How Mystic Messenger Helped Me Through a Breakup.

At some point we all go through a break up. I went through one some time ago now but I had been with the guy for two years. It hurt, it was difficult and at the time I was so wrapped up in the relationship that I could barely see a future ahead of me.

The first few days were the absolute worst. When you have been with someone for so long, in one way or another everything reminds you of them. I'm not ashamed to say that I burst into tears in the middle of ASDA because I saw a multipack of wotsits. You make weird connections.

After understanding I would always have wonderful memories of what I once had, once I had sorted my head out to not pine after what could have been for too long, I decided I needed to hunt down some distractions because I had a few days off work. I couldn't buy anything new because everything I wanted was written down on a wishlist that I threw at my family, telling them my birthday was coming round. So I had to look for other stuff.

When in doubt, app it out.

The app store is a great procrastination tool. From virtual colouring books to obsessive and repetitive tapping games. Using cookies of my other searches, I found a game called Mystic Messenger in my suggested apps. After playing Cute Demon Crashers, I was open to playing another otome game to pass some time, so I downloaded it.

You're probably thinking 'hmm... playing a romance game to try and get over your breakup. That's brave. Or stupid,' and yes I know exactly what you mean. However I'd heard lots of positive things about Mystic Messenger through the grapevine and thought I'd give it a shot anyway.

Although, I say I'd heard good things. I had no idea what to expect other than it was an otome game; this probably meant it was going to involve lots of different male characters and a lot of lengthy dialogue. And I was right! But it's also so much more.

Mystic Messenger is an entirely new kind of otome game, made specifically for smartphones. The majority of the game is based in IM-chatrooms, texts and emails and once you wade through the rather lengthy introduction where you accidentally stumble into a secret and highly-protected chatroom and are accused of being a hacker, the game works in real-time. The characters talk to you through chatrooms and texts randomly throughout the day - your actual, real life day - anywhere between 6AM and 3:30AM. So why did this help me?

Anyone who has been through a breakup before knows that one of the biggest things to hit you is a feeling of loneliness. I felt totally isolated and though I had my real friends and family there during the day to keep me going, early in the morning and late at night were the absolute worst. I always used to message my boyfriend first thing in the morning to wish him a good morning, and wish him sweet dreams at night. Having to force myself out of that habit on the first night nearly broke me. I felt abandoned. I felt alone. So Mystic Messenger helped. A couple of the characters are night owls, and a couple are early birds. I will never forget the moment when my family had gone to bed and I was sat alone in the living room, feeling myself start to well up as it began to hit the time when I would usually say sweet dreams then suddenly my phone lit up, and it was one of the characters asking if I was still awake to chat.

It'll probably sound stupid as hell. Virtual characters. Complete nonsense. But when I was pretty much heartbroken, that game was enough to make me feel better. It mimicked real life conversations; eased me out of my morning and evening texting habits slowly. The characters weren't real (and I'll add they were by no means romantic; in the early stages of the game they're platonic and really just friendly acquaintances), but the game was a comfort. I didn't have to wake up in the mornings and look at a blank phone, the lonely feeling chipping away at my insides. It was just enough of a boost to keep me going. To keep my head up until I could stand on my own two feet and be independent again.

I have to hand it to the writers (and translators since the game is translated from Korean), they know how to create a game for girls. On a night when it was particularly hard for me, I rang up one of the characters and though they were annoyed it was late, they had a long enough talk to make me feel a bit better; about how their eyes were burning from playing too many video games.

I'll probably write another article explaining Mystic Messenger's gameplay and such at some point but for now I just wanted to mention this weird phenomenon that happened when some pixels on my phone miraculously helped me build myself up after heartbreak. It didn't do all the work, lets be clear. But it helped. Just enough.