Four Great Video Games to Play While Quarantined

With a full three weeks of social distancing in the books, many of us (myself included) have started to feel the intense boredom and mental instability that this dreadful pandemic has to offer. So why not distract yourself from the crumbling society we live in with a good video game? Recently, I’ve been using my quarantine down time to play a number of games that I simply never found the time to get to, spanning across many different genres and game consoles, and with many more weeks of isolation to go, here are some of my favorites that have kept me entertained so far.

Marvel’s Spider-Man (2018, PlayStation 4)

Few games have ever managed to completely and utterly engross me like Spider-Man did on my first playthrough. Despite my initial doubts about the game and not being much of a Spider-Man fan in the first place, I had heard about all the critical acclaim the title had received, and after a few strong recommendations from friends, I decided to give it a try. The following week consisted only of sleeping, eating three meals a day, a few prior commitments, and playing Spider-Man for an embarrassing number of hours at a time. Swinging between buildings in the game’s faithful recreation of real-world Manhattan is a thrilling experience that genuinely never gets old, and with every inch of the city filled with new things to discover, I found myself still struggling to put the game down well after I had completed the main story. Its fist combat system is easy to pick up but deceptively challenging to master, and the flashy, over-the-top fighting animations make you feel like an unstoppable force of nature. Tied together with some of the cleanest and most detailed visuals in any video game ever, Spider-Man is easily one of the best games on the PlayStation 4 and is worth a try regardless of your stance on Spider-Man himself.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004, GameCube)

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what makes Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door such a special game. Bringing the iconic Mario franchise into the turn-based RPG genre, it turns the style into something entirely new, resulting in a game that truly feels like a storybook brought to life. Thousand-Year Door constantly throws new ideas onto the table and never stops feeling fresh during its 30+ hours of gameplay. Its distinct, highly interactive style of turn-based combat keeps players on their toes and makes leveling up and earning new abilities all the more rewarding. But the true sense of adventure is evoked through its story and presentation; TTYD’s story is surprisingly ambitious and grand in scale with dialogue that genuinely made me laugh out loud, and despite being a 16 year-old game, its colorful, paper inspired visual style has not aged a day. While TTYD is not the easiest game to get ahold of today—Nintendo has yet to rerelease the game on newer platforms despite its avid cult following—it is worth every bit of the hassle, offering a fast-paced plot, lovable characters, nuanced gameplay, and more undeniable charm than any other role-playing game of its kind.

BioShock (2007, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4)

Taking place in the underwater dystopian society of Rapture, BioShock is a game carried by its fantastic world building and atmospheric setpieces. Fusing steampunk-esque environments with 1920s and 30s imagery, the game has an identity that is truly unique, crafting an experience that is equal parts morbid, goofy, and even at times introspective. It plays like a standard first-person shooter but with a greater emphasis on stealth and resource management, leading to some tense sequences and a constant demand to think outside the box, especially in the game’s first half. All of this culminates in a surprisingly well-done narrative which tasks players with making difficult moral decisions to earn one of three different endings. Overall, BioShock has aged remarkably well, and its unique world and visual style offer a bit of something for everyone.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020, Switch)

Despite getting delayed from its original 2019 release date, Animal Crossing: New Horizons could not have come at a more perfect time. The latest installment in Nintendo’s life-simulation franchise is escapism in its purest form, giving players their own virtual paradise and the tools to make it entirely their own. If you’ve ever played an Animal Crossing title, you probably already know exactly what makes the series perfect for a quarantined world. However, for those who are less familiar, I always find it difficult to explain the gameplay in a way that makes it sound fun. The game does not have an end. There aren’t exactly any definitive goals to work towards either, at least not in a traditional sense. Shaking trees and fishing for sea bass are about the most action-packed things you can do in the game, and the majority of your playtime will be spent desperately trying to gather enough money to pay off your crippling in-game debt. But its laid-back nature and charming, utterly adorable cast of characters make it the quintessential relaxation game and one that only becomes more engrossing the more you play. The series simply radiates personality with each new entry feeling more and more like a real, lived-in community, and with New Horizons offering a plethora of brand new things to do and ways to customize every last detail of your virtual town, the series has never been more refreshing and blissful. Especially given the current daily struggle of social distancing, the game has been a fantastic way to bring a sense of community and worth back into my life, and visiting friends’ islands through the game’s online features has helped me maintain social connections despite the circumstances. New Horizons is a warm hug of an experience that always leaves you eager to return the next day, evoking a childlike wonder that, if only for a few minutes or hours at a time, allows you to forget about all the chaos of the world.