Sometimes it’s hard to stop doomscrolling. One thing that can help is having something else to focus on, like video games! I’m not exactly the most tuned in to the industry, but I follow enough variety content creators to know of a pretty decent range of games that are easy to get caught up in and won’t cost too much money.
Note that I’m not sponsored, receiving any kickbacks, or have investments in any of the people behind these games, so I have absolutely no conflicts of interest. All prices are in NZ dollars because that’s what Steam shows me even when I’m logged out – for US prices, halve it and then add a little, or maybe just click on the link and see what it is exactly.
Vampire Survivors, $7.99
Windows, Mac, Steam Deck
A bullet hell game made by a former casino designer using his powers for good. There is no monetisation, no microtransactions, no accessibility issues like complicated controls or button-mashing. Your weapons fire automatically, all you have to do is move around to stay alive, and a single game caps out at half an hour. There’s some equally cheap DLC as well but the base game is easily enough to sink dozens or maybe even hundreds of hours into – I think I did 70 in the first two weeks I had it.
A Bundle Full of Cats, $22.74 for all five but the individual games go for as little as $2.90
Windows, Steam Deck
A set of hidden object games in which the objects are cats. There are actually a lot of hidden object games on Steam in similar styles, so if you were into Where’s Wally? (or Where’s Waldo?) as a kid, you’re spoiled for choice. Mobile is more stereotypical with those ones with ads where someone waves a magnifying glass around over a scene but some of the games like Cats can be found in the app stores as well – one I know for sure is on iOS is Hidden Folks, which has intricate hand-drawn scenes where you can actually move objects by tapping or clicking to reveal more things.
Pineapple On Pizza, free
Windows, Mac, Steam Deck
It’s really best if I don’t tell you too much about this game, as it really needs to be experienced itself. You won’t spend too long on it but it might be fascinating.
EverQuest, free to play
Windows
You may not know it, but EverQuest is still playable and still actively being developed! MMOs are best if you know you can commit some time to them on a regular basis, but even if you just want to play casually rather than every day it can be nice to have a familiar world to jump into where the bad guys are simple (if not always easy) to beat and all the characters follow the rules.
Tiny Glade, $21.99, currently 10% off
Windows, Steam Deck
If you really love building little towns but you don’t want to deal with all the town management that comes with city builders Tiny Glade might be worth a look. It’s definitely more expensive than any other single game on this list but if that’s not a problem for you then it’s very well reviewed and relaxing to play. Steam describes it as a diorama builder and that really is what it is – you can build up a castle in the middle of nowhere or a small village and experiment with all the settings to make it look how you want.
Stardew Valley, $14.99
Pretty much any platform on the market right now
Earlier this year Stardew Valley had its big free version 1.6 update for computer players which made some drastic changes to the game including a new farm map! Ever since, people have been wondering when 1.6 would hit consoles, and it finally has. There has never been a better time to start fresh whether you’re using Playstation, Xbox, PC, Switch, or even your phone.
Mini Metro, $11.99
Windows, Mac, Steam Deck, Mobile app stores
Dinosaur Polo Club is an Aotearoa dev team that’s behind both Mini Metro and the similar Mini Motorways, transit management games where you have to plan routes to get people where they’re trying to get to as demand gets higher and higher. Maps are based on real cities and the natural barriers (mountains, rivers, etc) add a different challenge to each one. A similar game by KishMish Games, Fly Corp, lets you do the same thing but with airlines. That one runs on Windows, Mac, and Steam Deck, and goes for $15.99 but has a free demo available as well.
an average day at the cat cafe, name your price
Windows, Mac
There are, honestly, a lot of cat cafe games – I know I used to play one on mobile, though being a free mobile game it tended to rely on short bursts of attention on a consistent longer term basis, which isn’t as good for distraction. This one was the product of a game jam where a development team has a limited time to make a game. They’re usually not too complicated but can really highlight a team’s talents and end up as a really worthwhile project. Some games will have human customers whose orders you have to fill while also pairing them up with cats, others like this have cute animals as the customers themselves. It’s a little spooky and very cute.
WEBFISHING, $7.39
Windows
I believe this is the first offering of a single dev, which does show in that there have been some security flaws in the online multiplayer that allowed people to enter private games to grief other players. I’m not sure if that flaw is still in place, but I know the dev was aware of it and trying to fix it. That aside, this is basically just a game where you play as an MS Paint cat or dog to fish and hang out with your buddies. No thoughts, just vibes.
SPORE, $29.95, currently 75% off
Windows, EA Play
You’ve heard of Spore, right? Yes, it came out in 2008, and yes, it’s still playable, just like EverQuest. I wouldn’t pay full price, so if the current sale has ended by the time of reading, maybe wish list it and wait for another (though honestly I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen it not on sale). It’s the classic evolution game that was way too ahead of its time; contemporary technology and game development simply wasn’t capable of making it what it wanted to be. The earlier levels are still the best.
Minami Lane, $7.39
Windows, Mac, Steam Deck
A city builder on the micro-level where you build up a single street in a sweet hand-drawn desaturated style reminiscent of a picture book. The art style will be familiar if you’ve played pretty much any cute indie games out of East Asia, especially Japan – the cats particularly remind me of Neko Atsume and you’ll also spot the quintessential tanuki, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are shibes. If you click through to the Steam page it’s also part of a few bundles of other cozy games and cute city builders (I can see Townscaper in there which is mechanically similar to Tiny Glade in the pure creative gameplay with the lack of management or stress).