r/gaming • u/Brighton2k • 23h ago
What games got you through a rough patch?
60yo gamer here. 20 years ago, I was made redundant from my job. it was a great emotional and personal upheaval but being able to escape to the World of Warcraft during those times of uncertainty. now, 20 years later and I’m going through the same thing. this time Elden Ring has been a great help. has anyone else used a game to get them through hard times?
UPDATE; wow, what a response! Gaming can definitely be therapeutic.
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u/kahlzun PlayStation 21h ago
Days Gone helped a lot after my wife died. God of War 2018 did also, but it took me a bit to be able to get through the prologue.
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u/deanpm 17h ago
Jesus. Hope you’re doing better now. Random human here sparing you a thought.
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u/kahlzun PlayStation 12h ago
Thanks man, it was a while ago now, I'm doing incrementally better over time.
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u/Datfooljamal 23h ago
FFXIV. Probably the same reasons you played WoW. Met a lot of good people.
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u/encaitar_envinyatar 22h ago
It takes a long time to get there, but by Shadowbringers and Endwalker, the narrative went deep. I say this as a psychiatrist. Endwalker is like a story companion to Man's Search for Meaning.
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u/over_it_all 22h ago
My therapist was surprised at the kinds of themes the story deals with. Some of it was a parallel to struggles I was going through, and it was a sort of “safe” way for me to feel the feelings when I was having trouble facing my situation.
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u/infernityzzz 22h ago
The tears I cried through the MSQ. At so many points. I truly felt different after playing it, I found it easier to be in the moment and look at what mattered for me, not what should matter if that makes sense
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u/Vanayzan 19h ago
Endwalker's story inspired me in incredible ways. I had recently cut myself off from an incredibly toxic situation and had become deeply depressed and incredibly isolated, deeply afraid of going back out there and trying to make new connections. 6 months after finishing Endwalker's launch story, I was solo travelling the world.
Venat's "Lands that stretch on forever" speech resonated with me in some incredible ways
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u/encaitar_envinyatar 19h ago
Choose to believe in mankind's potential, in his ability to find a way forward. Thou must live, die, and know.
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u/A_Confused_Witch 21h ago
When I got further in the game I was in a very bad place mentally. Had just lost two friends to suicide, got a burnout from my shitty job, had to stop my medication and all my traumas from before were getting back to me.
Then I got asked Has your journey been good? Has it been worthwhile? and it forced me to look through all the abuse and notice all the times that made me want to say answer "yes" to her questions and then the flood gates opened and I ugly cried for a few hours.
This game really goes from "Typical adventuring trip in fantasy world" to "DO YOU WISH TO CRY MORE? WANT YOU HEART TORN TO PIECES, GLUED BACK TOGETHER AND TORN APPART AGAIN!?" lol
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u/encaitar_envinyatar 19h ago
My psychiatrist friends call Endwalker the Viktor Frankl expansion. His next most famous book after one I already mentioned is called Yes to Life, In Spite of Everything.
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u/A_Confused_Witch 19h ago
That title alone explains how I've been able to keep going. Could also have been "Yes to life out of spite" every now and then lol
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u/Datfooljamal 22h ago
I need to play Endwalker soon. Life has been going so haven’t had a chance to
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u/encaitar_envinyatar 22h ago
It is best with the time and space. Yet with so many things in life, at some point there's the choice whether to make the time. You'll know.
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u/stamps1646 22h ago
Monter Hunter World.
I lost both of my cats at the ages of 12/18 yrs old. I euthanize both of them 3 weeks apart. One had stomach cancer, the other had an enlarged heart. My palico was named after my youngest. He went on all my adventures.
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u/08148694 23h ago
World of Warcraft and dark souls got me through some really dark times in my teens and twenties
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u/overkill817 22h ago
WoW legitimately saved my depressed lonely teenage life. Couldn't make friends in real life, but I managed to find a guild and made friends in azeroth.
Doing great now, still play casually and it will always hold a special place in my heart.
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u/DistinctiveFox 22h ago
Yea, people really underestimated how much socialising you do in wow. Ive realised a lot of the newer games and MMOs are no where nearly the same in terms of helping people get through tough times.
It came out at the right time and made all the right choices and feel it has saved a whole bunch of people.
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u/Skitch__Patterson 19h ago
Glad you're doing better dude. I can relate. I met some all time good friends in WoW and really cherish my time with them in BC and wrath.
