What makes a game good when I'm tired
A tired evening is not a lazy one. I do want to play, and I want the game to ask for nothing in return. Going back through the games I've reviewed, four things decide whether one works when my head is empty.
There's almost nothing to learn. I don't want a tutorial that goes on for hours or a menu full of systems. The games below teach in a few minutes and stay simple, so I can start without reading anything first.
Nothing is lost when I get it wrong. A bad moment should cost seconds. If a mistake can cost me an hour of progress, I won't enjoy the rest of the evening, which is why the Challenge on this list stays low.
It's calm from the first minute. The music, the colors and the pace do some of the work for me. I look for games where the first fun arrives straight away and nothing shouts at me.
It's easy to stop. I may fall asleep on the sofa, or my eyes may give up halfway. Every review has a note on good places to stop, and the notes are the best guide to how a game fits a tired night.
How I pick the games for this list
A game is on this page when both Effort and Challenge are 2 or lower and the vibe check says it's properly chill (how I score explains the scales). A game can be wonderful and still miss this list because it asks for more of my head. Those are in the close calls below. The list is 6 games right now, best first, and it changes by itself when I review a game that fits.
Setting up the evening
A few settings make a tired evening easier.
- On the TV. In the display settings there's an option called Match TV Power State. Turning on or waking the console turns on the TV, and turning off the TV sends the console to sleep. Your TV needs its HDMI control setting switched on too, and some models don't support it.
- Handheld. Sleep mode is one press of the POWER button, and POWER or HOME wakes it. If you've set a console lock PIN, waking it asks for the PIN.
- Brightness. In handheld mode, Auto-Brightness is in the quick settings, which you open by holding the HOME button. It's a good one to leave on in a dim room.
- Where to stop. Most of these games save by themselves, and each review says where a good stopping place is.
Things to know before you start
Easy doesn't mean the same thing in every game, and a few of these have a catch:
- Dave the Diver has a restaurant rush that asks for attention, and the dives don't. The text is also small in handheld.
- Palia is always online, and typing on the Switch is a pain.
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe stays relaxed with the assists on, and blue shells can still ruin my mood.
- Road 96 has some heavy themes and little gameplay under the story.
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons turns into daily chores when I play it alone.
Close calls: great, but they ask for a bit more
These are calm, but they want more of my head, more learning or a harder moment now and then. Here's what I said about stopping in each one:
- No Man's Sky: After a loop: land on a planet, gather, scan wildlife and return to your ship (10 to 20 minutes), trade and upgrade at a station (5 to 10), or refuel and warp to a new system (2 to 5).
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: After a shrine, which takes ten to twenty minutes, or after ten minutes of picking apples and cooking.
- I am an Air Traffic Controller: Airport Hero Haneda: Between stages. Nothing carries over, so a finished stage is the cleanest stop. Early stages are short, but some long ones run one to two hours.
- Balatro: Between runs, or even in the middle of a round. A session can be five minutes or a whole evening.
- NES: Nintendo Classics: Any time. Pick a game, press start, and stop whenever you like. Ten minutes here and there works.
Other kinds of evening
If I'm tired and in bed, there are the handheld games for bed. If I've been away from a game, the games that are easy to pick up after a break cover that, and for games where a mistake costs almost nothing there's relaxing games with no harsh game overs. The best games to play after work page ranks the ten that suit a work night best, and the Tonight finder narrows it down by time and energy.
Questions
What's the best Switch 2 game when I'm tired? Right now my top pick is Dave the Diver. It asks for very little, it's calm straight away and it forgives. On another night the right pick depends on how much attention I have left, which is why the list is longer than one game.
What does Effort mean here? It's how much a game asks me to learn and remember. On this list it stays at 2 or lower, so there's little to relearn between sessions.
Can I play these in bed? Most work well in handheld. I put together a separate list of handheld games for bed.
Do I need headphones? None of these require them. Dave the Diver and Road 96 sound lovely with them.
Do these games work on a Switch 2? I review everything on a Switch 2. Each review says whether there's a Switch 2 Edition or whether the game runs through backward compatibility.
How often is this list updated? Whenever I publish a review or change a rating, the page is rebuilt. The date at the top shows when something last changed.
