Vampire Therapist Creator Cyrus Nemati on Working With Therapists, SAG-AFTRA Strike

If you've ever had a mental health crisis, chances are high that video games became a necessary escape. Even if you can't solve your own problems, you can finish the next quest or unlock the next treasure or build the next creation in a video game you love. Arriving on the scene earlier this year, Vampire Therapist takes the innovative approach of infusing real therapeutic techniques into a compelling narrative adventure game.

That wasn't a small task to accomplish, and Vampire Therapist creator Cyrus Nemati worked with licensed therapists during development to ensure difficult topics and concepts delivered in the right way. When I had the opportunity to speak with Nemati, who is also the lead writer and voice actor of Vampire Therapist, he discussed how that partnership helped throughout development. We also took a moment to discuss the ongoing SAG-AFTRA video game strike where voice actors and other performers are fighting for necessary generative AI protections.

Vampire Therapist took early inspiration and guidance from licensed therapists

While many games have tackled the difficulties in mental health through their characters, Vampire Therapist is the first to integrate a therapeutic framework into the structure of the game. Before the process of seeking input from licensed therapists began, it was a modern vampire tale that helped inspire Cyrus Nemati to create Vampire Therapist.

“A lot of it came from Twilight, strangely enough. There was a scene where Edward Cullen in the movie starts playing the piano, and he’s supposed to be really good. He’s actually not all that great really, but then I thought, just because he’s lived for 200 years, why does he have to be good? This is a lot of pressure on a vampire to say to them, ‘You live forever, all your excuses are gone, why haven’t you done x, y, and z?’ I thought a lot about the immortal pressure that vampires had, and [that] this is a lot of fertile ground to explore," Nemati said.

"We mortals have plenty of problems [worrying] have we done enough on this planet. A vampire probably will feel insecure over the long run just because they have so much time in which to not achieve their goals," Nemati explained before emphasizing some of the challenges vampires would face. "We already know that people who are in their 70s have a hard time letting go of their particular traumas and issues. A vampire is gonna get very settled into whatever their issues are.”

After a simpler early build for Vampire Therapist didn't deliver in gameplay testing, Nemati made the decision to incorporate real-world cognitive behavioral therapy into the game. With licensed therapists rarely getting to explore a unique project like this, many were happy to help Nemati fine-tune the techniques on display throughout Vampire Therapist.

“It was working already, but I worked with them extensively first to define this set of 13 distortions that I was using. That was the hardest thing. There is a lot of differing literature, so we had to come up with a unified definition of what each one of these cognitive distortions were,” Nemati said. “Once I got started, I actually had them review every single session. First off, looking at each of the cognitive distortion sections to say, ‘Oh, these are the distortions that are present, you could also add these or remove these.’ Also the general approach, and luckily they were very on-board with my particular strategy [of] approaching all of the vampires with compassion first." 

“Therapy is not an exact science. Every therapist has a different way of doing things, but if the ethos is positive, if the ethos is toward being helpful [and] understanding. Approaching every patient without judgment, which I have to do with vampires as typically they’ve done a lot of bad stuff. It actually made whatever the approach was still seem sound to my therapist council, so it was a very collaborative thing," he said.

“The benefit that I see in a game like this is not just talking about therapy but the actual application of it. This was useful for me as well having been in therapy for a long time myself, having heard [and even agreed with] a lot of these cognitive behavioral therapy terms. But as soon as I go out of the therapy office, I forget all about them. In applying these distortions, it really solidifies them in the memory. Now, for instance, I’m always looking at my own distortions and saying, ‘Well, this is where I’m disqualifying the positive,’ or ‘This is where I’m exhibiting a control fallacy.’ It’s a lot easier to recognize these things now, which I find valuable and a great starting point for entering real therapy,” Nemati explained.

As one of the many that have played and loved Vampire Therapist, I can also confirm that learning these concepts in the game will trickle out into your daily life. One game is never going to be a replacement for therapy, as much as I think many of us would like that to be the case, but introducing these terms and concepts does make a difference. By pairing the input of professionals with an engaging narrative featuring a star-studded cast of voice actors, Vampire Therapist is as impactful as it is entertaining. The game continues to expand with new content, and there might even be a sequel on the horizon.

SAG-AFTRA and the fight against generative AI

Generative AI is the new frontier of exploiting and underpaying artists of all kinds, and we're now in the midst of a third strike where protections against this technology are a primary factor. The Writers Guild of America was on strike against the AMPTP from May to September of 2023, and that duration was only five days away from making it the longest WGA labor-stoppage in history. Shortly after the WGA strike began, a SAG-AFTRA strike against the AMPTP that lasted 118 days from July to November 2023 became the longest in that union's history.

In July 2024, a SAG-AFTRA video game voice actor strike was initiated against all major video game companies. Like both recent strikes, an interim agreement was drawn up that allows some projects to continue work if they will agree to the protections the union is fighting for. Vampire Therapist is one of many games signed to SAG-AFTRA's interim agreement, and Cyrus Nemati spoke about the impacts of generative AI and the importance of the strike.

“The generative AI protections are really important, because this is something where it’s very wild west. What we have encountered with this kind of technology is that it only catches up to the rights of the creator after, say seven years. But at that point, you basically get the feet cut out of an industry entirely,” he said. “We can easily put our fingers in our ears and say ‘no, no way, no AI, we’re never gonna do it,’ but if we do that they’re just gonna do it their own way anyway." 

"What we need is to be at the negotiating table, because I do see a future where, if we have AI protections, we can view our voices [and] our material as something that can be licensed. Then we’re still getting something for it,” Nemati continued. “I’m not at the table for these negotiations myself ‘cause I’m in Berlin, but I look at paradigms where an artist that’s heavily used by AI can be subsidized somehow or a voice actor can be subsidized in a particular way for how often they’re being used, and that we have a right over how our voices are being used.” 

“I went and I saw Alien: Romulus the other day. I did not like it, for a lot of reasons, but the primary one is they brought back my Ian Holm. They brought back Bilbo. And because he’s dead, they had him acting in this thing and I know that Ian Holm would never make acting decisions like that. That, to me, is disgusting,” Nemati said as I brought up the egregious example of The Flash where several dead actors were recreated and even Nicolas Cage said his heavily altered performance in the film was "not what [he] did."

“This is the thing about AI. It can certainly cover gaps, I’m open to that. I am, honestly, just because it would be nice if it would make work easier and less difficult, but AI will always make the most boring choice," Nemati continued. "The way it works is that it is always working toward the median of what thought is, which is why Ian Holm’s performance in this Alien movie was so unnotable other than his face being in it. Because [this AI version] could only express an idea in its most basic mediocre form. I would hate for my voice to be used to be boring. If you wanna create something boring, that’s fine, just don’t involve me.” 

While in-person negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and representatives for video game companies were held in October for the first time since the strike began, a deal has not yet been reached. For the time being, SAG-AFTRA's interim agreement will remain in place for developers and talent that are willing to agree to proper protections against generative AI and other changes the union continues to fight for. For those that want to support a game on the side of SAG-AFTRA, Vampire Therapist is currently available on Steam and GOG for $14.99. Two free content updates have already been released since launch, and the previously announced Couples Therapy DLC is set to arrive this December.