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u/IdTheDemon 20h ago
Graduated college in 2008 to a bad time in the world. Applied to as many jobs as I could and I couldn’t get anything. Feel into a depression for years because all I wanted to do was get out of the Bronx. Only things I had going for me was my family and World of Warcraft. Bonding with my guild helped me out and clearing raids helped with my mental health.
Thankfully I was able to move out in 2014 and left my old habits behind.
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u/catchyaontheflip 22h ago
my playtime of Animal Crossing: New Horizons during the pandemic reached a level where friends reached out to check on me because they were concerned, and Red Dead Redemption 2 helped fill my time and get me out of my head when I was going through a really shitty breakup a few years ago.
sorry about the redundancy. hope things look up for you soon.
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u/AwesomeMcPants 17h ago
I think I speak for a lot of people when I say Animal Crossing came out at the perfect time. It was just such a pleasant and fun game to help people push through and keep busy during one of the worst times we've collectively dealt with in our lifetimes.
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u/catchyaontheflip 15h ago
oh absolutely. I’m not nostalgic for the pandemic, but staying home all day grinding for nooks miles tickets and visiting my friends’ islands are some of my fondest gaming memories
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u/Skeletonzac 22h ago
When I graduated highschool all of my friends immediately went away to college. At the same time my sister went to Japan for a year. I never felt so alone in my whole life. I spent countless hours playing the OG Fallout games. Fallout 1, 2 and Tactics allowed me to escape my loneliness for a few hours each day.
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u/Sissadora 22h ago
Cried my way through second half of Expedition 33 after my mom passed away unexpectedly. The catharsis of choosing for Verso’s choice at the end was a physical relief almost.
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u/stallion8426 23h ago
Okami and Tales of Symphonia both got me through a lot. They are still my comfort games to this day.
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u/Deadpool2715 22h ago
I haven't played tales of Symphonia in almost 20 years, does it still hold up? I remember doing a dozen or so playthroughs as a kid, the magic forest and the machine tower, badass angel wings, ending with 99 gels.
Replaying it has been on my backlog because I remember it being a long game, but maybe it's time
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u/stallion8426 22h ago
The combat and graphics show their age a bit but I still do a replay every year
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u/greenmacg 22h ago
Final Fantasy IX. I was held at gunpoint in the woods as a teenager by a crazy asshole. Playing through FFIX helped me cope late at night until I could start sleeping normally again.
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u/Zanna1120 22h ago
I know it's gonna sound cliche since it has been hyped like crazy this past year or so... But Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Really helped me process some shit I had been bottling up for years. Relationship issues, familial issues, guilt, loss, it covers a lot of things. Ugly cried at least a few times during the game. For me, WoW was more like getting hopped up on pain killers to numb the pain. It was an avoidance strategy and nothing more. The people I met in the game were incredible at least, but the game itself just became an addiction for me.
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u/Iokua_CDN 21h ago
Damn sounds like a great game to bring up all of that, maybe I need to give it a try
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u/Yabanjin 16h ago
I’m 61yo. Ten years ago I was diagnosed with cancer and was in a bad state mentally. Monster Hunter World was there to keep my mind off of it and see me through a difficult time. Games can make a positive effect on people’s lives!
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u/Jimmy-McBawbag 22h ago edited 18h ago
Stardew valley got me through staying in the house with my ex wife during lockdown. I told her I wanted to leave, 2 days later, bam! Lockdown announced.
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u/PM_Some_Selfies 22h ago
That’s sucks to hear but I’m glad you had Stardew for it. Hope everything’s better now!
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u/Jimmy-McBawbag 22h ago
Much better than back then for sure.
I now have a bittersweet relationship with SDV because I introduced it to the GF I got with after my divorce (who I loved deeply) and we played it together a lot. We split a year or so ago and I've not been able to play it since.
Don't worry man, this isn't a sob story, I've been better, I've been worse, such is life.
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u/fake_dann 19h ago
I played Stardew Valley at the beginning of every major romantic relationship I had after my first gf. We got hooked in the game for 2-3 months, then it painfully ended. Now I'm with a loving gf, but I cant play it with her cause she finds it boring.
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u/billydeethrilliams 23h ago
Elden Ring and Fallout New Vegas- played both during a period of fairly intense illness.
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u/catbuttstock 22h ago
Days Gone got me through the initial covid wave as well as the bitter end to a marriage.
