7 video game escapes you desperately need today
Hey, video games. Remember those?
Sometimes you just need to escape. We won't presume to guess at the reasons you might want to do that today, of all days, but video games are very adept at carrying players off to another place.
Here are seven delightfully non-violent games to help you find your smile again today.
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Flower
In Flower, you play as a gust of wind. It is the most chill game of all the chill games.
Journey developer thatgamecompany created the best implementation of the PlayStation controller's motion sensors to date. You tilt the DualShock to steer your breeze around beautiful natural environments, gathering a tail of flower petals as you go.
That's it. It's Zen: The Video Game. Play it and let the stress melt away.
Device 6
Pure relaxation isn't for everyone. Sometimes the best escape is an opportunity to furrow your brow and think through a challenging puzzle.
Simogo crafted a tremendous series of them in the mobile game, Device 6. Even on a tiny smartphone screen, this is an engrossing experience. It looks like an ebook at first, but after a few minutes that word wall transforms into an elaborate audiovisual maze.
Getting to the end of it is both challenging and satisfying, and approaches touchscreen gaming in a way that few other titles have.
The Witness
Maybe you crave a puzzle game with a little more substance than Device 6. Well, puzzlers don't get much more substantive than The Witness, a 60-hour next-gen Myst (of sorts) from the mind of Braid creator Jonathan Blow.
Explore a beautiful, completely open island and draw lines. That's The Witness in one sentence. Just don't let that simple explanation fool you; this is a game that earns its extended running time. You'll look up after 50 hours and wonder where all the time went.
Katamari Damacy
Sometimes, you want to just channel the stresses of the world into a giant sticky ball that grows its mass with each object it touches. That's a real coping mechanism, right?
Katamari Damacy is exactly that. You roll your little alien ball around, gradually growing larger as more everyday objects adhere to you. Infectious music and a zany story keep things moving along, but Katamari's appeal is all about the raw joy of non-violent chaos.
Playing it in 2016 might be an issue. The original game was released for PlayStation 2 and later made its way to PS3 as a backwards compatible PS Store purchase. There's also a PS3-only follow-up Katamari Forever and the Xbox 360-only Beautiful Katamari, but nothing for PS4 or Xbox One.
Still, it's worth dusting off one of the old consoles for this gem.
Stardew Valley
Some deal with stress simply by throwing themselves into work. For those people: look no further than Stardew Valley.
This delightful, little game is all about maintaining a farm and building your life there. That's it. It's a cheery game with lo-fi graphics, but there's a surprising amount of depth to it once you start tackling the challenges of being a successful farmer.
Stardew Valley is currently available for Linux/Mac/Windows only, but it's supposed to be coming to PS4, Wii U and Xbox One before the end of 2016. If you need something like it right now and you've got a Nintendo DS or 3DS handy, try any game in the Animal Crossing series for a similar experience.
Firewatch
Henry, the playable star of Firewatch, takes the lonely job of fire lookout in Shoshone National Forest for one reason: to escape the tragedy of a life he wants to put behind him.
Firewatch isn't a happy game all the way through, but it is a distinctly human game. Henry and his supervisor, Delilah, form an unusual-yet-enduring relationship via walkie talkie. The game is not without its mysteries, but at heart this is a simple story about relationships and coping with loss.
Gone Home
There's no discussing Gone Home without delving into spoilers. It's a ghost story, of sorts, but it's not a horror game. In truth, it is a devastatingly hopeful game.
Now, more than ever, it is so important that we cherish and respect the global LGBTQ community. Gone Home has something very important to say about that, in a positive way.
Don't read anything more. Just play it. Puzzle through the mystery at its heart. Let it leave you breathless when the truth is finally revealed. A game can say something meaningful even as it provides an escape.
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
