in about 201X I was having a terrible time trying to get through the thesis period of a master’s program
picked up some bundle of the OG 2DS (black & blue variant) and Pokemon X and loved it
a world where I could pick my friends, people were pleasant, my next career moves were obvious, and my work was rewarded? To this day, this is my escapist fantasy.
I’m gonna go with Forza (Assetto Corsa also works to a lesser extent). Sure the focus of the game is on racing, but it can be extremely relaxing to hop into any car you want from any era and just take a cruise and look at the scenery
Sometimes I chill after work by driving around the Nurburgring in a touring car in Automobilista 2.
Alternately, for more driving games:
Art of Rally has a free roam mode, which is pretty chill.
I’ve been playing Sledders, a snowmobile game. It is super early in early access, but it can be fun to just roam around (and learn how to drive a snowmobile).
I’m well aware. I enjoy the game all the same. Besides, I think people overstate how bad rammers are. Yeah it happens sometimes, but most people want the same thing you do: a clean race
Sorry to hear things are rough, I hope you get some reccs you like ❤️
I thought In Stars and Time was really uplifting, but it does deal with mental health issues throughout the game. One of my absolute favorites and something I go back to in rough spots tho :)
Fields of Mistria is similar to Stardew. Its still early access, but there is a lot to do in the game as is. Traveller’s rest is similar to Stardew, except you have a tavern.
Tiny Glade is good if you like sandbox games. Minami lane is also alright.
For adventure games, I thought Caravan SandWitch was fun, kinda bittersweet. I havent finished Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley, but i would be shocked if it wasnt uplifting. Islets and Crypt Custodian are also nice metroidvanias. I thought they were both funny and cute.
Dave The Diver: you run a sushi restaurant and go diving to catch fish. The writing is quirky, it’s full of interesting characters and there’s no time limits except for some events. I’ll spend days just fishing for the restaurant instead of doing any “story stuff”. I picked a steam key on CDkeys for £7 and I can already see myself pouring 40 hours in this thing if I want. The trailer if anyone is interested
Actually playing games during dire emotional states throws fuel unto my dissociation/depersonalization/derealization problems; but just mindfully sitting in my favorite place in the Temple of the Moon on a private vanilla WoW server works great for me. The sounds, music, colors, lighting effects, and water create a very zen space that helps me observe my thoughts and feelings without getting so tangled up in them. That kind of presence helps me better understand what is really going on and how it all happened.
If things are merely bad then maybe I’ll play some original Sims 1 or Rimworld on the coziest of settings. So long as there’s no nest of trash around then it’s probably okay. Eufloria in relaxed mode is a lovely RTS game that hasn’t ever caused me any problems.
Outer wilds felt really good to play, optimistic nihilism and a happy lonliness. One moment that really stood out to me was when I followed a certain object out of the solar system, spent pretty much 20minutes drifting in space listening to the other astronauts play together planets apart and watching the stars
spoilerWatching the stars slowly blink out and realizing that I won’t be able to save the sun, that it’s the whole universe going away. Givining in to the inevitability of it all ending and just watching everything end.
It’s one of the most peaceful times I’ve had with a game, and playing it in the middle of covid I cried happy tears. Go in as blind as you can.
It’s a gorgeous game experience. Not to mention they put so many other gamedevs to shame with their technical accomplishments (especially in the expansion – flooding waves in a ringworld!).
Don’t look up spoilers. Get yourself a copy and play it. Find somewhere to land :)
Sorry to hear things are rough for you. I hope whatever is causing it improves!
Mine is an odd choice, or maybe not, but its the first thing that came to mind: Night in The Woods
It’s about a girl that comes home from college to her old dying town. I know that doesn’t sound terribly uplifting, and there’s some downer stories mixed in there, but overall I found it a very heartfelt and uplifting game, because the main character’s friends are the most wonderful bunch of people, and you hang out with them and go on little adventures throughout. It’s got a cool creepy mystery story going on, but the game is mostly about deep friendship, family, and overcoming struggles with their help, and I found that very uplifting and worthwhile.
Night in the Woods was such a standout game. I started to watch a let’s play, realized that it was going to be fantastic, stopped the let’s play, played the game, then finished the let’s play to see their reactions. If you like wholesome let’s plays, I highly recommend PlayFrame. Here is their Night in the Woods play list
I’m playing factorio with my friends two days straight and we plan to keep playing, it was years since I could play for so long with them, normally I start to fell bored and hang up, but i’m 14 hours in and stil want to play more!