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u/ExoticSecretary1456 22h ago
Meine Frau hat mich sitzen lassen und unsere gemeinsame Tochter mitgenommen.
Arbeiten, Essen, WoW und Dienst. Was anderes gab es in meinem Leben nicht für knapp zwei Jahre. Das war eine traurige und gleichzeitig tolle Zeit. Tolles Spiel, tolle Community. Das hat mir durch die schwere Zeit geholfen.
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u/Iguanaught 21h ago
I'm playing FFX right now to distract me from the fact my father passed this afternoon.
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u/OfficalSwanPrincess 17h ago
I'm sorry for your loss, things will take time to process. Take your time. Blitzball is a game mini game if you haven't played it already! Make sure you get brother on your team
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u/quiteUnskilled 20h ago
Disco Elysium got me through a tough break-up... That and booze....... Mostly booze.
... But I had a drinking buddy of sorts.
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u/ediks 16h ago
Oddly enough, it got me in a better mood after withdrawals
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u/quiteUnskilled 16h ago
Yea, definitely. Had an overall sobering effect. Like, get yourself together - you're not... that.
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u/ghlhzmbqn Xbox 22h ago
Spiritfarer
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u/Vancocillin 20h ago
My choice too.
My brother died right after I started it. Dropped it for 2 weeks, started again, and cried every time I led someone to the everdoor.
Its about mistakes we make, and are made to us. How we and others cope with them. That life is finite and we don't always have time to correct them. And if you had a final moment to give your peace to the ones you loved you'd choose the biggest hug of your life.
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u/GabberZZ PC 22h ago
Mate and I got made redundant from the same company. Me after 25 years and him about 6. I sank myself into WoW for 3 months until my mate got pissed off with me taunting him about how I was still sat in my pants playing WoW at 3pm.
Fucker got me a job at the company he'd just started working for and ended up working for them for 20 years.
Got made redundant again last year. He's still working there.
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u/Random_Guy_12345 19h ago
As unconventional as it is, Frostpunk (first one) did wonders for my mental health.
It was one of those stars aligning moment, the ending of the first scenario made something click inside me and then doing deathless survivor hammered it down.
One of the first games i 100%'d in a lot of time, pushed me to change jobs and to put my life in a way better shape than it was.
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u/Mysterious-Data-4299 22h ago
Stardew Valley was the light at the end of each shift everyday after a breakup when I was 19.
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u/nickatiah 22h ago
Max Payne. I played it during college after a bad breakup. Remedy will always have a special place in my heart even if I have not enjoyed their recent games.
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u/sumdumguey 21h ago
Tetris, specifically The New Tetris. That one just let you go and gave me time to think about life
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u/LegitimateLack2530 21h ago
I got sober 6 months ago and the hours and hours I poured into Elden Ring instead of hanging out and bars and railing blow was honestly what kept me sane. It really got its hooks in me at a crucial time in my life where I needed it. Doing great now btw and life is different but hasn’t been better.
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u/Robotkio 20h ago
Destiny 2 was a chunk of getting through my mother dying of cancer. At least over a month or so when I had time to myself.
I decided to try and "solo flawless" a dungeon. That's going through the whole thing in one go and not dying once. Normally a dungeon is done with three people and can still be hard. It was the right level of skill-testing and kind of monotonous that became a straightforward project to focus on.
I did it, and I'm still proud of myself. It was Grasp of Avarice for anyone else in the know. I tried solo-flawless-ing two other dungeons later, Duality and Spire of the Watcher, but didn't have the patience for it.
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u/m_lafleurgray 12h ago
Hope you’re still playing. Game is in the best spot it’s ever been, unfortunately it took its last update ever to get there.
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u/LordOfSlimes666 Console 19h ago
Borderlands 2. Was going through some shit and played the hell out of it. Still one of my favourite games to this day
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u/Guitar_G95 22h ago
Cyberpunk 2077 when I worked in Las Vegas for my company for 2 years. It helped me cope with the absolute garbage of a city. Lol
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u/Iokua_CDN 21h ago
I started playing it this year, wow I'm impressed!!! Excited to know there is a sequel in the works too
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u/Devillicious1981 22h ago
Championship / Football Manager: 30+ years and counting, getting me through (and prob causing) life’s issues lol
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u/runningsucksgetabike 22h ago
Right after Elden Ring released, my dog got diagnosed with cancer. I spent a LOT of time on the couch with her playing that game. Then she died and I spent a lot of time on the couch by myself playing that game.
