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3 Video Games to Take Your Mind Off the Election – Boise State Public Radio

November 2016 was the first time I was officially treated for anxiety. So when I say I understand that election cycles can be stressful, I speak from experience. While many nervous Americans can channel that energy into voting in their communities, sometimes you just have to take a break. For me, this is where my PS5 comes in.

I cannot guarantee that any of my current games are suitable for you. But you know that feeling that says, “I just want to go to sleep and wake up in two weeks”? These are the video games that give me that checked feeling right now that sometimes hits the right spot.

Simulation game: Farming Simulator 22

They will be released a week after election day Farming Simulator 25which maybe makes it a little funny that I just started playing Farming Simulator 22. But luckily, since it’s a bit older, there are huge amounts of user-generated content for Farming Simulator 22which makes it easier for me to deal with. And I need your help.

When I play House Flipper 2I may never have flipped a house, but I have painted and bought furniture and taken out the trash. However, I have never grown canola fields. c FS22you have a farm and are responsible for growing crops, raising animals (if you want) and, most importantly, you own tractors that you drive with various things attached to them. I know nothing about farming equipment and the help in the game is very limited. So I ended up in the machine shop parking lot with my tractor surrounded by purchases: a front loader, two pallet forks, a “universal bucket”, two packaging machines and two trailers, all related to a single task I was trying to perform and in the end he didn’t. (By the way, you have to fit your tractor in the shop with a front loader attachment before you can attach your front loader. Live and learn.)

Other options: Planet Zoo, Planet Amusement Park, Power Wash Simulator (it’s real and it’s spectacular) Two Point Campus

Scary story game: Alan Wake 2

Horror games may not sound relaxing, but there’s something about being able to leave them at any time that makes them a little less scary than the real world. Alan Wake 2 is a murder story in which you are an FBI agent named Saga, running through the world’s most sinister forests, trying to do things like find a heart that has been taken out of its owner and left in a refrigerator. (My!)

I’m not going to lie: I’m not great at it, and since I don’t play a lot of shooters, sometimes I’m better at following clues than fighting — which means I find all the information I need and then be swallowed by an undead thing and have to start over. But it’s very atmospheric and it is great– it seems, so if you like really scary horror, I recommend it.

Other options: A Quiet Place: The Way Forward, The last of us [heard of it?].

Sports game: The show

My beloved Philadelphia Phillies may have had a short postseason run, but on PS5 they live forever. Unlike NBA 2K basketball series I played once for about ten minutes and felt it was several levels of difficulty above flying the space shuttle, MLB: The show it has the same simplicity as baseball itself. You direct; you hit (You can make it a lot more complicated than that, but I don’t.) It takes some getting used to, though; At first, I got confused and thought I was swinging too late, when in fact I was swinging too early, resulting in worse and worse swings, much like the actual Phillies for a period after the All-Star break (hello!).

Other options: NBA 2K, EA Sports FC [formerly FIFA]

This piece also appeared on NPR’s Happy Hour pop culture bulletin. Subscribe to the newsletter so you don’t miss the next one and get weekly recommendations on what makes us happy.

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