Factorio is great. I don’t think Theres another game that sucked up so many hours so quick. I absolutely love it. It takes a shit load of time(my first world took 40 hours and didnt complete the game). I’m now starting a new world because of space age, and already have a lot of plans on how to improve my world to male it better(starting with currently building a blueprint for a mall and rushing to robots in order to not being forced to build everything by hand). Also, disabling biters is a very good thing to do. I don’t want to focus on fighting biters. I just want to see the factory grow.
Kerbal Space program wasn’t on the list, and maybe OpenTTD? The latter is also great when you have a random setup (the game is 10Mb, runs in anything and has zero needs) and have only 20 minutes to play.
Journey is a beautiful game with excellent music and visuals. It’s coop where you can only make a ping noise and run around each other so no possibility of negative interactions. There’s a little challenge and adversity at times but the ending is phenomenal and joyous.
Sayonara wild hearts is a playable music album about a lady learning how to love herself. It’s got simple game mechanics but the mechanics all compliment the music and the music is so so good.
A friend of mine has (had?) most of the world records in Sayonara Wild Hearts; it’s not as relaxing if you’re going for high scores since you need to get close to collisions for bonus points, but if you just play to beat levels and chill, it’s great.
i harp on it a lot, but Outer Wilds helps me a lot. It teaches the value of exploration, curiosity, friendship, compassion, and patience. it’s a deeply melancholic piece, which can be frustrating and obtuse at times, but just remembering it makes me happy. the soundtrack brings all the memories back every time.
It’s a great game but I wouldn’t call it uplifting at all. Some of the why is already in your comment. Some people may also get frustrated by being in a loop and having to start over time after time. Some of the puzzles aren’t easy, which again may add to the frustration.
Freshly Frosted - Puzzle game. Seriously, I don’t remember the last time I felt so encouraged by the narrator. If you’re in a bad mental state, I do recommend this one.
Lost in Play - Two siblings go on an adventure through a fanciful wonderland of their imagination…or is it?
Spiritfarer - A chill management game where you’re Charon ferrying souls to the Everdoor. This one deals with death and saying goodbye to loved ones, but it does so in a very thoughtful and sensitive way. It definitely changed my paradigm.
A Hat in Time - Cute 3D action platformer. Silly fun.
Little Inferno - Despite its simplicity and obvious satire of consumerism/Capitalism, this has a very cozy feel and fun characters.
Tinykin - Adorable collect-a-thon platform puzzler with no enemies, only obstacles.
Gorogoa - Puzzle game with an interesting story that unfolds with each puzzle.
Doronko Wanko - You’re a cute doggo making a house as messy as possible.
Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People - Fun, silly point and click. I also recommend the show.
Little Inferno can be beaten in ~3 hours and… let me check… yes, it’s on mobile! It’s by the people that made World of Goo, don’t sleep on it
Hat in Time is a great modern 3D platformer, movement was fun and I liked the variety of characters across the levels. The Murder on the Owl Express quest was my favorite!
gonna throw in my caveat here; ITT is a really good co-op game but there’s like a 25% chance the story isn’t for you. it’s the kind of story where, if you think about it too much, you start to realize that the characters do some pretty fucked up stuff including
::: graphically tearing a plush doll apart while it screams for mercy
:::
i don’t want to come across as judgemental if you enjoyed it; i get that some people are gonna find it more slapstick than anything. but it was more than enough to make me and the person i played it with flush it, and i wouldn’t feel right not mentioning it for specifically “uplifting games”
if you can ignore the story, the co-op gameplay is super solid, though
(sorry if the spoilers don’t show up right, my client doesn’t show them properly)
Most of the game is fantastic, but yeah my partner and I were surprised when that happened!
There was one other plot point where we raised our eyebrows, but I don’t know to do spoiler text
rarely, i like to play a fluffy, feel good game with no real stakes. enter: Flynn, Son of Crimson
there is absolutely no chance of anything really bad happening in the game, the worst that happens is your powerful guardian diety dog loses his powers at the beginning of the game (but it’s OK, he just rests until you reclaim his powers and he feels better). you never really feel like anyone is really in danger, you get to play a pretty fun 2d action platforming game, and it has some really fun sections later on that make you feel awesome
it wraps up nicely in probably 20 hours too, if you want to 100% it, so it doesn’t overstay its welcome and lets you experience all of its content with low demands. really a lovely little experience. it’s not pushing the envelope at all, but if you want basically 20 solid hours of lighthearted fun, this is a great way to get it
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Aktywne