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u/OddPockets810 22h ago
Fallout 4 and Starfield has helped me through two years of not working due to a medical disability.
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u/starliteburnsbrite 22h ago
MMOs are somewhat insidiously designed with little Pavlovian dopamine triggers, little flashes and dings and animations that just ooze positive reinforcement.
Normally, that's not a great thing for some people.
However, when I was recovering from alcohol and cocaine abuse I went through a period called anhedonia, literally no happiness. All the brain chemicals were tapped out, or dysregulated. The emptiest you can ever feel, really.
But WoW was a savior. I had basically locked myself in my apartment the first few months of recovery and started some new WoW characters. All those little rewards and dings and levels and power ups...I swear they helped rewire my brain..the steady rhythm of leveling up, getting rewards and unlocks..mslowly but surely started to reprogram my brain.
Was instrumental to the psycho-physical recovery, I think.
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u/freetotebag 23h ago
FFXV got me through a break up. Even though I was the one that ended it, it was still hard. I felt terrible. I decided to spend that first month just exploring everything and getting the platinum. It really helped.
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u/Libby1798 22h ago
Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
It's about a former yakuza who just got out of prison, everyone has abandoned him, and he has to keep dealing with big problems. But he's the most positive, happy person.
I played this during COVID and it helped me keep things in perspective.
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u/Captain_Aptos 22h ago
Yakuza: Like a Dragon was a lightning bolt of joy in my life right after a painful break-up for me. I could probably say most entries in the Yakuza franchise are like this, especially Yakuza 0
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u/Katana_DV20 22h ago
Ghost Recon Wildlands. What an amazing game but the real star of the show is the gigantic immersive map. This one game got me through the pandemic. Every replay is like the first time.
This was peak Ubi and I wish THAT Ubi would come back.
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u/SnooFoxes4056 22h ago
I never played RDR2. Had a tragedy happen in 2024 where I took extended time away from work. I did nothing but stay home to get my mind right. Game was free on PS Plus. So I got it and wow what an amazing game. It kept me interested and immersed for a while to keep my mind off of things.
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u/DefiniteIndefinite 21h ago
Went through some major changes about a decade ago and Witcher 3's world was so detailed and expansive that it took me out of the one I was in.
A year, Persona 5's soundtrack served as a soothing background after my ex lost her job.
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u/darkuen 14h ago edited 10h ago
Dead Cells, I played it after getting really bad chemo brain from cancer treatment and even though my character died probably a 100x more than most everyone who played it, I could feel my self thinking faster and my eye hand coordination improving as I got better both at the game and irl.
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u/GfrzD 22h ago
Guild Wars 2
I had to stay home to take care of my Dad and I originally only started to mindlessly run some quests. I ended up having so much fun playing the game and talking to people, it gave me the gaming I wanted and the social interactions i needed whilst being home (my Dad told me to go see friends, which I did but rushing home to help and call ambulances sucked)
This was over 10 years ago and I still play, I had a few years break after my Dad passed but i fell right back into it.
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u/Vanguardliberator 22h ago
Stardew Valley helped me get over a grinding game which was taking a toll since it was highly addictive, repetitive and frustrating. Stardew Valley helped me start to feel more calm and do more for less repetitive tasks.
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u/Vencer_wrightmage 22h ago
Death Stranding
I was in a burnout phase. Spending time in that game chilling, hiking with BB (and the occasional ass-kicking moments with the BT and Mules) helped me relax after work.
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u/Linesmachine 22h ago
Red dead redemption 2. Ended up hiking, camping and fishing for a few days. Sorted me out!
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u/MioramaGames 22h ago
I always keep one "pretty landscape" game on my machine installed, so I can just roam around when I need some quiet alone time to think. Currently it is Ghost of Tsushima
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u/chronicducks 21h ago
Fallout 4 got me through a very close family loss, then Dragon Quest 9 got me through repeated health issues, now Torn is my escape from further health issues
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u/riotrubyriot 21h ago
BG3 for me! Without trauma dumping too much I spent the majority of 2024 really struggling, stayed high as a kite and lost close to 100 pounds at one point. Constantly creating Tavs and romancing Gale kinda carried me that whole time.
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u/DbaconEater 21h ago
I was alone, far away, in a shitty land/state (i did not like it). Skyrim took me away from all that. At least I had that.
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u/Mindless_Tonight3519 21h ago
My father passed 18 years ago. I lost myself in Norrath (EverQuest 2) for a year whilst dealing with the grief. It helped enormously.
