Unleashing the Universal Potential of Video Games: It’s Game On for Everyone!

Based on my Medium statistics, the most engaging stories I write are programming posts explaining how to unleash the true potential of the Symfony framework, its components and capabilities. However, I also consider myself a video game freak.

Please allow me to pause my regular writing to talk about my Top 10 video games (or game collections), why they benefit my health, and how they have helped me improve my personal and professional life.

I would love to know your top-10 video games and why because they might not be the same as the ones on my list, but they can offer other benefits too. Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment with the titles and what they provide to your life (fun and happiness apart).

I will list them alphabetically because I don’t think setting them a number is fair. Some days I am in the mood for one of them, while other days, I don’t want to play that game but another one. Also, please remember this is my list, which makes it very subjective to my style and preferences.

Age of Empires II (real-time strategy game, 13+)

Age of Empires II is a classic real-time strategy (RTS) game that plunges players into different periods of history, challenges players to gather resources, build their civilization, advance through different technological ages, and outsmart enemy factions. The gameplay revolves around strategic thinking and planning, combining economic management and military tactics.

Playing “Age of Empires II” offers numerous benefits that extend beyond the virtual world and into real-life applications.

1. Strategic Thinking and Problem-Solving: Players must constantly adapt their strategies to respond to changing game dynamics and opponent actions. This fosters a problem-solving mindset that is invaluable in real-world situations.
2. Resource Management: Players must effectively manage limited resources to build and sustain their civilizations. This can improve budgeting and resource allocation skills in personal and professional settings.
3. Historical Knowledge: Through gameplay and in-depth encyclopedic entries, players can gain a broader understanding of historical events, cultures, and technologies, enhancing their cultural literacy.
4. Multitasking: “Age of Empires II” requires players to manage multiple tasks simultaneously, fostering improved multitasking abilities, which can boost productivity in various real-life scenarios.
5. Teamwork and Social Skills: In multiplayer mode, communication and collaboration with teammates are crucial to victory, improving teamwork and social skills that benefit personal and professional relationships.

Beat Saber (virtual reality rhythm game)

Beat Saber is a virtual reality (VR) rhythm game that challenges players to slash the beats represented by small cubes as they approach the player, synced with energetic music. The game, visually similar to wielding two lightsabers, requires players to match the direction and colour of their slashes to the cubes. With catchy music, a quick pace, and an immersive VR environment, Beat Saber offers an engaging and entertaining gameplay experience, straddling the line between gaming and physical activity.

Playing “Beat Saber” offers a unique set of real-world benefits:

1. Physical Fitness: As an active VR game, “Beat Saber” is a fun way to incorporate physical exercise into daily routine, contributing to overall health and fitness. The rapid, full-body movements can enhance cardiovascular health, agility, and coordination.
2. Rhythm and Musicality: The game improves players’ sense of rhythm and timing, which can enhance appreciation of music and potentially aid in learning musical instruments.
3. Stress Relief: Combining physical activity and immersive music offers an excellent stress-relieving environment. After a “Beat Saber” session, players often report feeling more relaxed and satisfied.
4. Cognitive Functions: The game’s fast-paced nature requires quick decision-making and sharp focus, improving cognitive functions like attention span and reaction times.
5. Spatial Awareness: Since the game requires precise and timely slashes in a 3D environment, it can help players improve their spatial awareness and hand-eye coordination.

Detroit: Become Human (interactive drama and action-adventure game, 17+)

Detroit: Become Human is an interactive drama and action-adventure game set in a near-future Detroit where androids, who look exactly like human beings, have become an integral part of society. The story follows three android characters, each with unique backgrounds and roles, who start to experience human emotions. The dynamic narrative evolves based on player decisions, making each playthrough unique. The game explores various themes like Artificial Intelligence (AI) ethics, civil rights, and what it means to be human, all within a beautifully designed dystopian setting.

Playing “Detroit: Become Human” can offer a host of benefits applicable in the real world:

1. Ethical Decision Making: The game’s narrative emphasises moral choices, promoting players’ ability to evaluate situations from ethical perspectives and make informed decisions.
2. Empathy and Emotional Intelligence: Players engage with diverse characters and situations, fostering greater empathy and emotional understanding.
3. Critical Thinking: The game’s branching narrative encourages players to critically evaluate potential outcomes and consequences of their actions, honing their critical thinking skills.
4. Cultural Awareness: By exploring themes related to AI ethics and civil rights, players gain insights into critical societal issues, increasing their cultural awareness and understanding of these topics.
5. Narrative Comprehension: The complex, multi-layered story improves players’ ability to comprehend and follow intricate narratives, an invaluable skill in both professional and personal contexts.

