Mental state is a variable that effects some parts if Mikan Muzou. The game increases or decreases the variable based on certain events and interactions. The mental state variable represents Soutarou's mental insanity, where a higher value is more depressed/unhappy.
Some events are only accessible with a low mental state, and several negative events are more likely to happen with a high one. Due to such conditions, it is recommended to have several save files for the game.
Mental state starts at 0, and the maximum value for the mental state is 29.
Increasing
Many events and actions increase mental state thanks to Mikan Muzou's dark nature. All of these except getting the Dark Hair effect are repeatable.
- Waiting in Soutarou's real world room (random chance, can increase or decrease)
- Viewing the Hazy Memory event (+3)
- Viewing the Monster event in Toxic Sewers. (+2)
- Attempting to go upstairs while on the top floor of the Prison (+1)
- Killing the pink blobs found in the Migraine Hallways (+1 each)
- Interacting with the strange device in the Dark Sewers (+1)
- Getting the Black Hair effect (+3)
- Viewing the bad version of the God event (10% chance) in Sandy Sprout World (+3)
Decreasing
The methods to decrease mental state are also repeatable. The easiest method is to continuously re-enter the sunset room of Toxic Sewers and interact with the fence each time. Idling in Soutarou's real world room is inadvisable, as it increases mental state more often than it decreases.
- Interacting with the cat found in Archaic Temple (-1)
- Viewing the sunset found in a door in Toxic Sewers (-2)
- Killing the shadow found in the Prison (-2)
Checking the Value
The main way of checking Soutarou's mental state is by checking the position of the clock in the Monochrome Pixel Room. To teleport to this room, attack the chaser in Assembly Line using the Knuckledusters effect with the bag off. The clock has four different positions, but it only appears in the highest position if the mental state is fifteen or above.
Also in Assembly Line, the bottom right room has a large hole in the floor which is replaced by a round red creature with an orange eye if the mental state is ten or above.
Events Affected by Mental State
With a low mental state:
- The Vending Machine Chaser appears.
- The NPC required for the Black Cat Flight event is more likely to show up.
With a high mental state:
- The Cave Chaser is more likely to show up behind Soutarou and eat him.
- More hostile chasers appear in Red Hand Labyrinth. They start appearing at a mental state above seven. More appear as the mental state goes higher, which can make it nearly impossible to navigate the labyrinth without chaser-stopping effects.
- The only event which requires a high mental state is the wake-up variant of the Bloody Scenery event. While viewable at any time, Soutarou will only fall to his knees and be woken up if is his mental state is maxed out at 29.