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"Abzû" is the right title to immerse yourself in a game world
Photo: 505 Games
There are video games in which people shoot and hunt for new records.
Monsters stand in your way, zombies are hot on your heels.
Between all this noise, there are also places to relax in the games world.
Games in which conflicts are largely avoided.
Games in which there is no continuous countdown or a kidnapped person needs to be rescued.
These games can be downright meditative.
You can turn it on to turn it off.
With a little luck you can find your own center, a hypnotic suction that is not interrupted by explosions or the ticking of the clock.
The ten games that we recommend below may also be good for a stressed psyche, and they could please people who have just enough anger and stress in everyday life.
With the controller in hand, they make it possible to let go, at least for a short time.
Like visiting a spa that stretches for a whole day and through which you can find that relaxation that you otherwise miss so much.
"The Sojourn"
Whoever wants to advance in "The Sojourn" has to understand the rules of this world.
It is a puzzle game based on mechanics that need to be thought out and combined.
For example, certain statues can be used for teleporting.
And with the sound of a harp, broken bridges can be made accessible again.
In addition, the environment changes when the players travel back and forth between a dark and a light world.
The goal is simple: get ahead.
You have to overcome obstacles, build bridges - and understand what the respective puzzle requires of you.
"The Sojourn" is like the riddle that you unpack after a sauna session in the spa in order to solve it in the relaxation room or in the garden - until you put it aside and sleep for a while.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
You don't do anything meaningful in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Wonderfully liberating.
The players can catch fish or butterflies and redecorate their house and garden.
Which carpet goes best with the pictures on the wall?
And when it gets boring on your own island, you can see what other players have created.
Because there is no real target in "Animal Crossing: New Horizons", everything is slowed down here.
You do what you want and check back the next day to see if there is a new resident on the island.
And if not, then you just make some new furniture.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is like taking a little stroll through the spa's park. Dressed in a bathrobe, you look at the flowers and enjoy the silence.
"Everything"
That may not come as a surprise with the title, but "Everything" is about everything.
Sometimes you're a stag, then a pollen, and finally a crow, high up in the clouds.
The players move - as everything - through the game worlds, gradually unlocking new beings whose shape they can take on.
The game can perhaps be seen as a crazy cosmos simulation.
From the level of the atoms to the vastness of the universe, players can lose themselves in the possibilities and perspectives here - and take their time with endless amounts of time.
Because "Everything" doesn't want anything from the players.
And if it does, then at most everything.
"Everything" is like meditation in the relaxation room of the spa. In your thoughts you lose yourself in the vastness of the universe and feel how all the burden falls away from you.
"Abzû"
Everything flows into "Abzû".
As a diver, the players embark on a journey through an underwater world.
Accompanied by meditative music, they discover different creatures that swim gracefully around them.
You will explore lost civilizations, swim through ruins and let yourself be carried away by the currents.
"Abzû" wants to give the players an experience far away from the win-or-lose logic of other games.
It drifts down into a cool, yet colorful world, far away from the stress and hectic pace of normal life.
Because what could be a greater contrast than what happens deep in the oceans of our earth?
"Abzû" is like jumping into the pool of the spa. Cooling and also somehow mysterious when you listen to the sounds underwater.
"Tetris Effect"
At some point "Tetris Effect" develops this hypnotic pull - especially the virtual reality version of the game.
The stacking of blocks creates its own music, every movement made by the players becomes part of an endless melody.
Certainly, in the end it is about achieving a high score.
Rather, "Tetris Effect" wants to focus attention and let it dance to the beat of the music.
For players who want to avoid stress as much as possible, the game also offers so-called relaxation modes, in which it is much less hectic than one is used to from "Tetris".
"Tetris Effect" is like going to the steam sauna. You forget the time and even if you sweat a lot: In the end you reach the point of deepest relaxation.
"Untitled Goose Game"
Only the others are annoyed here - namely by the players, in the role of a goose.
That actually sums up the idea of "Untitled Goose Game" very well.
The players take on the role of the feathered troublemaker and are up to mischief in a small town.
Sometimes they turn on the water so that a gardener can be sprayed wet with a garden hose, sometimes they steal the freshly baked cake from a window sill or a poor boy his glasses.
You're not doing anything earth-shaking here.
Do not save people, do not defeat opponents.
They do small, harmless mischief and are briefly happy that they were able to play a prank on someone again.
If one of them doesn't work right away, try again.
We have time.
All of this is presented in funny graphics and with a beautiful soundtrack.
"Untitled Goose Game" is like watching the small pond in the spa garden with its birds looking for fish. You can nod away wonderfully.
"Donut County"
The players take on the role of a voracious hole in "Donut County".
Literally.
You control a hole in the ground that makes objects, people and entire houses disappear.
The more the hole swallows, the bigger it gets.
If only a cup fits through at first, at the end of the level a scooter driver and his vehicle disappear into it.
So the players gulp down from level to level, which are linked by a funny story.
And best of all, the game doesn't take itself seriously.
He realizes that this is all gross nonsense - that's why it works, is fun and lets you forget worries.
Donut County is like visiting the spa restaurant. After all the relaxation, you need something to eat.
"Katamari Damacy Reroll"
In a way, "Katamari Damacy Reroll" is the opposite of "Donut County".
Because where all objects should disappear in a game, the point here is to roll everything that is not nailed down into a giant ball.
Depending on the size of the ball, the players reach different areas of a level and can then continue doing what they are already doing: roll up more objects.
The game does have a story - you have to catapult the giant balls into the sky to create new stars - but it doesn't matter so much that you tend to forget about it and give yourself over to meditative roles.
"Katamari Damacy Reroll" is like a massage in the spa. At first it all hurts a bit and you don't know what to do it for. But in the end it leads to great relaxation
.
"My Time at Portia"
Sure, you can fight monsters in "My Time at Portia", after all, it's an action role-playing game.
But it is much more interesting to spend your time building your own city and getting to know the characters who settle there.
In the course of time, the players have more and more building plans at their disposal, for which they have to find and dismantle the right resources.
From small houses to large museums, players can freely design what their city should look like.
And then there is still plenty of time to talk to all the residents and do the things they want you to do.
"My Time at Portia" is like the nice acquaintance you made at the spa. The little chat between two sauna sessions while you put your feet in the footbath.
"Kentucky Route Zero"
For some, building houses is relaxing, for others, stacking blocks on top of each other.
For others, there is hardly anything more relaxing than reading.
And that's where "Kentucky Route Zero" offers a special story.
It's really just a truck driver's drive through Kentucky.
His job is to deliver an antique.
A journey emerges from this, on the way the players can get to know many interesting and bizarre characters.
The game offers the opportunity to go deep into the world - simply by talking to the people who populate it.
And all that matters is the right answers.
"Kentucky Route Zero" is like that really good book that you took to the spa. The book that keeps you busy even after you've finished reading it.