Our Need For Comforting Games

Times are hard right now so stop the doomscrolling and lets get COMFY! Grab your blanket and pull up a cozy game like Dark Souls and Silent Hill 2. Are we really turning our brain off when we play relaxing games like PowerWash Simulator, or is there more to it? We discuss everything from the games that helped us escape despite reminding us of what we were trying to avoid in the first place, to the times we got a little too comfortable with addictive games. 

Questions, Comments, Suggestions?
CONTACT US: brainlordspod@gmail.com 

Kyle - Cute Monster Props  

Jorge - JMV

THINGS DISCUSSED  

Outrun 2, Genma Onimusha, Onimusha 3, Fable, Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Rumble Roses, Sword of the Berserk: Guts’ Rage, Kick Heart

What makes games good at escapism? Is comfort at odds with realism? (0:13:25)

Final Fantasy VII, PowerWash Simulator, Death Stranding, Cozy Games Need an Edge, Puyo Puyo Tetris, Dark Souls, Rad Codex, Kingsvein, Horizon’s Gate, Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced, Doom (2016), Doom, We Love Katamari

What sort of comfort does nostalgia offer, is it more than just the familiar? (0:32:52)

Super EDF, Golf (NES), Golf Story, Bandai Golf: Challenge Pebble Beach, Paper Mario, Super Mario RPG: Legend of The Seven Stars, Mega Man X, Earthbound, Illusion of Gaia

Game Ratings: Games our Parents Bought For Us (0:56:20)

Mario Kart 64, Sword of Hope, Battle Arena Toshinden (GB), Final Fantasy IX, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Metal Combat Falcon’s Revenge, 

How can games with challenging difficulty and subject matter be comforting? (1:15:30)

Lisa: The Painful RPG, Lisa: The First, Consume Me, Celeste, A Short Hike, Silent Hill 2, Doki Doki Literature Club, Hereditary, Fear and Hunger, Life is Strange, Yume Nikki

How much is too much comfort with addictive or low engagement games? (1:39:13)

Ninja Gaiden (2004), Ninja Gaiden Sigma (nuts), World of Warcraft, Fall Guys, Peglin, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Dragon Quest XI

The Question Zone (1:55:45)

Dragon Quest/Warrior on NES. Grindy but even when I go years between plays it's accessible enough that I know about when to move to the next patch of monsters to continue to level. Crystalis on NES. Similar feel, but more action oriented. Still heavily level-gated so grinding in a spot is expected. Fantastic soundtrack. Don't play the GBC version . Bionic Commando on NES. Flying through this one regularly feels good. Fun to punch the reskinned authoritarian WWII forces who thought they'd resurrect their leader for a rematch. His head asplode. --MerlinYesReally 

Into the Breach, the turn-based nature of it is soothing since I don't need to use reflexes and it's like a casual chess game that resolves in five turns per battle, and keeps me engaged enough that I feel like my comfort was still productive since it's a rogue-like. -mmmporkbuns 

 

My favorite comfort game to load up when things are tough is Slime Rancher. You don’t even need to focus on the ranching part. Sometimes it’s just nice to sit back and watch the little slimes bounce and jump around. Another one I like to pull up is any form of city builder. It can have whatever mechanics or description, but anything that lets me build a city and sit back feels so nice. Building up a city bit by bit, setting up the routes, listening to your people ask for things. Rattopia is a cute styled one I like, 4X games too. Just helping people, even if they’re digital, is really nice. -Meteora Horizon

 

The Outer Wilds. I first played it in the early months of the pandemic, right in that period of time when—for brief moments—it really felt like the world as I knew it might end, and it helped me find a sense of comfort I didn't know I needed in the face of events outside my control. It's a game that's both thematically and aesthetically about finding calm and comfort in the face of cosmic dread. Despite famously being un-replayable, I boot it up fairly often just to wander around Timber Hearth for 22 minutes, or speed run to the end so I can experience the campfire scene one more time. It's a balm for the soul.

-I can't think of anything silly so I'll just say Tyler 

 

Slay the Spire 1 & 2 + Balatro — I find that chill card-based roguelikes are great games for getting into a flow state that lets me tune out the bad and hone in on fun. Final Fantasy XIV — I think the spaces players are able to run around in within FFXIV's world feel very homey and well-realized, even if they don't always feel "alive." Eorzea and its adjacent zones are comfy places to be. -Interesting MTG Art (aka Torrey)

 

Balatro. It is so mind-numbingly difficult that it erases all other thoughts I have. Family troubles? Layoffs. No. There is only the cards you need, and the cards you drew instead, the reroll you wasted your money in the shop, and the stupid fucking boss blind that recs your econ. It is impossible to think while playing it. -Ennis Rook Bashe

 

Bionic Commando, Dragon Quest, Into the Breach, Crystalis, Slime Rancher, Planet Coaster, The Outer Wilds, Live Die Repeat, Slay the Spire, Balatro, Final Fantasy XIV, Mega Man Legends 2, Lunacid

The Rec Room (2:13:52)

 

Look Outside, Mina The Hollower, Adult Swims The Elephant, Love Eternal, Gundam Hathaway 2, Cutie Honey, Devilman Lady, Great Mazinger