Do you want to play some games to relax? Relax? Don’t bother, these games won’t let you.
We play computer games because they make us feel a lot of different things. This could be happiness, joy, hunger, love, or even sometimes fear. Usually, only the second one makes you feel tense.
Tension is important in games because it lets us feel relieved or like we’ve done something good when a stressful moment is over. Not only is that moment a relief, but it also generally makes us feel pretty good. Tension and stress in games don’t always come from fear or horror, but no matter what causes them, they can make for some really great gaming experiences for anyone.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Yes, Animal Crossing is just that. New Horizons is a game that can be both relaxing and stressful almost all of the time. Why? Because our islands need to be perfect, that’s why.
You can spend hours on this beautiful island doing nothing but looking at your map, watching some people you don’t like stay there forever, and being scared of a bunch of cliffs you want to change but have to do tile by tile. They told you that being a Resident Representative would be fun, but you had no idea how much responsibility you would have.
And don’t even get us started on the debt.
Fall Guys
Fall Guys is a game that is just fun and silly. As one of these little rectangles, going through an obstacle course can be stressful, but it’s hard not to laugh when you get knocked off for the twelfth time.
The game is difficult because of a number of things. A lot of the levels have time limits or only let a certain number of people finish them. Some are about staying alive. No matter what you’re up against, something is always chasing you as you try to stay in the game and not be eliminated again.
Subnautica
If you have thalassophobia, which is a strong fear of deep water, Subnautica might not be for you. It is an action-adventure game with modes that let you take it easy, but if you want a truly stressful and satisfying experience, you should play in survival mode.
As you try to stay alive in the water of an alien world, you’ll have to take care of your health, hunger, thirst, and oxygen. You could get lost in an underground ruin or run into a scary creature that wants to eat you. By the time you figure it out, it might be too late.
Darkest Dungeon
If you were going to talk about difficult games and didn’t mention Darkest Dungeon, you’d be missing out on a good chance. It is a dungeon-crawling role-playing game with a stress system. When bad things happen to your characters, they feel more stressed.
You can turn it down, but if it gets too high, your character could go crazy or die of a heart attack. If one person dies, it can make other people more stressed, which can lead to more deaths. It’s a very tricky game to get right.
Resident Evil 2 (2019)
Horror games can be difficult just by being scary. In order to stay alive, your heart will be pumping.The most tense part of Resident Evil 2 Remake is when Mr. X is after you in the police station.
He never gives up, and the fact that he can’t be taken down or stopped only adds to the stress. If you’re playing on PC, you could ease some of that stress by using a funny mod to make Mr. X’s model look like Thomas the Tank Engine or make him squeak when he walks.
Fortnite
The goal of Fortnite is to stay alive. You could even say it’s like a digital version of The Hunger Games with a lot of nods to pop culture. You can go in guns flying and try to kill as many people as you can, or you can try to be sneaky and kill the last few people when you can.
As a toxic storm moves across the map of the world, there are less and less places to run, fight, or hide. This really makes the stress rise. People, a gas mask won’t help with this one.
Overcooked 1 + 2
Overcooked lets you have a crazy, funny, and stressed time in a kitchen without having to get a job as a chef. The best part is that it’s even more fun and there are no real-life consequences if you mess up someone’s dinner.
Overcooked has you (thankfully not literally) juggling a lot of things, and if you and your team don’t work well together, everything can fall apart. Even though it will stress you out and get your blood pumping, it is one of the best ways to build trust and speed with a group in local multiplayer.
Alien: Isolation
If you’ve seen any of the Alien films, you know that the Xenomorph is a very scary creature. Do you want to spend some time there? Alien: You can feel all of that stress and fear in Isolation.
You have to sneak around and get away from one of horror’s scariest creepy crawlies a lot in this game. The game has a motion tracker, but it can be loud, so it’s best to use it carefully so you don’t give away your position to the big bad. Couldn’t there have been a button to stop it?
Mario Kart 8
Most people don’t think of Mario Kart as a stressful or tense activity, but when you’re in first place, hit by a blue shell, and passed by half of the game’s racers, that’s stressful. A study even said that Mario Kart was one of the most difficult games.
Its very competitive nature makes it easy for stress to build up. Who likes to lose? That would be no one. Snake Game is a fun game for families and friends to play together. It’s not fun to get hit in the back with a red shell or hit by a bright Donkey Kong with a Star right before you cross the finish line.
Amnesia: Collection
In the Amnesia books, a lot of scary things happen at night. Sometimes you can’t see them, sometimes it’s just a dream, and sometimes the dark is messing with your mind. Amnesia is always tense, though, no matter what.
In the first game, Daniel goes to a dark castle called Brennenburg and looks around. During the game, as things fall apart around him and he knows that something is out there looking for him, he will start to wonder if he is crazy. All of the games in the series could easily be called some of the most difficult games ever made.
Outlast
This is best played with the lights on. You will be glad. Outlast is a weird, scary, and tense trip through the Colorado asylum Mount Massive. In the game, you only have a camera to help you.
You can’t hurt your enemies or check your health, and you have to make your way through an old mental hospital. A lot of the game takes place in the dark, but your camcorder lets you see in the dark. However, it has limited battery life and batteries, so you have to use it carefully. It really is one of the most stressful and scary things that will keep you on edge all the time.
Minecraft
Yes, the survival game about blocks and digging is one of the most stressful and tense things out there, and you all know why. In Minecraft, the best time to totally lose your sense of direction is when you’re exploring deep cave complexes with a full inventory of valuables.
Getting back home in the dark, with monsters around every turn and, even worse, random sound effects that will really shake you up at full volume. The worst thing that could happen is that you die and lose all of your stuff. Now you need to go back to where you were, grab them before they leave, and then get out of there safely. Or, you could just make a new world and start over.
