Worked a lot as a child and barely played. Missed out on lots of personality development. I have more free time now and I want to play, but I don't totally understand how.
I was told when I have something fun to do, learn to fail the marshmallow test and just immediately eat the marshmallow. I feel paralyzed. I'm used to playing only if I'm invited by someone else to play, and I want to play more when I'm alone.
So far I sometimes draw and read a fun book. Both usually make me anxious, but they bring me feelings of accomplishment.
How do you feel about video games?
I just began playing Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs. I stopped when I began being in danger of being pursued. It's my first horror game. I love watching people play horror games, and hate playing them. I'm too scared of the first Amnesia game and Resident Evil games to play them.
I could use happy pretty games. And ones with easy enemies. I hate fighting enemies, but after playing the Gator Game, I've learned it gets boring quick. So good fighting games to learn to stand my ground would help.
Also, what would help me do tasks while sneaking around those enemies in the Amnesia game I'm playing?
Subnautica is one of my all time favorite games. Still a little scary at times, but not a horror game. The intensity comes from going deep underwater. It’s a beautiful game, and is focused on crafting and exploration. There are enemies to avoid, but not really any combat. You can play it at your own pace and approach it however you like, but there is an overarching narrative and goal to give it structure.
Another one I’d recommend is Stardew Valley. Beautiful game, very bright and happy. There’s a combat minigame, but it’s not completely central to the game. Mostly just growing a little farm and interacting with the townsfolk. Extremely chill.
I’d also give Minecraft a try. You can play with monsters on or off, or just build things in creative mode. It’s more of a pure sandbox, with only a loose end goal and a lot of content to play with. If you’re looking to play around, in the more fundamental sense, then Minecraft and similar open world crafting games might be a good fit.
For something much more structured: Portal. Absolute classic. No combat, just trying to solve a series of puzzles.
I’d also take a look at Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s extremely well-made, can be played any number of ways, difficulty can be turned up or down depending on how much you want to get good at combat. So many creative ways to solve any given situation. Can be a little dark, but it’s mostly about high fantasy adventure.
It ultimately depends on what kind of games you end up enjoying, but all of the above are worth taking a look at. If something looks cool, give it a try. If you use Steam, there’s a two-hour refund policy, so you can always try a game for an hour or two and get a refund if it doesn’t work for you. I think all but Minecraft are on Steam.
If you are up to downloading an emulator (trust me, many guides exist and even a dumb dumb like myself figured it out) is easy and let’s you play many ps2 games.
I say this because Katamari Damacy is a ps2 game that’s very much a colorful pretty calm game with a simple yet addictive gameplay loop.
There are themes and stuff to dive into, but the the core of it very calming and interesting to look at it (also the music is good vibes).