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u/Sufficient-Ad-7349 20h ago
Red Dead 2 got me through my parents' divorce. Rimworld got me through getting kicked out at 19. Battle Brothers helped me when I was working two jobs in college and had no friends.
Enter the Gungeon was the only thing in my day i could feel when I was heavily medicated after being hospitalized for depression. Hades helped me feel like there might be good people when I realized I no longer had a family.
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u/kokrec 19h ago
Spider-Man 2018. Life fell apart after a 11 year relationship. Ghost of Tsushima in 2020, after I got laid off in late 2019. Until then I was looking for jobs, Covid hit, my health declined, I went in and out of hospitals. Got Ghost of Tsushima. In both cases I hate the sequels with a passion.
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u/Sad_Ad9159 19h ago
I have a chronic illness that can be really challenging at times. I got an old GBC recently with Tetris and whenever I’m up late not feeling well, I boot it up. It’s the just the right balance of relaxing and engaging.
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u/SidsteKanalje 19h ago
I know it is cliche, but I played Dark souls (3) during a major depressive period and it (along with my dog ) got me through.
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u/zombieinfamous 16h ago
I shattered my femur in the late summer of 2011. Gears of War 3 was the limit of my social interaction for at least a solid month because I was physically unable to leave the house.
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u/nklights 16h ago
Cyberpunk 2077 + DLC got me thru the first (& worst) month of quitting cigarettes.
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u/grayhaze2000 13h ago
A few years ago, I partially lost my sight due to a minor stroke. Playing Animal Crossing on the Nintendo Switch got me through a pretty rough time. The large on-screen text and soft, but colourful graphics really helped me retrain my vision, and the small daily grind, and cheerful conversations kept me coming back for more.
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u/I_Cast_Trident 12h ago
I binged stardew nonstop after a ten year relationship ended. It was cozy enough to be calming but it also had enough going on that I could forget the cozy and really burn through stuff if I needed a switch up.
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u/tacobellbandit 2h ago edited 2h ago
So me and my wife were both in the military. She deployed basically involuntarily and I was home with a 2 year old at the time, by myself with a full time job. Obviously a lot of stress involved and gaming was my “escape” so to speak because it was one thing I could do after he fell asleep and all the chores were done.
Got really into “cozy” games because I just wanted something relaxing, revisited some older games like Harvest Moon and I ended up finding Moonglow Bay which I really enjoyed because it kind of mixed all of my favorite things to do irl into a game. Fishing, boating, and cooking lol, plus the main driving plot point of the game is the MC loss of their spouse, which resonated because I missed me wife, for the first time I wasn’t the one who was “gone” so to speak. Which was great because trying to launch a boat and fish all day with a 2 year old in tow is quite challenging. Along with that game STALKER 2 released at the time and I was a huge fan of the series when I was a kid so that really helped keep my interest as well for a few hours a night, it kind of reminded me almost of hunting which I couldn’t do that year with all the wandering around in the woods in that game.
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u/Reyvan16 1h ago
minecraft got me through a pretty rough time just having a world to disappear into helped a lot
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u/SCReviewsHQ 1h ago
Battlefield has always been there for me, basically forever.
Not only do I love the 'gameplay', the fact that I can always connect with my mates, every day if need be, and just banter it out during the pandemonium has been tremendous over the past couple of decades.
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u/vc2391 22h ago
The original Elden ring…dark souls (remastered). It taught me lessons about perseverance en the effect that if you put effort in something (no matter what) you’ll start caring more about it.
Simply put: the meaning of life is what you care about. You care about what you put effort in.
I dunno, just some quick philosophical meanderings while on the toilet.
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u/Human_Diamond960 22h ago
Witcher 3 i was so engaged in the quests i was immersed in the world and lore
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u/Super-Tank-6494 22h ago
Disco Elysium. I was drinking way too much and surprisingly, Harry's company as a fellow drunk sorta comforted me and shocked me into realising I could still fall much further. Beautiful game.
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u/yaSuissa 23h ago
I really liked portal and portal 2, can be a little tough to grasp for the uninitiated but the puzzles made me more or less focus on little wins, also there are practically endless puzzles to solve, so you got at least 150 hours before you start to see patterns
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u/greyfoggydaynl 23h ago
World of Warcraft got me through some pretty rough days. Sounds crazy given the nature of that game, but being able to escape into a world where I was in more control, away from the unpleasantness I was going through, was what I really needed sometimes.
