The Best in Sick Day Gaming
In the immortal words of those Game of Thrones marketing types, Winter is coming. That means that a lot of sore throats, head colds and nasty cases of flu are coming too. This all leads to days off, days where working and learning is just not going to happen, days where thought is impossible and movement of any kind just brings sneezing and head pain. So what to do on those days? Play games of course. So with that in mind, I thought I would put together a list of my favourite sick day games. These are games that require little thought and provide simple pleasures, perfect for taking my mind off my impending mucus related death. This is the best in sick day gaming.
Red Faction: Guerrilla
In the realm of simple pleasures, Red Faction is the explosive king. Sure the story is a bit cliched and the main charter is a bit of a jerk but when you simply have the need to blow a whole bunch of crap to smithereens then this is the game for you. The real highlight of the game is getting creative with the tools it provides you. Using the hammer to knock down key supports and watching a whole building tumble, strapping explosives to a car to create a moving bomb, disintegrating bridges and watching enemies tumble to their death. It is a smorgasbord of destructive delights.
The best part of this? There is very little in the way of thought required, especially when tooling around in the open world. This makes the game perfect for those days when you simply need a distraction, something to stop you thinking about how much your throat hurts. The whole game is like an explosive paracetamol substitute and a great way to kill those boring hours at home
Tropico 5
It is no secret that I am a huge admirer of El Presidente and his incompetent off-sider Penultimo. I have written about them many, many times. The great sim gameplay along with the tongue-in-cheek humour makes it a real winner for me. Usually, this sort of game isn’t for sick days though. There is, after all, quite a bit of thinking and planning to be done with a game like this but in the case of Tropico, there is an exception to be made.
That exception is the sandbox mode. With the ability to set the difficulty to low and the starting funds to high, the game becomes a wonderfully serene city-builder that allows me to casually build my tropical metropolis without worrying about annoying things like elections, mission goals and taxes. I can just sit at my computer, rug over my knees, Lemsip in hand and slowly build my perfect island. It is a soothing experience that can tame even the nastiest cold.
Destiny 2
Oh go ahead and roll your eyes, but there is comfort to be found in the Destiny grind and when you are sick, any comfort is welcome. Cruising around the maps, doing random events, chasing down loot caves and revisiting old missions may not be the most exciting thing, especially if you have already played a tonne of the game, but it is a simple time-waster that can be participated in to take your mind off the pounding in your head.
Due to the way I partake in the Destiny grind, I never really got sick of the game in the first place so tooling around with no particular purpose is a nice way to kill some time. The game isn’t super tough if I don’t want it to be so there is no added rage and I can just wander around, partaking in anything that attracts my interest. All of this makes Destiny 2 an excellent option for numbing the mind between cold and flu tablets.
Puzzle Quest 1 & 2
These games are almost a bad cliche now thanks to all the dodgy free-to-play spins on the formula but in my mind, the originals are still the best. The simple match-three gameplay of Bejewelled mixed with some fairly in-depth RPG elements makes for one hell of an appealing casual title. The best thing about it, unless I am basically dying I am always well enough to manage to play this game. Its simple premise hides an addictive title that easily consumes hours of my life.
There is almost a hypnotic element to the gameplay that makes it very easy to forget about my aches and pains. It is easy to play while at the same time providing enough content to keep me sedated for an entire week of sick days, making it the perfect title for gamers and non-gamers alike. Matching those three red gems is much better than sculling a bottle of cough mixture after all.
So there you have it, four games that I turn to to get me through a day of flu-ridden sickness. Did I miss any of your favourites? Let me know in the comments or on social media!
