Games News

Games to Lift Your Mood in January

Avoid the weather and relax with the help of these incredible games.

The silly season has ended and now begins the long, cold  and hard times of limited funds. It was bound to happen after the holiday season. If you’ve already finished the games you got over the holidays, fear not, because we have a few suggests that will help warm you up while it’s still cold outside. These games are fairly cheap and will be sure to lift your spirits.

Don’t Starve

Don’t Starve is one of those games that can look a bit dreary on the surface, but beneath it is a rich and comfortable game of survival. You’ll find yourself dumped in a mysterious land with no possessions, and all you have to do to is, as the name suggests, avoid starvation. In the beginning you’ll find some carrots, maybe pick some berries, and by the end you’ll be cultivating your own farm, learning magic, and unravelling the secrets of the land.

The style of Don’t Starve is rather Burton-esque, with dark surroundings, scary imagery, and quirky characters to keep you on your toes. For those with another person to play with, picking up Don’t Starve Together is an excellent idea, you’ll have two bodies working together! Both titles are available on PlayStation 4 and through Steam and should be your first stop if you want something fun to play during January.

Let It Die

If you want a purely free-to-play title that’s different to anything you’ve ever played, you should dive head first into Let It Die and discover the outrageous world Grasshopper Manufacture created. Available on the PlayStation 4, Let It Die is a hack-and-slash game with dungeon-crawling elements where your only goal is to ascend a giant tower, level by level, killing everything that stands in your way.

The backstory of Let It Die is creepy and unique. After a tectonic disturbance, a large spire explodes out of the ground near Tokyo, creating what is known as the Tower of Barbs. It’s this tower that you will need to explore, looting items from the enemies you slay and visiting the Waiting Room hub in order to purchase weapons, level up and more.

Monument Valley

Whether it’s the first Monument Valley or the sequel, if you’re looking for a cute, light-hearted game to lift your mood when it’s cold and wet outside, look no further than this puzzle title created by Ustwo Games. Available on iOS, Android, and Windows Phones, Monument Valley is a story-based puzzle game that uses an isometric view and M.C. Escher-like environments to challenge your perception and puzzle-solving skills.

Puzzles involve moving your character around the map while you push, turn, and move the terrain to create a path from the starting point to the finish. It’s a relaxing experience thanks in part to the art style, but also due to the music. When you’re playing on your phone, a headset like the Recon 50P will really put you in the game. The 40mm speakers offer beautiful quality audio, and the microphone is detachable, so it won’t bother you as you play. Plus, it also works on PlayStation 4 – win-win! Definitely take some time to check out Monument Valley on your mobile device, it’s bound to help you unwind.

No Man’s Sky

No Man’s Sky is one game that has come such a long way since it first launched back in August of 2016. Since its release, so much has happened. No Man’s Sky has had numerous large-scale updates – totally free of charge. These updates have added just about everything players wanted: base building, more story, new alien races, vehicles, improved graphics, cooperative exploration, farming and more.

If you picked up No Man’s Sky when it first released and walked away, or if you’ve never bothered to grab it, now is actually a great time to experience Hello Games’ most talked-about title. There’s something truly inspiring about how the game plays. Flying between solar system and even galaxies, landing on planets and exploring new forms of life, discovering the secrets of the universe – it’s all jaw-dropping and it can soak up dozens, if not hundreds of hours.

Stardew Valley

Finally, an article about games that lift our moods would not be complete without Stardew Valley. Created by a single person, Eric Barone, Stardew Valley first took over our lives when it released back at the start of 2016. Who would have thought that a little farming simulator and RPG game could be so addictive?

You take on the role of a character who wants to get away from the city, so you take over the family farm. From here, you begin fixing up the place, growing crops and befriending the townsfolk. What starts off as fairly straight forward, quickly becomes a rich and fascinating experience where you invest time and effort into the other people of the town, hoping to one day marry someone.

Stardew Valley is available on just about every platform there is, so it’s the perfect option! It’s also surprisingly cheap, so definitely check it out!

We’re only just breaking into January, and it’s still a bit cold outside in some places (or hot outside in others), so it’s only natural to want to avoid the cold (or the heat!), and what better way to do that than to enjoy video games? So if you’re feeling like having your mood lifted, take a look at some of these games and let yourself get drawn into the worlds they create.