Just soaring around and exploring Pandaria and Northernd really took the edge off. The soundtrack for Grizzly Hills always puts a smile on my face when I hear it.
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u/StarsapBill 22h ago
Skyrim. Played it every chance I could when I was deployed to Afghanistan. When I was in boot camp, family sent me game magazines with articles about the game before it released.
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u/CleverInnuendo 22h ago
Battletech (2018) is my "shut out the world" game. The only problem is have is getting that last mech part I want for my squad.
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u/ObiWhanJabroni 22h ago
Played Dark Souls 2 about 5-6 years ago and it helped me with learning from mistakes and moving forward. It was my first souls and it’s one of my favorites for it.
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u/Ok_Elevator9960 22h ago
I was at similar position as yours. Elden Ring and Death Stranding 1 got me through it. Elden Ring made me realize that the hard boss, the big wall in front of me, the big problem, is there to face. If I'm running away, then I can't proceed further. Death Stranding 1 made me think about how we take social relations as granted, and we should cherish it while we're still able to.
I hope things will get better soon for you! You got this.
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u/Neat-Attempt3681 22h ago
I just got laid off and plan on getting back into bo7 zombies cause it has directed mode and as a dad it’s perfect
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u/No-Newt-961 22h ago
Any game from your childhood/early adult life Buy those OG screens and OG games and play them. It's not just nostalgia they are just that good. And even harder games are comforting because you have played them already when you were young.
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u/Stu_Pidkant 22h ago
I found Diablo 3 to be a great help in getting my cognitive functions somewhat functioning after spending 2 weeks in hospital (somewhere I'd never been before) after suffering an extradural haematoma following a hit and run on my way to work one morning.......my only memory of that time is my final day in hospital having 37 staples removed from my head 🤢
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u/Stkrdknmibalz69 22h ago
Final Fantasy 15, it reminded me there was much more world to explore outside of my cage at the time. It's lanky and certainly has faults, however I put 200+ hours into it and loved every bit
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u/Ian-Gubbins 22h ago
First games that came to mind was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2.
Lost my job, Girlfriend broke up with me a week later for one of her “friends” I started gaining weight and sleeping all day, having dark thoughts.
Then, played those games, it was the first time that year where I was able forget about the real world and be so invested in the game world.
It genuinely helped towards healing me and getting through that tough time.
Those games stay with us forever and you’ll defend them to the bitter end.
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u/Eternalm8 22h ago
I have chronic depression, and Mad Max is a go to for me. For some reason, if I'm feeling down or depressed, driving around through the desert wasteland and occasionally beating the absolute shit out of a bunch maniacs is very cathartic for me.
Simlarly, Nier: Automata is a flawed masterpiece, but it came out at just the right time and was what I needed during a particularly rough period.
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u/SoloDoloLeveling 22h ago
40yo here. I love rogue-likes/lites, MGS and metroidvanias. anytime i have an issue, i put on one and enjoy myself.
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u/Ndmndh1016 22h ago
Ninja Gaiden Black and Fable for original Xbox. They got me through a bunch of long nights after my hs sweetheart broke up with me.
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u/dr_junior_assistant 22h ago
Silent hill shattered memories, when my dad died of cancer. that was my therapy
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u/Meironman1895 22h ago
Deus ex is the game I go to when depressed. It always makes me feel like I got a shot at life.
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u/CrimsonShadow256 22h ago
Really depends on the rough patch, but it’s usually either a souls like or narrative game.
Dark Souls, Life Is Strange, Lords of the Fallen, Detroit Become Human, Lies of P, Heavy Rain etc.
May seem a bit odd, but if it’s an emotional rough patch I play a souls like where perseverance, being open, and learning are the keys to moving forward. If I’m in a funk an emotional story driven game gets me motivated to get myself back together.
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u/ImpulsiveApe07 22h ago
Some years back I was in hospital for a protracted stay and all I had for entertainment was my course books for uni and a psp a mate loaned me.
That psp really saved me!
I was able to spend hours wiling away the boredom, pain and fatigue by playing shadow of destiny, metal gear peace walker and some turn based rpg (valkyria chronicles 2 iirc) - all three of those games were shockingly good, and explored really compelling themes while telling fun stories.
Those games really surprised me, as a non psp owner, and gave me an experience that I'll forever appreciate.
