Maybe the big day didn’t go as planned. Maybe that bill was a hundred bucks more than was budgeted. Maybe you just flat out woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Either you can listen to Pinkerton and cry in the shower all day, or you can play one of these games and bottle up those feelings for some other time. There’s always something for every sad, poor sap out there who just needs a win today.
#1 — Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Just getting this one out first, as I don’t think anyone needs to be told how relaxing this game is. Everyone and their mother plays it. Literally– you can probably call your mom up right now and visit her island for some family bonding. On your personal island, all debts are without interest and the landlord is your best friend. Why not go to the shore and fish, talk to your favorite cuddly villagers, or place a giant golden statue of yourself in the middle of the town square? Even neighbors can be evicted left and right at the hint of an inconvenience and replaced with whoever fits your fursona the closest. Displacing critters from their homes might just be that positive boost you really needed today.
#2 — Peggle
Though its legacy now exists solely in the form of a PopCap developer jumping for joy at its mention, Peggle is a truly easy-to-learn, hard-to-master classic. Think Plinko without hearing a little Drew Carey in your ear telling you how much you suck when you get the worst outcome. Watching your ball gracefully bounce around the pegs can feel just as much like a baby’s sensory video as it does a video game. For a pro-tip, when replaying through levels, pick Master Hu and save the green pegs until you’ve gotten a good number of orange ones down. With that, the computer will perform a play for you that’ll feel like you hit ten buzzer-beaters in a row. And that’s gonna feel great.
#3 — Murder By Numbers
There’s something so soothing about Picross, a puzzle game that feels like it was taken straight out of a New York Times puzzle book. Start with a grid, fill it out according to numbers on the sides, and end up with a colored picture that looks absolutely nothing like what you started with five seconds ago. Combining that gameplay with all the crime drama and quirky characters of the Ace Attorney series brings something that nobody knew they wanted. With a team previously known for Hatoful Boyfriend and Fall Guys, the game is sure to charm you to death and ease your weary mind.
#4 — Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp
Danganronpa? The series where a bunch of young adults are forced to kill each other? Not in this game! Summer Camp has all the lovable characters of the original three games without any of the graphic details or tragic character deaths. The gacha-adjacent gameplay is more of a sideshow compared to what you can see happen when various characters from the franchise connect. The game will have some spoilers for the original series though, so if you plan on checking it out, you’re just going to have to brave through the Pepto Bismol-colored blood first. Give it just a few rounds and you’ll be feeling right as rain again.
#5 — Mortal Kombat 1
Okay, maybe sometimes buckets of blood really are what someone needs to cool down. In that case, there’s no better franchise to test your might than Mortal Kombat. The newest entry is faster and more responsive to control than ever before. Fight your friends or play a story mode that’ll leave any player wondering just how they’ll top it with something even more ridiculous that’ll force yet another reboot. Just don’t go online though, because other players will treat you as if you were the biggest Street Fighter fan in the world and you’ll be left feeling even worse.
#6 — SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated
Whether you want to be taken to the world of one of the most beloved cartoons of all time or just want a fun platformer, Battle for Bikini Bottom simply cannot be beat. For the most satisfying experience, try playing as Sandy whenever possible to easily glide over platforms with her rope. It’s cheap, but it feels good, fuck it. In a time where licensed games were dumped out with no care for quality or longevity, there’s a reason this game was “Rehydrated” nearly twenty years after its original outing. Still, the people thirst for a remake of The Spongebob Squarepants Movie– or at least this Old Man Jenkins does.
#7 — Here Comes Niko!
Chilling out and taking it easy is the entire point of this comfy platforming game. Play as Niko as they run around helping everyone in need on the quest to become a Professional Friend, the kind of job we’d all have if reality wasn’t so cruel. Beyond the relaxing atmosphere, it’s also a great sight for sore eyes with a mix of 3D backgrounds, 2D characters and enough pastels to give it the look of one big subtextual pride rally. A fair warning before playing, though – while the game never pulls a complete 180 turn, there are some family issues bubbling under the surface that may make it less comfortable. Still great escapism though, just like you needed today.
#8 — The Jackbox Party Pack series
In a world where advances in technology means nobody has to pretend to like Monopoly anymore, the Jackbox Party Pack reigns supreme in internet get-togethers. With games in the double digits and a gate of entry so accessible that anyone that can read this article can play it, it’s a quick and simple way to cheer up some friends. If you’re playing in-person, Fakin’ It from the third pack plays out like a sped-up game of Werewolf without having to hear about sus memes over and over again. Online players are sure to dig Fibbage: Enough About You, which appears in multiple packs as a way to get friends to divulge that information that you’d never find in #general. Just don’t be the buzzkill who picks Trivia Murder Party over and over again or you’ll have to go back to Monopoly.
#9 — Teardown
Teardown is the opposite of a sandbox game – instead of building whatever your brain can think up, you instead seek to destroy everything your heart desires. With the game’s voxel aesthetic, committing acts of blatant terrorism can be beautiful sights reminiscent of giant Lego structures falling apart. Nothing feels more satisfying than watching that giant building you hacked the legs off of smash into other giant buildings like dominoes. While the game has just recently made its way to home consoles, it’s the PC version that really gives it that extra oomph, with customizable structures and weapons through the Steam Workshop. You’ll be left feeling more than “oddly satisfied” by the end of it.
#10 — Team Fortress 2
No matter what your favorite shooter of the past generation is, it definitely peeked a little bit at TF2’s homework. What makes this game so fun is that it’s not just about a bunch of interchangeable characters pointing and shooting for the highest score. Working in a team may lead to flashbacks of the worst Apex memories, but the end goals are so simple to understand that a team can function without anyone ever using the voice chat function. A plethora of both PvP and PvE modes are capped off by having every single class have a personality that makes it no wonder they’re some of the most celebrated characters in the history of gaming. The good times will come calling back to you again, and there’s nothing wrong with indulging in a little nostalgic good feelings every now and then.
#11 — Little Inferno
What’s getting cozy without sitting yourself in front of the fireplace? The core gameplay of seeing what reactions are made when things burn together can be an extremely satisfactory experience. Eventually the fire will give way to a short but hectic story that won’t be what anyone expects going in. Truly the best way to both calm down and give into your primordial desire for chaos. And what can distract you more from life’s problems than watching it all go up in flames? Now that’s a win if I’ve ever heard one.
