Saturday Casual Gaming 213: Games for Bad Days

If you're anything like me, sometimes you have bad days. I don't mean days that are annoying or where a bunch of nonsense happens to you - I mean bad days. Days where you don't feel like you can get out of bed. Days where you haven't been able to sleep the night before. Days where you feel like you can't continue doing anything. Days where even a shower feels like hard work.

Basically, when I say "bad days", I mean bad mental health days.

Many, many people suffer through Bad Days. I'm one of them. Most people I know have Bad Days.

So what do I play when I'm having a Bad Day?

Well, the sad truth is, some days are so Bad that I don't even want to play a game. I don't want to do anything.

But on the days that are Bad but not So Bad I Can't Do Anything, these are some games I play to help me not focus on how Bad the day is:

Castaway and Castaway 2 by Likwidgames (on Kongregate) - Beautiful, fun, difficult, and fascinating. I love the Castaway series. I really, really love them. Like. A lot. Great RPGs, the both of them!

Crystal Story by lan14n (on Kongregate) - a pastel paradise of a quirky, Dragon Quest-style RPG. Fun, simple, and lightly nuanced, this is a good game for niggling at my nostalgia to try and pull me out of an emotional hole. It can get annoying, however, when you're six attempts in on the same boss. Like with any RPG. Yeah.

Einstein Riddle (Android) - I grew up doing logic problems with my dad. He's the same guy who introduced me to Indiana Jones, the Shadow, and Sherlock Holmes before I was even in school. My dad rocks. Einstein Riddle is a set of logic puzzles ranging from super easy to insanely, stupidly hard. I dig it, but I can't focus on it 100% of the time.

Enchanted Cave series by dustinaux - (Android, Steam, Kongregate) - Brilliant RPGs, brilliant developer, a good time to be had by all, and music in the second game composed by the same guy who did Banjo-Kazooie. Need I say more?

Epic Battle Fantasy 4 by kupo707 (on Kongregate) - I like the rest of the Epic Battle Fantasy series, but this one wasn't a platformer. It's a Final Fantasy-style sendup of RPGs while also being a great fantasy RPG, and it's hard as can be if you're not careful. I like the grind, so it works for me!

Fragment Hunter by mmx95 (on Kongregate) - I love RPGs. I love Engrish. This has a lot of both, since I'm fairly certain English is not these folks' first language. It doesn't matter, though. The story is pretty straightforward, and the loot mechanics appeal to my mathematically interested-but-not-quite-inclined mind.

Grind Quest by jetspice (on Kongregate) - This is a Minecraft knockoff, I know, but there's something relaxing about building up everything you need to take on the nonsensical Ender Dragon. Also, I don't think my PC can run Actual Minecraft, so this is as close as I really get.

Hack Slash Crawl by Void (on Kongregate) - a simple point & click dungeon crawling RPG with perma-death and stat-boosts via Titles. This one can be a little frustrating, since its permanent deaths mean that you can feel like you lose a lot of progress, and can't really get attached to any of the interesting characters.

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch) - I'll be honest, this is one of the only video games I've bought for myself that wasn't a Pokemon title. I love Pokemon, don't get me wrong, but I'd been hearing so much about the Legend of Zelda series that I had to try it for myself, and with my last paycheck from my old job (before that dried up), I purchased both a Switch and Breath of the Wild. It's been a joy. A furious, anxious, fear-inducing joy. That makes very little sense, I know, but on days when I struggle to feel anything, I can always induce rage by trying to take on a Guardian or trying to get that one stupid chest on Vah Naboris' tail or give myself a shiver of fear while I hurtle through the air in Vah Medoh's ridiculous death trap design. Seriously. I have so little trouble with the Elephant and the Lizard (though both have their scary elements), but these two... Anyway, I strongly suggest this game if you have the dough, and... if you can, buy the DLC. I didn't have the cash for it, so I'm missing out on a lot, I think. This is one of the games I really wish I could Stream, because I think a lot of people would find my freaking out over the heights in a video game hilarious.

Magikarp Splash (Android) - I love Pokemon. A lot. This game lets me take care of a Magikarp and have fun adventures without having to shower or put on real pants. I like that.

Neko Atsume (Android) - oh mannnnnnnnn, I love cats! This game is peaceful. It's a garden of tranquility and kitties. What more could I ask for?

NGU Idle by Somethingggg (on Kongregate) - Ah yes, more math for the bad-math-but-I-love-numbers-brain. I like the loot progression on this game. I like the stupid monsters. I like the completely cracktacular storyline. I like that it doesn't take itself seriously. It's good at distracting me.

Pokemon Go (Android) - Oh boy. This isn't a 100% success rate for getting me going, but there is something special about jamming monsters into balls and then turning them into candy that can help. Also, it encourages me to exercise, so that helps.

Pokemon Shuffle (Android) - I'm big on Match-3 games and Pokemon. My only gripe is that there's timed levels, and I hate those.

Slurpy Derpy by ScaryBee (on Kongregate) - Candy-colored post-apocalyptic nonsense abounds, and I love it. I would absolutely fall into a freezer in a convenience store, reaching for a burrito, right before the nuclear apocalypse. Yes.

Stardew Valley by ConcernedApe (Steam) - one of only two games on here that you absolutely have to pay money for (the other being LOZ:BOTW), this is a peaceful, relaxing mind-sauna. I can just drop myself into the life of my far-more-successful farmer and live out a fantasy of having money and being loved by my whole town. It's kind of a dangerous fantasy, true, but it's one I sometimes need. It's great for fighting anxiety and relearning how to complete tasks on time...

Sudoku - Okay, this one's kind of hard to focus on when I'm really down or at 6AM on day 8 of wretched insomnia, but it works most of the time to give me something new to focus on.

Tabletop Idle by omgnoob191 (on Kongregate) - I like board games, but I don't like playing with other people, since I'm a really crummy loser and I play well with others. This game scratches the Board Game itch without pestering me with other players.

Trimps by GreenSatellite (on Kongregate) - Minimalist so I don't have to focus on sprites or art or anything but text. It reminds me of my childhood, watching my cousins play Zork or other old text-based adventures on my grandma's Commodore 64.

Wild West Saga by Tamesenco (on Kongregate) - I've talked about this one! It's a simple idle game set in the Wild West (hence the title). Fun, low commitment, and easy to pick up or put down.

Word Cookies (Android) - I like word puzzles and word searches. I'm not trying to brag, but since I was in the advanced reader's program in grade school, I feel like that shaped my love of vocabulary and random words. This game rewards me for having legitimately once spent an entire day reading the dictionary. It was a very boring day.



Now, this is nowhere near a complete list - the internet is a vast and varied place for video games, but these are tried and true standbys that I adore. I'd like to give an honorable mention to my first finished-games; Secret of Mana and Seiken Densetsu 3, which, until Breath of the Wild, were the only games I'd ever finished 100%.

I don't own copies of these games, sadly, but one day, I shall, and it will be glorious. I'll have to learn how to stream them for you guys. I really have to.

Thanks for reading my insane rant/list about video games, guys. Writing it out really helped me today, since, as you might have guessed, today wasn't a particularly great one. Nothing's wrong, though. It was just a low day from the moment I woke up. Talking to you guys really helps, so thanks for listening!

Now, Go Enjoy Something

And so will I :)

FC