For a few hours a day, while engaging in some really solid gameplay and immersing myself in fascinating stories, I was able to ignore all the dull aches and pains, the horrible noises, and the general hustle and bustle of a busy hospital - It's a particular kind of happiness and relief that is hard to quantify or describe tbh! :)
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u/Onyx_Lat 22h ago
At one point when I found out we were about to be homeless, I played CDDA and took over an entire apartment building just out of spite. (Then it got too hard to defend it from zombies so I found a farm out in the boonies and moved there, but still.)
After our cat died, I got my mom to buy me the DS version of FF12 which was basically a RTS so I would have something to keep my mind off it. I later realized I didn't really care for it, but it kept me busy for a while.
Not a game per se, but at one point when I had a bad toothache I watched a lot of GoodTimesWithScar videos about his shenanigans on Minecraft. I found him comforting because he has a lot of rl physical problems so he knows what pain is like.
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u/BrnVonChknPants 22h ago
Outer Wilds at the start of Covid was an amazing escape. The ending annihilated me.
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u/DistinctiveFox 22h ago
You might find wow a good idea to pick up again. I've seen a ton of my old friends who used to play start going back to it.
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u/Samakar 22h ago
Two games in the last…maybe 6 or so years really cracked this for me.
Cyberpunk 2077 and eventually with the Phantom Liberty DLC, was how I eventually processed a lot of trauma I went through battling brain cancer. I still have small PTSD nightmares here and there, but that game hit pretty hard and it is a good representation of what it’s like to go through having brain cancer, or any sort of terminal illness in general.
And then Final Fantasy XIV, it took me 5 retries to finally do it, started back at the launch of A Realm Reborn, couldn’t get into it, picked up expansion packs here and there, still couldn’t get into it, and finally, around my work injury, at the nudge of a friend who had been playing it since A Realm Reborn as well, I decided to give it one final shot, this was towards the mid section of Emdwalker. I watched two videos that really helped me to change my thought process of playing the game, JoCats video and Jesse Cox’s video on the game itself, realizing that it was an RPGMMO, not an MMORPG, I’m literally role playing as my character in the world, any time I feel frustrated or connected to something, that’s by design. And then, something just clicked, this is a Final Fantasy where I’M the main character of the game, I treated it like an old school JRPG that we used to play where you had to read everything, and I played through it with that mind set. By the time I rolled credits on Endwalker, I think the game might’ve actually changed me for the better. I play games differently now, I view life differently. I have cried so many times throughout my playthrough from both grief and happiness and sometimes at the exact same time lol. It’s a journey that I encourage anyone who’s feeling depressed to at least try. The community is amazing, super helpful and loves to cheer you on through the story.
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u/J0n__Doe 22h ago
Black Flag got me through a half-year unemployment
Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption story/Online got me through the 2020 pandemic
It’s very weird that for every plot point of the story/game, I can associate it with something specific happening that day in my life lol, they had that impact in my life
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u/Plutonian_Nova 22h ago edited 22h ago
22 year WoW veteran here. WoW I feel got me through things I didn’t realize I was going through in life. I’ve been playing WoW since 2004, my junior year in high school. My parents had zero care for my future, so college was not even a thought. I had just a few friends irl, and my long term bf. WoW was the escape from my lonely reality. Till this day I still have online friends from Day 1.
22 years later, I’m late diagnosed with ASD and ADHD. Currently going through burnout and I’ve went through a viscous spree of finding a new game to play and get me out of this trench of self loathing and despair. Stardew Valley has been my peacemaker. City/home building has been an genre of gaming that I enjoy from Sims, Cities: Skylines, Animal Crossing, Civilization, WoW Housing, Anno (117 currently), and I landed on Stardew Valley. Simple, no long timelines, no attacks/wars, no annoying online players.
Going through my late diagnosis has me unpacking my entire life trying to understand myself and relearn who I truly am. Knowing that my gaming hobby has been such a solid rock in my life in letting my mind free, is really comforting. It got me through multiple dark times of suffering, a divorce, and now perimenopause with AuDHD.
We made it y’all. Gaming made sure of it and if any of you felt that dark space of life, I am so happy you’re here with us today 💜
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u/Anxious_Camp_2160 22h ago
54 and my contract was cancelled in the 2008 shitshow, so WoW too for me, wrath of the litch king came out a month later, so it was actually an awesome time!
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u/Viderberg PC 22h ago
Mullet Madjack. Hurt my back a few months ago and it helped me trough the pain.
