Comfort Games
Every gamer has a game they know they can go to and have a good time with no matter what. It doesn’t matter how many times you played before or even your skill level. These are the games that let you just unwind and enjoy the experience. Here are a few of mine.
Teamfight Tactics
Teamfight Tactics is an autochess game from Riot Games, inspired by the ever-popular League of Legends. You randomly draw characters from a pool of potential team members and build your roster. Each character has different traits that combine with other characters to offer bonuses in things like defense, ability, speed, or even the number of characters on the field when you fight your opponent.
Each round, you’re dealt a new hand of cards that lets you buy additional characters for your team. Stack three of a kind together between your bench and your field and you get a more powerful character; stack three of the upgraded characters together and you get the most powerful version of that character.
The winning player is the last one with HP. Update your team, arrange your characters on the field, and equip different add-ons and abilities to adapt to the fight. As the game goes on, more powerful characters become available. Sticking to one strategy will only get you so far. You need to constantly adapt to survive.
The best part is Teamfight Tactics is built with seasons in mind. Every few months, the entire game is rebalanced with new themes, new characters, new interactions, and new abilities. You might be able to dominate the game with your perfect Yordle strategy in one season, but not even have access to the Yordles at all in the next. The game is constantly changing and the seasons are patched throughout to handle any major balance issues in the current meta.
Crypt of the NecroDancer
I can talk your ears off about Crypt of the NecroDancer. This is probably my favorite rhythm game of all time. It’s a hybrid roguelike dungeon-crawler/rhythm game where you fight to the beat of the song. For most of the characters, you can only move on the downbeat. For all characters, you control the entire game with the arrow keys. Single arrows move your character, open doors or chests, or attack. Combinations (up and right, down and left, etc.) activate your abilities, like spells and bombs.
The game is broken up into five zones of three levels each. These are randomly generated with different combinations of enemies, obstacles, and bosses. You can aim for high score or speedrunning leaderboards. You can also play a daily challenge where everyone is given the same starting map. The random elements and abilities in the game can result in very different runs even with the same starting data, which is a major part of the appeal.
There are 10 characters in the base game with their own movement and attack styles. It goes to 14 with the Amplified DLC and 15 if you play on the Nintendo Switch. There are also eight different versions of the soundtrack—nine on the Switch—that have the same tempos on each level but completely different styles. The community mods also add a lot of variety to the game. It’s just a fun and challenging experience set to some cool music.
The Binding of Isaac/Rebirth
I’ve been playing The Binding of Isaac in all of its iterations since the demo first appeared online. This is a roguelike dungeon-crawler where you play a child escaping their mother, a religious fanatic who believes God has willed her to sacrifice her son. You descend into your basement that turns into a multi-floored labyrinth filled with unimaginable monsters that you fight with your tears.
This game has been expanded so many times through updates and DLCs that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to unlock all the features. There are 34 playable characters in the game, each with their own unique stats and abilities. There are alternate game modes and paths that take you to heaven, hell, or other realms you never imagined. Throughout all of that, you’re constantly upgrading your character with new add-ons that change their abilities (for better or worse) and gain additional NPC fighters to help you.
I’ve lost entire days to this game before. It always feels fresh no matter how many times I go back. The mechanics are simple but the possibilities are endless.
Solitaire Games
This is a whole genre of games that I can count on for a quick round of something to relax to. Every game has its own unique set of rules and style that will work for different players.
Right now, I’m really into The Solitaire Conspiracy. This is a high stakes thriller built around Streets and Alleys rules in solitaire. All the cards are dealt face up in eight stacks. You’re still trying to stack each suit from Ace to King, but you can shuffle any lower card onto any other higher card to free up the lower numbers. The Solitaire Conspiracy adds in special abilities based on different teams of spies in the narrative of the game. This game comes from Mike Bithell, the creator of games like Thomas Was Alone and Subsurface Circular, so the actual story is really well written and engaging.
I’m also a big fan of Faerie Solitaire. This one is super relaxing. There is a story about freeing faeries to save the world, but it’s really a clever spin on Golf or Pyramid solitaire rules. The different layouts of the levels are challenging and style of the game is quite beautiful. You also get to hatch eggs and raise mythical creatures through resources you gather while playing.
A total wildcard I’m hooked on is Mystery Solitaire: The Black Raven. This is another hybrid rules game, but the different decks and environments are inspired by Edgar Alan Poe’s “The Raven.” It’s a moody, southern gothic take on a solitaire game and the layouts can be quite challenging.
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These are the games I’ve been turning to recently just to relax and have fun. Games are a great way to unwind after a stressful day and these have been there the past few months to let me just breathe.
Teamfight Tactics is free through the Riot Games Launcher. Everything else is a paid title available through Steam.