Games that have helped you through a difficult time in your life

[Elephant]

Sometimes we use entertainment as a comfort or distraction from our real lives, whether it's a song that helped you through a breakup, or a film that gave you a laugh when you needed it the most.

I was thinking earlier about what my favourite games are and my mind eventually landed on Telltales Walking Dead (Season 1). It is, of course, a critically adored fantastic game, but the reason it resonates with ME so much is because I played the whole thing shortly after my dad died. Lee & Clem's relationship was so pure and loving, fighting together through a messed up world, with Lee teaching her and moulding her every step of the way. So when the ending comes, you know Clem is prepared to face the dangers head on, on her own.

That moment when the credits rolled, and i'd had a very good cry, was the first time since my dad died that I'd felt the weight go. That acceptance had crept in. I knew everything was going to be alright. I'd been prepared by my dad for everything life has to throw at me.

So I'm wondering, has there been a game for you that has helped you through a difficult time in your life too?

 

[Komo]

CSGO for me, helped me a large bit through my depression.

 

[@TheFriendlyBro]

Persona 5, it was long enough to distract me from IRL stuff and the characters you befriend in game are great.

 

[Van Bur3n]

Skyrim got me through a bad breakup. Happened on the day of its release and I remember coming home from GameStop with the game and just tossing it aside because I didn't give a shit about it. Then in the middle of the night I decided to just play it to get things off my mind. Played until morning because I was having so much fun.

 

[Mike Rambo]

Both NieR games, The Silver Case, RE2make, and Hollow Knight are all examples for me from recent years. From dealing with losing a large amount of people very important to me, to the struggle of getting work, they were there to help me believe in life and that things will get better if I make them better.

CSGO for me, helped me a large bit through my depression.

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I tend to play csgo when I'm steeped in depression actually (so literally every day, in other words)

 

[Deleted member 49319]

Demon's Souls when I had to work over 80 crunch hrs a week. It was just work and Demon's Souls during that period.

 

[Deleted member 15428]

Katawa Shoujo

 

[Deleted member 2254]

CSGO for me, helped me a large bit through my depression.

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That was me with Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2. Hardest moment in my life so I got obsessed with that game, played it like 4 times as much as any other COD.

 

[kittens]

Games have offered distraction and escapism, but I'm not sure if any have truly helped me.

 

[Komo]

I tend to play csgo when I'm steeped in depression actually (so literally every day, in other words)

Click to shrink...

Yeah it was the only way I could have communicated with others and made friends so I really relied on it. That and GMOD, I still know all the people that put a positive impact on my life and we've become pretty damn good friends because of it.

 

[Palidoozy]

I feel kind of stupid saying it, but Undertale. That was a period in my life where I was very alone, had no one to lean on, and was very depressed. I felt alone and hopeless. I had suicidal ideation.

Undertale served as a kind of hope spot, because.. yeah, you can do some dark stuff in that game. But you could also choose to be good, and the game rewarded you with a fluffy, happy ending, where everything works out and anime is real. And it was the choice, I think, that got to me. The kind of realization that I deeply cared to be a good person in a goofy video game where you date a skeleton helped me cope and realize that hey, maybe I wasn't such a bad person after all.

The issues I had weren't solved by Undertale in any way (I got diagnosed with Bipolar type II later that year)... but they kept me going, and sometimes that's all you need.

 

[TubaZef]

Wandersong, last year my dad was just diagnosed with cancer when I started playing it, really helped me to think about things and bring me some optimism.

 

[Aesnath]

Symphony of the Night. Each time I start it again, I try a different weapon or level a different familiar. I just like revisiting the game, I find it comforting when other things suck. Reminds me of my adolescence, I guess.

 

[Ahti]

Horizon Zero Dawn, after my mother died.

 

[Linus815]

Uncharted 1-2 put my mind off a pretty ugly breakup.

 

[Horror]

Grand Theft Auto V

The absurdity of the game reminded me of the absurdities and uncertainties of life.

 

[takriel]

Pokemon Ruby and Saphire, Zelda Minish Cap, Fifa 2003 helped me after my mother became psychotic.

 

[Masagiwa]

JRPG's, just getting lost in a world for hours on end forgetting everything irl.

 

[stan_marsh]

Dark Souls, Nier Automata, Fallout 4, BOTW, Persona 5

 

[Kyrios]

Journey, after my grandfather's death.

 

[DarkChronic]

Not sure if this counts, but watching Giant Bomb content a few years ago helped me get through a bad breakup. Those guys (and gal) do so much more than they will ever know and I'll always be grateful for them.

But gameplay wise, definitely the Animal Crossing games. New Leaf specifically, which was around the time of said breakup. Something so peaceful and relaxing about that game.

 

[TrueSloth]

I immersed myself in the Last of Us during a break up. I beat the game twice over the course of 3 days. Once before breaking up and once after.