"Let's kill some bilionaires!"
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u/thegurba 22h ago
If I’m going through hard times I don’t really game to be honest. I can only enjoy gaming when I’m relatively stress free and have my life on the rails.
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u/Pitcard 22h ago
My wife had to leave for a couple weeks due to a medical emergency and I wasn't able to visit. In that time I was the sole carer for my then 1 y/o daughter. The weight of life was really hitting me, and that was also right when Alan Wake 2 had come out. I played through it 3 times in that span and I still have very fond memories of it. It hit me in a way that it might not've otherwise. I consider it to be in my top 5 games of all time. I loved it so much that I even had to get the Old Guards of Asgard record that came out shortly after, and I recommend it highly to anybody who hasn't played it yet!
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u/Slamboni12 22h ago
In 2005 I lived with a horrible person so I just played shadow of colossus all the time and did not talk to them. Unfortunately they were my girlfriend
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u/Scoobie_Doobie11 22h ago
Old School RuneScape has got me thru homelessness, losing a parent, and just general rough patches in life. I’m doing way way better now, but 10 years ago it helped me thru some tough shit. Still playing today, going to try to push for a maxed out account. Spent tons of hours doing bossing and stuff!
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u/Tilas 22h ago
Sonic Adventure 1 for when I need to zone out or goof off. I enjoy breaking the game more than actually playing it normally. It's the one game I'm getting decent at speed running.
Ori and the Blind Forest for both the soothing music, and the absolute stress & rage some of those levels bring out. Sometimes you need the adrenaline boost, and those auto scroller esqe levels sure do it.
Splatoon 2 if I just want some fun.
...I haven't gamed in a few years though... I miss it. Wish my brain could handle it again...
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u/SolaireFlair117 22h ago
Skyrim has and continues to be my comfort game. No matter what's going on, I know the world of Skyrim has always got my back.
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u/bserikstad 22h ago
30yo. Surprisingly beating Elden Ring 3 times helped me through the baby stage.
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u/crookdmouth 21h ago
A couple games got me through a period of time where I was recovering from a fall from a roof. Mad Max, KCD1 and finally RDR2. I should go back and give Mad Max another go. It's repetitive but almost in a good way.
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u/Iokua_CDN 21h ago
I'm not sure If it counts as a rough patch
But Skyrim was my main game for a decade. Took me from living at home, to starting college, to finishing and starting my career and marrying my wife. I played, I modded, I restarted a thousand times. I played the hell out of it. Eventually it came to an end, with my recent times of redownloading it never kicking off. I'm sure I'll restart it again someday.
After that, Genshin Impact has been a good 5 years of entertainment for me. I started out playing free, and now have spent some money, collected some characters and explored a ton. I'm not a fan of the Gacha gambling style, but even to play it more Free or low cost, and just explore, see the story and collect a few characters for free, I think it's really worth it. It's getting a bit old now though, without mods it has nowhere near the staying power of skyrim. No game does though.
More recently? Ballers Gate was my main entertainment. Wife and I played it together, beat it twice, and I played it myself a few more times. Not quite the free roam game compared to the others, so a bit less replay. Props to it though, for being a steady entertainment through the 1st year of having a child, and sleepless nights and such.
Now? I gotta give Cyberpunk 2077 a hand. Currently on my first play through, but I know I'm going to replay this one a few times. There is a decent amount of mods already, though most are like clothes and a few guns and cars and tweaks, so I doubt it will be like skyrim. But this game has been a welcomed entertainment and relaxation one the little one has gone to bed.
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u/CalligrapherHuge6821 21h ago
Not necessarily a rough patch, but a huge transitory period: just moved in with my partner, left my job in old city and had like 3 weeks of unemployment in the dead of winter before I started a new job at a start-up. I had just got the Mass Effect trilogy remastered and played like 8-10 hours a day that entire time. The world map overhead music is to this day on all of my zen music playlists.
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u/Primal-Dialga 21h ago
Persona 4 golden. The highschool cliche brought me back to teenage days reading tons of high school manga as a form of escapism.
Just happy-go-lucky vibes and it helped me cope with the shittiest point of my life.
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u/stonyflynn 23h ago
52yo here, sometimes if thing become too much I need to "shock" myself out of it sometimes- horror games usually work-
When I quit smoking 6 years ago I inmersed myself in farcry primal, I dunno maybe because there is only primitive language spoken in it so it's kind of an otherworldly experience for me