Final Fantasy X (role-playing game, 13+)

Final Fantasy X is a role-playing game (RPG) set in the magical and mystical world of Spira. Throughout the game, players navigate through various environments, engage in turn-based battles, and experience a captivating storyline filled with emotional depth, memorable characters, and complex themes, making Final Fantasy X a classic within the RPG genre.

Engaging with “Final Fantasy X” can yield numerous tangible benefits in real life:

1. Narrative Understanding and Empathy: The game’s deep, intricate storyline enhances narrative understanding and promotes empathy as players identify with the characters’ struggles, triumphs, and growth.
2. Problem-Solving Skills: Strategic, turn-based combat requires players to think critically and adapt to changing circumstances, developing problem-solving skills that can be applied in many real-world situations.
3. Patience and Perseverance: As with most RPGs, “Final Fantasy X” requires a significant time commitment and a willingness to grind and improve, teaching lessons in patience and perseverance.
4. Cultural Awareness: The game’s world is rich in cultures, religions, and societal structures. Navigating these elements can foster an appreciation for diversity and an understanding of the complexities of different societies.
5. Creativity: The game’s unique sphere levelling system allows players to customize character abilities, encouraging creative thinking and experimentation with various strategies.

Hitman: World of Assassination collection (stealth game, 17+)

The Hitman: World of Assassination is a series of stealth games that place players in the shoes of Agent 47, a genetically enhanced assassin working for a mysterious organization. The games are known for their open-ended levels, where players must utilize their environment, disguises, and an array of tools to eliminate specific targets while avoiding detection. Each level is a complex sandbox, allowing players to complete their objectives in many ways, thus providing high replay value and encouraging creativity and strategic thinking.

Playing the “Hitman” trilogy offers real-world benefits that go beyond surface-level entertainment:

1. Problem-Solving: Each mission in the game presents a unique challenge and multiple ways to solve it, encouraging players to think creatively and strategically.
2. Attention to Detail: To successfully complete missions, players must carefully observe their environment, enemy patterns, and opportunities, which can enhance focus and observational skills.
3. Patience and Timing: The game rewards patience and well-timed actions over reckless behaviour, which can encourage players to develop patience and an understanding of timing in real-world scenarios.
4. Decision-Making Skills: With each mission offering multiple paths to success, players must make strategic decisions based on their observations and understanding of the game mechanics.
5. Spatial Awareness: Navigating the game’s complex environments to remain undetected fosters an improved understanding of space and how to use it to one’s advantage.

Life is Strange: True Colors (graphic adventure game, 17+)

Life is Strange: True Colors is an adventure game featuring a captivating narrative that revolves around the experiences of its protagonist, Alex Chen. Alex possesses the psychic power of empathy, which allows her to perceive and manipulate the emotions of others while investigating her brother’s mysterious death and navigating her relationships with the townsfolk. The gameplay heavily emphasizes decision-making, with players’ choices directly impacting the narrative and relationships within the game, creating a deeply immersive and emotionally-driven experience.

Engaging with “Life is Strange: True Colors” can provide players with several tangible benefits that are applicable in the real world:

1. Emotional Intelligence: The game promotes emotional understanding and empathy as players navigate complex emotional landscapes and make choices based on characters’ feelings and reactions.
2. Decision Making: With a narrative heavily influenced by player choices, the game encourages thoughtful decision-making and consideration of potential outcomes, skills that are invaluable in real-life scenarios.
3. Relationship Understanding: Interacting with the game’s diverse cast of characters enhances understanding of social dynamics and relationship building, fostering improved communication and social skills.
4. Moral and Ethical Awareness: The moral and ethical dilemmas presented throughout the game encourage players to reflect on their values and consider different perspectives.
5. Coping Mechanisms: The game explores themes of grief and trauma, offering players insights into healthy coping mechanisms and fostering emotional resilience.

Insomniac Games’ Marvel Spider-Man collection (action-adventure game, 13+)

Marvel Spider-Man is an action-adventure game developed by Insomniac Games that allows players to assume the role of one of the most iconic superheroes, Spider-Man. Set in a meticulously recreated open-world New York City, players swing through skyscrapers, engage in dynamic combat, unravel a compelling narrative, and interact with several familiar characters from the Spider-Man universe. The game is recognized for its engaging storyline, fluid gameplay mechanics, and stunning visuals, providing players with an immersive superhero experience.

