Combatting winter blues with gaming

The weather’s getting colder, days are getting shorter, nights are getting darker. What else is there to do but game?

On a cosy day in, when the idea of leaving is too intimidating, I can often find certain kinds of games to hold a similar fear. Something brand new, something challenging, can just be too much when what’s outside already teeters on that brink. Story games are just a touch too far for me. I don’t want to have to think when it’s already cold outside, that would be one thing on top of another.

Roguelikes (a genre that resets player progress after each death) are a perfect alternative. Being usually light on story allows for theoretically infinite play time, increasing focus on a satisfying primary gameplay loop. Furthermore, it’s an increasingly popular genre, with more and more entries coming out in the last few years. Starting a new run takes seconds, and you don’t lose anything when a run ends, making these games surprisingly stress-free given how frequent death is.

It all contributes to the style of play I favour on those winter days

Another major advantage is saving, which can be done whenever you like within their neatly divided slices of content, so you can put the game down without fear of losing any progress. It all contributes to the style of play I favour on those winter days, something mindless that pairs well with a second screen if you truly want to turn your brain off. Each of these games starts off with a basic route that can be taken (which I favour), but can also add difficulty through multiple levels, increasing replay value for those seeking a challenge. Not that this has stopped me from replaying on just the basic difficulty.

Hades (and presumably its recent sequel, I’ll get back to you when it goes on sale) has been widely praised, with good reason, for the narrative it constructs, using its recursive genre to its advantage. At the same time, its hack-and-slash top-down combat is easy to digest, though you can create diabolical builds if you set your mind to it.

Perhaps card-based roguelikes are more your speed

Do you want to set your mind to seeing big numbers get bigger? Perhaps card-based roguelikes are more your speed. Slay the Spire (also getting a sequel in the near future) and 2024 Game of the Year nominee Balatro sacrifice the real-time speed of Hades for more strategic turn-based play. Slay the Spire puts more effort into its framing narrative and matches it with the combat, rewarding counter-play against enemies as it goes, whereas Balatro turns poker into a game of skill, ratcheting up the amount of chips you’re playing with as each boss falls.

Brotato falls somewhere in the middle. As hordes of enemies approach, you must upgrade and kit out your little potato. The game takes full advantage of its barebones art style and action to provide a huge amount of variety. Attacking is even done for you, so the only moment-to-moment consideration is where you’ll move your character to.

My other go-to consideration, in the same vein of replay potential without consequences, is fighting games. Especially with a friend, hopefully of a similar skill level to you, playing a few sets of any one of a number of games is comfortable, though perhaps not relaxing. If an atmosphere of friendly competition can be created, each game is exciting to win, but a loss is quickly forgotten. Both players can focus either on improving or moving around a roster, amusing one another with ineptness at playing as a variety of characters.

There’s a certain kick one gets from landing a well-spaced and timed smash attack

While, as a general rule, I would stick with roguelikes for one person and fighters for two, what if you have more than that? For my money (similarly to the previous suggestion), you can’t beat Super Smash Bros. Up to eight people at once can all play together, making it a communal experience. The gameplay takes some of the basics of fighting games but makes them easier to perform while still satisfying to pull off, to the point that I’m entirely happy to curl up under a duvet in my room on my own to play against CPUs. There’s a certain kick one gets from landing a well-spaced and timed smash attack. Expression of skill can take you into technical play, something even more than my playstyle of hitting the sparkly special buttons until the game ends. If you aren’t warmed by the sight of Mario punching gaming icons in the face, maybe the cold is inevitable.

So that’s what I have for you: the games that help me survive the cold. My heart goes out to all those who will suffer the same, and I hope my findings can help you make it through these winter months with mental health intact and thumbs as warmed as they can be.