing the same name, the fictional "Eliza" program in the game is a far more advanced AI-driven piece of software.  Set in Seattle, Eliza is being commercialized as a more affordable alternative to a professional therapist.  I'm sure some people will already be picking up on the dystopian themes here.  It's certainly true that the visual novel parallels Ursula K. LeGuin's "Lathe of Heaven" or even a William Gibson novel (particularly something out of his Blue Ant trilogy) in places.  The protagonist of Eliza is a thirty-something half Japanese, half British woman named Evelyn.  She was (before the start of the game) one of several coders who developed the Eliza program, but dropped out about three years ago due to the untimely death of a colleague.  For reasons not elaborated on until the end of the game, Evelyn has decided to return from her self-imposed exile and start working for an Eliza clinic as a "proxy".  What is a proxy?  Well, they're basically pseudo-therapists in that they simply parrot whatever Eliza prompts them to say in order to create the calming illusion of human interaction.  It's actually the game's fundamental premise (and is an interesting one), but also makes the early parts of the game painfully linear.  

From here, Eliza dives into its cast of characters.  Some are Evelyn's former co-workers while others are her patients.  Generally speaking, this is where the game really shines.  The characters are well written and have very relatable problems, fears and desires.  It's hard not to empathize with most of them on some level.  I was also very glad to see how the game portrays people with mental health problems.  Based on my own (somewhat limited) experience in the field, the origin of things like depression and anxiety can come from either social troubles or biological ones.  The thing is these two are like each side of the same coin.  Which one of them starts the problem isn't all that important because this cruel duo will work hand in hand to drive a person down into a cycle of misery with unsettling synergy.  Some people are able to climb back to some form of normalcy, but others find themselves trapped and unable to find a way out of their horrible circumstances.  Of course, this is where a good therapist can help...sadly, the Eliza program really isn't up to the task.  That's not to say it's useless...its just that over the course of the game its limitations really start to show.

Speaking of limitations, I often find that my enjoyment of visual novels depends heavily on whether or not my decisions matter.  In the case of Eliza, there aren't a whole lot to make until the very end.  The game really emphasizes the "novel" part of visual novel, though to be fair the visuals are quite good too.  Characters are extremely well drawn, and there's a consistency to it all that these kind of games sometimes lack.  Sound effects are almost non-existent, but the music does a decent job of setting the mood.  I picked up Eliza as part of the "Steam Visual Novel Fest" and as such am quite happy with it considering the amount I paid for it.  At it's suggested retail price though, I would have been underwhelmed.  Regardless, it's a thought-provoking game and definitely one that offers a wide range of perspectives on AI and mental health.  So, if that's the sort of thing you're interested in, by all means give Eliza a try.