Yesterday, I asked Kotaku Australia readers about the games you turn to when you feel your mental health starting to dip. Boy, did you lot come back with some great picks. I thought I’d catalogue a few here for posterity because maybe it will give you, dear reader, some options the next time you feel a Dim Day or a Bleak Week coming on.
Thank you, one and all, for your submissions! Appreciate you getting involved. Here, in no particular order, are the best games to play on bad mental health days, according to you.
Power Wash Simulator
As I noted in the original piece, my personal pick is always a job sim and lately Power Wash Simulator has been my go-to. Calming, uncomplicated, the perfect Smooth Brain, Head Empty game. Recommend.
Red Dead Redemption 2
From Damo:
RDR2.
Take your horse, go camping in your favourite wilderness part of the map.
And use a good set of headphones. The environment audio is still the best I’ve ever heard in gaming.
Fantastic suggestion. I used to do something similar in Sea of Thieves when I wanted ambient noise. Park up on an outpost, where skellies can’t spawn, and enjoy the background noise. How’s the serenity?
Don’t Starve
From H20Gatesy:
Don’t Starve.
I roll a fresh game and just smash the opening loop. It has a nice blend of familiar with what I’m doing and what I need, and the map is procedurally generated and that gives me something as well.
Several commenters had similar suggestions to Gatesy, in that they have a specific game they return to and run the first few, comfortable, familiar hours off. Don’t Starve is different in that it throws something new at you with every run. For instance:
Dark Souls
From Antrim5:
Weirdly the opening hours of Dark Souls 1 does this for me. I think it’s due to knowing my build and route so well I can just turn my brain off. Tends to wear off around entering blighttown.
See? I 100% get where Antrim is coming from. You’ve run this area so many times that you know it like the back of your hand. You can turn the mind off and let muscle memory take control, while still devoting a few brain cells to the early stages of a new build experiment.
Hitman: World of Assassination
From illusionnist:
Hitman World of assassination – Just shut my mind off and go on mass killing sprees
Gonna be honest with you, friend: I’m worried about you.
Microsoft Flight Simulator
From Nick:
Flight simulator gives a similar thing but with some fantastic real world scenery. I’m really enjoying that
The ultimate job sim. Nick is a commenter after my own heart. The process of learning how to take a plane from a full dark start to pushback to taxiway, to takeoff and then to cruise is like a soothing, calming balm for me. I haven’t done it in a while because it requires pulling out the whole HOTAS setup, but it’s always hit just right for me.
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria
From Terry:
Return to Moria is my current go to when the old black dog is getting me down. I can live vicariously through the character, not really playing the game and progressing the story, just dicking about.
When in doubt, diggy diggy hole. Several friends have been playing this since it launched last year, and all have reported the pleasurable nature of this game’s approach to busy work. One to check out if you’ve got a Game Pass sub.
Snowrunner
From biggribbly:
Snowrunner.
Grinding through mud, snow and ice. Finding and restoring old trucks to grind through mud, snow and ice. Make brain and upgraded V12 engine go brrrrrrr…..
Another natural fit for the Head Empty, No Thoughts mental heath day game. Snowrunner and Mudrunner are perfect games in the category, physics puzzle games all about getting your truck through treacherous terrain. These are games that are great fun on their own, but they’re also perfect for when you need to switch your thoughts off for a while.
Final Fantasy XIV Online
From Scree:
Right now, Yakuza. Or just some dungeons in FFXIV
I think the Yakuza/Like A Dragon games would be a bit full on for me to handle in a low mental health state, but Scree’s definitely onto something with FFXIV dungeons. Reasonably quick, straightforward dungeon delves that don’t require a huge amount of brainpower and get you a bit of a reward at the end. Good gear.
Image: Microsoft
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