Everyone has their own way of relieving stress and releasing anger. Some paint, some write, and some immerse themselves into different worlds, worlds unlike our own. For gamers, we’d rather turn our brains off and escape into another world. Luckily, video games can offer this escape. Here are a few games that can help you blow off steam.
Chime
Chime is a relaxing puzzle game where the object is to connect as many blocks as you can, like in Tetris, in order to cover as much space as possible. The soundtrack to the game is soothing enough to make me forget about the day I just had. I was told to download this game and wasn’t too sure I’d like it considering I’m not fond of puzzle games. But the calming effect from this game is a nice consolation after a long day right down its colors – even if I only play it for a minimal amount of time.
Beat Hazard
This is one game I will never stop endorsing. Beat Hazard is a space shooter, like an advanced version of Space Invaders that uses your computer’s music library. When you choose what song you want, it starts up as your spaceship readies itself. You can collect power-ups like “Volume” and “Power” which boosts the volume of the song and the power of your weapon. Everything pulsates to the beat of your music as you tackle asteroids and enemy and boss ships. It suits any mood whether you want to thrash about to some metal or weep and shoot to a ballad.
The Painkiller Series
I’ve been playing this series for a while, and recently I’ve been playing the newest installment Painkiller: Hell and Damnation. What I like to do is turn the difficulty level to Daydream (easy) and just let loose. In this game, you get a ridiculous set of weapons as enemies run at you in mobs and you just drill through. The reason I play on “easy” is because it’s rage-free. It feels great to tear through crowds of enemies and watch them fly through the air. It’s not easy enough to be boring, but easy enough to make me feel better.
Burnout Paradise
The best way to make any gamer’s horrible day better is to run someone off the road, in my opinion. Burnout Paradise let’s you race a car where the object is to wreck other cars. Nothing says stress-relief like running other cars into walls.
GTA Series
There are a few ways to play Grand Theft Auto. You can take it seriously and play the story line; stopping at the stoplights and obeying road rules. But I like to take advantage of the open world and race around running over pedestrians and invading the strip clubs. The reactions of the pedestrians are sure to get you laughing and can ease your anger bit by bit.