Papers, Please
Of this entire list, we can’t think of a job we’d like to have less than an immigration officer working the booth in a 1980s Easter Bloc totalitarian-ruled government. The job requires long hours, a constant focus on small details, and turning away desperate people looking for a safe home on a daily basis. And that’s just on the good days, you know, when people aren’t trying to blow you up.
And yet, that’s exactly what Papers, Please asks of its players. The game does nothing to glamorize its reality: you are “assigned” the job, you make horrible money, and every day ends in a balancing act of buying food or medicine for your family while trying to keep the heat on. And it’s the reason, among others, that it’s so excellent.
Doing things in Papers, Please is incredibly satisfying–from the simple stuff like pulling the lever to open the booth, stamping passports, or flipping through the rule book, everything feels uniquely physical and works well together. And then there’s the actual game part, in which you must play detail detective and examine every entrant’s documents to make sure they’re valid, as well as send away known murders skipping town. It’s a grueling job, but a fun game to be good at.
Viscera Cleanup Detail
Viscera Cleanup Detail, in addition to being a fun game, is one of the best concepts for a game we’ve ever seen. As a bonafide janitor, it is your job to clean up the horrible mess of blood and alien guts that some homicidal maniac left behind in their trek through a space station (a not so subtle nod to shooter campaign protagonists). You have a mop, a bucket of water, trash dispensaries, and all the time in the world to leave the area spotless. That’s…quite literally all there is to it.
What’s great here is more than just the premise, though. The mechanics of Viscera Cleanup Detail work quite well, and the janitorial arsenal feels physical (similar to Papers, Please) and satisfying in action. But the real reason to play the game is the zen-like state one can enter when you really get into the groove of it all. Picking a corner to start with, strategically mopping “out,” so as to avoid tracking blood footprints everywhere, and leaving the room squeaky clean achieves a type of fun that seems ridiculous from the outside, but very much worth having. Relaxation is its own kind of fun, and Viscera Cleanup Detail nails that idea.
Prison Architect
Ah, prison:a place none of us would like to be, but has always made a great venue for movies, TV shows, and apparently, simulator video games! Prison Architect puts you in the shoes of a prison warden/architect/prison god that must design and expand upon a functioning prison while keeping inmates happy…ish.
Far and away the most fascinating bits of Prison Architect, detached from its well-made building mechanics and accessible look, are the inmates. It’s a unique kind of relationship to have with a populace you (essentially) rule over: to make sure they’re treated humanely and improve their daily lives if you can…or even want to. It’s also a game packed with tiny statistical details that spreadsheet lovers can gush over.
Euro Truck Simulator
All of us, at one time or another, have probably wondered about what being a truck driver would be like: the solitude, the simplicity, the traveling, the monotony, the quiet. Euro Truck Simulator, for all of its quirks, faithfully simulates that experience. There’s nothing extravagant about it. You take jobs, drive the distance, and maybe buy an upgrade for your truck with the earnings. There is now consistent progression to be found, and it doesn’t really need one, because the simple act of driving a trust from point A to B is satisfying and fun.
When played to its fullest extent with a driving wheel, shifter and pedal set up, Euro Truck Simulator becomes much more immersive, but it’s a relaxing game that can even be enjoyed when kicking back with a controller. Not to mention the…less than realistic physics can make for some very special moments of overturned semi trucks.
Spintires
Speaking of big trucks… Spintires is almost the opposite of Euro Truck Simulator in terms of how you enjoy it. Set in a beautiful open-world Russian forest, you take on the role of a mud trucker. Yes, that’s just as cool as it sounds. The main challenge of the game doesn’t come from simply driving the trucks and off-roaders, but battling the intense uphill climbs amidst thick unforgiving mud.
By far the coolest part of Spintires is its mud simulation. Never has a game so accurately and beautifully used terrain deformation to naturally communicate tires ripping through mud, sticking to the surface of the tires, and keeping track of how weight and balance can quickly get you stuck. Spintires is not relaxing, but more often thrilling.
Planet Coaster
We often talk about an abundance of control as something that can empower us in video games, and Planet Coaster fits that bill perfectly. Regardless of the fact that you, as this amorphous rollercoaster god in the sky, are in charge of all the monotonous day-to-day work that well-paid manager in real life wouldn’t wish upon others, it’s actually a ton of fun. Building coasters, raising new attractions, hiring janitors, calculating “fun”: it’s a grind and a challenge at times, but empowering at its best.
Though, as with most amusement park construction games, the big draw is architecting the coasters themselves. This is truly where self-expression shines in the game, as you can create the wildest coaster of your dreams, complete with seven loops, six corkscrews and a jump.
Stardew Valley
Imagine the work of tending to your own farm: tending to crops every day, feeding animals, selling your product, fighting off wildlife, paying the mortgage, all the while trying to maintain your own life. It’s a concept that has been done by the Harvest Moon series as early as 1996, but Stardew Valley has breathed new life into the farming life simulator in a way that can expertly tug at nostalgic corners while standing tall on its own merit.
Stardew Valley boils down actions that in real life and even other games like Farming Simulator are incredibly monotonous into a rhythm that requires diligence, but also leaves room in a given day to explore Pelican town, build relationships with the locals, explore a nearby mine, or just spend the day fishing on a lazy river. It’s excellently paced, forever relaxing, and charming to the very end.
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