 

[Jogi]

Dark Cloud. It was a game my grandpa and I would play when I was a kid. When he passed, playing it felt like the most natural way to cope.

 

[h0tp0ck3t]

Ironically Danganronpa 2 broke me so badly it made me seek out help for my depression. Now I'm doing alright

 

[CelestialAtom]

All of the Metal Gear games and Journey.

 

[AaronMT]

Destiny

 

[Deleted member 7148]

World of Warcraft helped me through a big, devistating breakup when I was younger. I could just log in and get sucked into the world and forget about my woes.

 

[Deleted member 30005]

Grand Theft Auto V helped distract me from unpleasant realities for a while. The pause menu music would sometimes have the opposite effect though.

 

[Pangorogoro]

My father passed away the beginning of 2010, so a lot of games that year I associate with the grieving/healing process. Ones that stand out are Fallout New Vegas, Persona 3 Portable and Pokemon Heart Gold. That entire year is mostly a blur outside of remembering those experiences, but they've stuck with me and became some of my top favorite games as a result.

 

[Villein]

Persona 4 and Bloodborne, both helped me during bad times in my life and let me focus my mind elsewhere. Currently when i'm feeling down I play BotW

 

[Huggy]

Animal Crossing New Leaf

 

[Akumatica]

When Okami came out I was going through the darkest period of my life. It saved me from harming myself and I feel it's a very life affirming game.

 

[MysticGon]

RiME, Burnout 3, Super Smash Bros. 3DS, Forza 4.

 

[machtia]

Animal Crossing New Leaf came out while I was studying for the bar exam. It was the perfect 30 minute distraction every few hours, and it's the only reason I stayed sane.

 

[Tam o shanter]

Dark Souls really helped me during a particularly lonely part of my life. I had just dropped out of college and I had moved back in with my parents. I had no friends around me and I had a lot of time on my hands. The souls game offered an opportunity to become immersed in a very rewarding experience as well as all the lore and story around that. It was something that I really needed at the time.

 

[ScrewyAurum]

Mass Effect 2, Halo Reach

 

[Deleted member 41651]

New Leaf, when a loved one suffered a scary psychotic break and was in and out of inpatient for a few months.

 

[Laver]

(...)

That said, Pillars 2 will always have a special place in my heart as it carried me through a very difficult time - I got run over by a car 10 days prior to its release, and I was in both immense physical pain and tremendous emotional distress as my face was looking like that of Billie Russo, so an immersive 50 hour long game that could help me ignore all that (if only a little bit) was godsent at the time.

Click to shrink...

.

 

[TheKeyPit]

Red Dead Redemption 1 after I nearly died. One of the reasons why it'll always be in my top favorite games ever.

 

[AuroraMusisAmica]

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild kept me going on some grand adventure when I thought my own adventure was over.

Child of Light helped me to come to terms with a death in my family, and yearn for something beautiful and true.

In many ways, I'll love these games more than I can put into words with how they stood by my side in difficult times.

 

[InsaneLuchador]

The WCW and WWF AKI games on N64. They all came out while I was in high school and experiencing a lot of bullying and racism on campus. It triggered a social anxiety that I didn't have before and that I wasn't able to shake until my late 20s. However, in high school, I always played the AKI games with a handful of great friends and it would really help me be myself again. Even when I played them alone, it would remind me that I had friends who cared for me.

 

[Unkindled]

Dark Soul's , YS VIII and Ragnarok Online, Pokemon. All of them helped me in their own way in dark times.

 

[Deleted member 29464]

Fallout New Vegas with depression. One time I had such a bad week, I bought some beer and frozen pizzas and played it from 11am Saturday to 9am Sunday without realising...

 

[Deleted member 1102]

Persona 4 Golden got me through my university dissertation film, no doubt about it. After spending two weeks filming, arguing, crying and wanting to quit uni the only good thing in my life was to come home and return to Inaba. I'll always hold it in a special place in my heart because of when I played it.

 

[Asbsand]

Games have offered distraction and escapism, but I'm not sure if any have truly helped me.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, basically. Whatever it helps with, it's temporary but that's also worth something. I'd rather do that than succumb to misery.

 

[NHarmonic.]

I think Pokemon Emerald as a kid.

And lately, Splatoon2 while working on my undergrad thesis.

 

[fbnaulin]

Breath of the Wild. Post-separation from a 10-year relationship (with 1 child). Hard times. That game was therapeutic.

 

[AndrewDean84]

Resident Evil 4

I had quit my job at Blockbuster and played only Resident Evil 4 while unemployed. I might have beaten it like 15-20 times, in a month.

 

[Gilver]

Right now my situation is pretty dark and yesterday I played Okami and gave food to some animals, which was kinda nice. That game is beautiful to look at.

 

[BossAttack]

Mass Effect.
Dark Souls 1-3.