Playing “Marvel’s Spider-Man” offers a variety of real-world benefits that extend beyond the screen:

1. Problem-Solving Skills: The game’s various puzzles and missions encourage players to think creatively and logically to find solutions, enhancing problem-solving skills that benefit daily life.
2. Motor Skills and Hand-Eye Coordination: The fast-paced action and precision required in web-slinging and combat can help improve players’ motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
3. Spatial Awareness: The ability to navigate a large, open-world environment like New York City can improve players’ spatial awareness and understanding of geography.
4. Narrative Understanding and Empathy: The game’s deeply woven narrative and character development can enhance players’ storytelling comprehension and empathy as they experience the world through the eyes of Spider-Man, Peter Parker and Miles Morales.
5. Stress Relief: Stepping into the shoes of Spider-Man and experiencing the thrill of web-slinging across skyscrapers provides a fun, engaging way to unwind and relieve stress.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (action role-playing game, 17+)

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is a compilation of the critically acclaimed Mass Effect trilogy, remastered for modern platforms. This collection of action role-playing games is set in a rich, detailed science-fiction universe. Players assume the role of Commander Shepard, an elite human soldier exploring the galaxy during a time of uncertainty and upheaval. The games are renowned for their complex narratives, deep character development, and branching dialogues, where player choices significantly influence the course of the story, including interpersonal relationships and the ultimate fate of entire species and civilizations.

Playing “Mass Effect: Legendary Edition” offers a variety of real-life benefits:

1. Decision-Making Skills: The branching narrative of the game encourages thoughtful decision-making and reflection on the potential consequences, valuable skills in everyday life.
2. Empathy and Emotional Intelligence: Interacting with diverse characters, understanding their motivations, and navigating complex relationships can enhance emotional intelligence and foster greater empathy.
3. Cultural Awareness: By exploring a vast galaxy filled with diverse species and cultures, players can better appreciate diversity and the complexities of intercultural relations.
4. Strategic Thinking: The game’s combat system requires effective use of team skills and tactics, fostering strategic thinking that can be beneficial in various real-world situations.
5. Problem-Solving: Many in-game missions and side quests require players to solve puzzles or find creative solutions to obstacles, honing problem-solving abilities.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic collection (role-playing game, 13+)

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) is a role-playing game set in the expansive Star Wars universe, approximately 4,000 years before the events of the original films. Players take on the role of a character who, throughout the game, will align with either the light or dark side of the Force based on their actions and decisions. The game is celebrated for its immersive storytelling, engaging combat system, and deep character development. The narrative explores themes of morality, identity, and redemption, making it a staple in the pantheon of Star Wars media and a classic within the RPG genre.

Knights of the Old Republic is part of The Old Republic collection, where KOTOR is the first and the best game, KOTOR 2 The Sith Lords tells another story not being an immediate sequel of the first game, and finally there is the Star Wars: The Old Republic which is the MMORPG game that follows up the events of both games, and it’s one of most played MMORPG games.

Engaging with “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic” can provide players with several tangible benefits that are applicable in the real world:

1. Decision Making: The moral choices players make in the game can influence their character’s alignment, encouraging thoughtful decision-making and consideration of consequences.
2. Problem-Solving Skills: The various quests and challenges require strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities that can be useful in many real-world situations.
3. Narrative Understanding and Empathy: The game’s rich, character-driven narrative enhances narrative understanding and promotes empathy as players navigate complex interpersonal dynamics.
4. Moral and Ethical Awareness: By engaging with the game’s themes of morality and redemption, players are encouraged to reflect on their values and ethical standpoints.
5. Cultural Literacy: For Star Wars fans, the game deepens their understanding of the franchise’s universe and lore, enhancing cultural literacy in a significant area of popular media.

The Sims 4 (life simulation game, 13+)

The Sims 4 is a life simulation game where players create and control virtual characters, known as “Sims,” in a virtual world that mirrors real-life activities and relationships. This instalment of the popular franchise has refined character creation and customization, providing an impressive range of visual, behavioural, and lifestyle options. Notably, The Sims 4 broke new ground by removing gender restrictions, allowing players to freely express their Sims’ identities, making it a progressive force in the gaming landscape.

Playing “The Sims 4” offers real-world benefits that are especially relevant in the context of diversity, inclusion, and the LGBTQ+ community:

1. Expression of Identity: The game’s flexible character customization enables players of all identities, including those within the LGBTQ+ community, to create characters that truly represent them, fostering a sense of inclusion and validation.
2. Understanding and Empathy: For players outside the LGBTQ+ community, the game offers an opportunity to virtually experience diverse lifestyles and relationships, enhancing awareness and empathy towards the LGBTQ+ community.
3. Creativity: The freedom to design and control various aspects of your Sims’ lives, from their homes to their careers, stimulates creativity and self-expression.
4. Social Skills: Managing the interactions and relationships of Sims can improve players’ social skills and understanding of social dynamics.
5. Advancement of Equality: By promoting diversity and removing gender restrictions, “The Sims 4” contributes positively to societal discussions about gender and sexuality, advancing the cause of equality in a broader context.

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