"You're Not Family" is a simple rhythm QTE game where the game isn't the main goal, which is a problem... this is more of an "art narrative" experience about the developers apparently unhappy family life, thrust onto Steam Direct in case we care. Take on the role of a rabbit visiting family and having a conversation with them. Surely this is the future of video gaming.
Trying to address serious issues such as mental and emotional health 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.
The "developer" here is not a professional in areas of mental health and social problems, and when they use video games to pretend they are, this is not only utterly ineffective, it can be harmful.
It's my opinion that it's improper to use video games to address mental health issues. Apart from the harm such hamfisted attempts at addressing social 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 attention/fame by exploiting such problems for their own benefit, as is the case here.
As an "art experience", forget looking for deep, rich and immersive gameplay that makes real PC games shine. What we have here is a thinly veiled tech demo for an art project thats pushing hard for more style-than-substance and failing to deliver either. And remember, we're here for PC games, not art school dropout stuff.
It's true that games can be art, of course... art is where the pinnacle of creativity, craftsmanship and expertise come together to form something greater than the sum of its parts. This product does a poor job of all of those three. The Mona Lisa would not be hanging in the Louvre if she was drawn as a stick figure in crayon on a napkin.
On the important subject of visuals, this features fairly low quality stylised/cartoony low poly 3D graphics. It comes across as the kind of thing you see on mobile phones and Nintendo games, which will deter a lot of PC gamers, understandably. Gaming is a visual medium, and to be considered one of the best games on Steam, the graphics have to be some of the best on Steam. That's not happening here.
Next is pricing and what value this has for gamers.
This is "free" enough (not every "free" game in the "free" section is truly free, there's usually some hidden price tag), at least you won't be expected to spend any more money after you download this, but just because something is free doesn't mean it's good, and the cost of a game is more than just financial, your time is valuable too.
Even as a free game, this couldn't find an audience. With a peak of [b]only 3 players[/b], it's clear the Steam community took one look and walked away. They literally couldn't pay people to spend time playing this.
This "free" game won't count toward your game collection count on your profile. With that in mind, is it something you should still download?
Give this one a miss. Although it's free, your time and storage are valuable resources, and the market is filled with superior options.
Finally, I'm here to help save gamers time by filtering out the noise and substandard games. If you don't agree with my assessment of the defects in this game, go ahead and download it... maybe you'll find the same defects to be as unacceptable as I did, maybe not. Even write your own review. Positive or negative, game reviews are here to help other gamers by informing their decisions on what to spend their time on.
