DeepWell Digital Therapeutics (DTx), a maker of games to treat mental health, has launched Zengence, its first action video game treating mental health.
Launched in the Meta Game Store, DeepWell bills the game as the first therapeutic released in the store for virtual reality applications. Zengence uses patent-pending technology for breath and sound mechanics to drive the first-of-its-kind action game where players defeat Dark Wraiths and silence their inner anxieties.
In Zengence, players use controlled breath and resulting exertion into the microphone on exhale as their power source to reveal enemies, dodge attacks, and power their weapons. DeepWell makes games that
combine breath training with action shooting game mechanics, to train and build resilience for stressful
situations.
“As the world continues to combat the global mental health crisis, mental health support is still largely
inaccessible: 70-80% of people with mental health issues do not manage them due to stigma, accessibility, and cost,” said Ryan Douglas, DeepWell DTx founder and chief therapeutic designer, in a statement. “Where some people find meditation or daily breathwork apps boring, uncompelling, or not fun enough to use regularly, Zengence is designed to meet people where they play with an enjoyable world-class game.”
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In Zengence, Dark Wraiths have unleashed a tide of despair over ancient lands. Players have been chosen by their ancestors to seek Zengence and restore balance. Bestowed with an ancient artifact, a magical orb, powered by vocals, every level completed becomes part of a player’s training.
Inhale to navigate through levels, and exhale audibly sounding your power to seek out, reveal, and vanquish hidden Wraiths. The more a player masters their breath and vocal toning, the more potent their orb becomes, revealing even the stealthiest of Wraiths and empowering their arsenal of sacred weaponry.
Today’s release of Zengence includes personalized coaching on maximizing game mechanics and
personalized statistics following every level tied to progress to improve players’ mental well-being.
Beyond the game’s 30 levels, Zengence encourages practice and mastery of its levels to consistently treat stress with daily challenges and high-score leaderboards. Players can learn and practice techniques in the Zen Garden, a separate learning space within the game that deploys a mix of motion, breath, and tones to maximize vagus nerve stimulation.
Immersing players in a physiological challenge, Zengence uses a combination of stimulation,
interference, and novelty to create targeted memory retrieval cues that change the associated negative
feeling and physiological response to an event or triggering input.
“By strategically introducing controlled sensory interference during times of memory encoding, learning,
or recall, or during challenges that evoke physiological responses, we may enhance or restrain portions
of memories, setting up new associations that disrupt or distort old memories,” said Sam Browd, DeepWell DTx chief medical advisor, in a statemen. “Memories that are painful and prompt unwanted feelings or behaviors are rewritten and/or consolidated to reduce the harmful portion of the memory and improve general well-being.”
Zengence addresses worry, fear, nervousness, dread, apprehension, rumination, tension, sadness, inactivity, gloom, melancholy, decline, low mood, low energy, reduced drive, increased sensitivity, mental
alertness, emotional health, mental balance, mental well-being, and emotional dysregulation.
DeepWell DTx launched in 2022 to research and develop immersive medicine to treat mental health conditions. Its core team includes renowned game designers, seasoned med-tech entrepreneurs, medical
experts, a top neurosurgeon expert on AI in neurology and brain interfaces, and an illustrious medical
advisory board. Combined they have over 30 patents and have launched 25 medical devices.
Zengence is available today in the Meta Game Store for $20 and is compatible with Meta Quest 2
and 3 VR headsets.
DeepWell DTx is part of NeuFluent, a venture studio focused on developing neuroscience innovation —
novel components, systems, and processes for highly reliable interconnectivity that streams data to
digitally native processing and communication platforms. NeuFluent technology promotes accelerated
adoption of new behaviors, self-discovery, and learning. It can be integrated into other medical treatment devices and processes and used as a companion therapy to boost the efficacy of physical and pharmaceutical solutions for mental health. It can also be used in surgical procedures and training,
minimally invasive implants and sensors to the central and peripheral nervous systems and spine, and
brain interfaces for monitoring, predictive diagnostics and interventions.
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