It’s Not You, It’s M.E – Living With M.E/CFS

It’s Not You, It’s ME was developed and published by Closed Forum and is available on Steam.

I came across It’s Not You, It’s M.E.’ and immediately bought it. After all, it’s only £1.69, and I was curious to see if it could relate to ME/CFS well or not. Could this be an experience that I can use to explain what daily living with ME is like? Or will it be a misrepresentation of how it truly feels? The good news it Closed Forum nailed it in every single way.

I was diagnosed with ME (Myalgic encephalomyelitis) in December 2023, which was made worse by the wrong medication. Adjusting to the illness is not easy; it is highly stigmatised, often misunderstood, and there’s no cure or treatment. In ME/CFS, it’s just about learning your baseline and understanding what you can and can’t do to find a balance. That is not an easy process, one that took many years of learning from PEM crashes by overexertion. Overdoing it isn’t as simple as you think; it’s not just about going to the shop and spending too much time there, or running around too much completing errands. Sadly, with ME/CFS, even sensory things can contribute to a crash, so gaming, sitting at a PC, the noises outside, stress, worry, the list goes on, it’s pretty endless, and it all contributes. At this stage, by the end of 2025, I have learnt to navigate the illness, but it’s easy in society to get into a crash because the world doesn’t slow down for you; you’re still an adult that needs to do everything able-bodied adults do. Below is an explanation of what ME/CFS is via The ME Association. You can find the site HERE.

“ME/CFS is a complex and chronic medical condition that affects multiple body systems.

It most often develops after an acute viral or bacterial infection from which people seem unable to fully recover. It can cause many different symptoms, which can be triggered or worsened by any kind of effort or activity.

Symptoms include flu-like malaise, sleep difficulties, brain fog and a profound fatigue that is unlike normal tiredness. People may also experience chronic pain, headaches, nausea, digestive problems, and sensitivity to light, sound and other stimuli. Symptoms come and go and can change or worsen with little warning, causing distress and disrupting people’s lives.

ME/CFS is different for everyone. It can range from a milder illness to a severely disabling one that leaves some people housebound or bedbound.”

It’s Not You, It’s M.E is the best representation of what ME is in a nutshell. You are a character who struggles with ME and must balance a job, friends, medication, cooking and everything important in day-to-day life. You’ll soon learn that it becomes almost impossible to balance everything in one day and keep enough energy to do the next day’s tasks as well as today’s. As you go, you’ll start learning new patterns to be able to cover the most important stuff and reserve other tasks for other days. This is how I feel with my ME, it’s a balance of finding the important tasks and balancing them with the side ones. Like a video game with a questing system, the main ones are important, but side quests can be left and done later when you have the time however with ME/CFS it’s whether you can complete any of the tasks at all. Closed Forum did a perfect job at representing the illness in such an incredible way. For those who want to learn more about the condition, It’s Not You It’s ME is the perfect representation.

The game is a small one, you can complete it in under an hour but even In the small amount of time, you’ll learn what it is like to balance a life with a chronic illness. I recognised a lot of the problems you run into in the game. I found it easy after a few tries as it’s what I go through with Chronic illness each day however it is different for everyone. It might be a little more challenging for those who don’t know and its an interesting one to take on and see if you can manage it. The mini games are quite fun to play; it’s all about trying to tidy up properly, take the right medication, and communicate with your doctor and friend. A short and sweet experience that I urge you to give a go.