Depression Quest is an interactive fiction game, which presents descriptions of various situations and prompts the player to choose their response.

[6] Players assume the role of a person suffering from depression, and the story centers on their daily life, including encounters at work and their relationship with their girlfriend.

[3] However, choices are often crossed out and cannot be clicked on, a mechanism that Depression Quest uses to portray the character's mental state and the fact that logical decisions may not be available to them.

[5] Beneath the choices presented to the player are a set of statements about the character, indicating their level of depression, whether or not they are in therapy, and whether or not they are currently on medication.

[4] The day it was due to go live, news broke that actor Robin Williams had died from a suspected suicide.

They eventually decided to keep to the original release schedule, as Quinn thought that making the game available to those struggling with their own problems was more important than any negative publicity they might receive, writing, "I can't in good conscience hold back offering someone something that could help them start making real changes in their life for the sake of reducing the risk of offending people or hurting my own reputation.

[6][15][16] Depression Quest received mostly positive reviews from critics, who generally viewed it as not being intended for entertainment but for education.

However, he praised the game's execution, and acknowledged its importance as a tool for raising awareness of depression and for helping its sufferers.

[3] Adam Smith, in Rock, Paper, Shotgun, wrote that Depression Quest was "'game' as communication, comfort and tool of understanding".

[8] Quinn initially withdrew the game from Steam's Greenlight service, after having a detailed rape threat mailed to their home address.

When they brought Depression Quest back to Greenlight, Quinn began receiving threatening phone calls.

[11] In mid-August 2014, soon after the game's official Steam release, a former boyfriend of Quinn wrote a lengthy and negative blog post about their relationship.