Stress has become a common aspect of many people’s lives in this disrupting world. As individuals seek effective ways to manage and alleviate stress, one popular avenue that has emerged is casual gaming. These easily accessible and simple-to-play games offer a potential source of relaxation and entertainment. But does engaging in casual games really help relieve stress?
Can they deal with your boredom, overwhelming, and other negative emotions? Is this the savior you need to avoid burnout? Let’s analyze together!
What Is a Casual Video Game?
While hardcore mostly focuses on entertaining hobbyist gamers, casual games offer fun to everyone, regardless of their skill level. So, casual games are mass-market and often have
- Simple rules and controls
- Easily achievable goals
- Tasks players can complete within ten minutes.
As a rule, such gaming products offer simple interfaces, well-known mini-games (for instance, cards or matching various symbols), and free-to-play entertainment.
What Casual Video Game Genres Are There?
Like any gaming product for hobbyist gamers, mass-market entertainment can be of any genre, including…
- Puzzles
- Fighting
- Hidden object finding
- Adventure
- Strategy
- Arcade
- Cards and boards
- Simulation
- Sandbox
- Games for parties.
The narrative can also be anything. Still, games for all playstyles tend to offer simplified stories merely to accompany tasks and give them context. Casual video games with great storylines exist but are a rarity.
What is the Best Casual Game in 2023?
Choosing the best casual game is challenging since all have a specific genre, various events, and purposes. Nevertheless, we can definitely mention…
This bright, unchallenging, and mobile-friendly PC game of Patience has 10/10 things to be the best casual game this year and beyond. First and foremost, it is free to play and requires no downloads. If your Internet connection is good, you can immediately play Solitaire free without downloading on the official website.
What are its best features besides being F2P and available on all devices through a browser?
- The Best PvP Game: Solitaire Social only has a PvP mode, meaning you always play against real players. Since the game is popular in many countries, you can easily connect with someone and find friends abroad or in your region.
- Great Events: Solitaire Social offers many events that let you win great prizes and boosts. Its special events are diverse, too. Sometimes, they include mini-games, new play modes, etc.
- Beatable Without Real Money: Many casual games are notorious for creating too-challenging levels that often make gamers rage and either drop it or buy boosts. This one, though, has optimal difficulty built up gradually. In 99% of cases, a round is beatable; boosts that can help you get through a challenging level can be claimed for free daily or during numerous events.
- A Strong Community: This game is community-centered and incentivizes communication between all players. The strongest group is Solitairesocial on Facebook. There is even a special name for the community — Solitarians.
- Strategy: Playing Patience cards, in this case, means you have to consider the strengths of your opponent, be attentive to time limits, and use various spells to outsmart the other player.
- Building a Garden: Apart from Solitaire, the game lets you decorate a unique garden and visit other players’ gardens. You can give your creation a personal touch and experiment with decorations.
- Card Deck Collections: Collectibles are an option here! The game has various decks you can acquire.
- Epic Tournaments: You can demonstrate your skills in international Solitaire tournaments and win great prizes.
- 10/10 for short sessions: One round in Solitaire Social lasts 2-3 minutes. You can easily play during a break and win enough resources to make your garden beautiful. You will not miss anything major if you can only play for 10 minutes today, tomorrow, and beyond.
The game’s graphics are pretty simple and have a cartoonish style. The game also offers a user-friendly interface and can be conveniently played on your PC, tablet, and phone. This online Solitaire deserves five stars, given the community-centered approach, many activities, and good optimization.
How Can Casual Video Games Help You Relieve Stress?
It is time to chill, relax, and enjoy your quality time! Good rest guarantees you reduce stress and prevent burnout. How? Here is how!
1. Dopamine time
Having fun overall releases this neurotransmitter we depend on to have positive emotions. The feeling of winning something after effort elates gamers, and that mood boost can prolong your feeling of happiness. From a biological standpoint, the mentioned neurotransmitter counteracts stress in general by
- Relaxing blood vessels
- Increasing sodium plus accelerating detox processes
- Reducing insulin; means your blood will absorb less glucose (by the way, that greatly helps with weight control!)
- Boosting your immune system
- Stabilizing good mood
- Helping you concentrate
- Giving you a deeper sleep later.
2. A harmless distraction
Many coping mechanisms might be… not so safe. Many people have no other idea but to buy alcohol or go for cigarettes/vapes. In the case of casual gaming, the need to focus on something automatically makes your brain “block” obtrusive thoughts since you must stay alert for what a plot brings you.
Given how hot emotions cool with time, it is often BEST to get a solid distraction. After a break and a stress-free session of online puzzle games, you will return to real-life matters with a lighter head and heart (well, in most cases).
3. A hasteless state of rest
Most casual video games can work on your mobile device, letting you chill on a couch or bed. This state of rest relaxes your muscles, stabilizes your heart rate, and lets your organs “rest,” too. That will most likely help you sleep better at night.
Read Also: Five Video Games To Relax As Much As Possible
4. No difficulties that irritate you
Entertainment for hobbyist gamers tends to be challenging. For instance, you must have at least an advanced skill to beat some of the most aggressive mobs in Dark Souls or stay extra focused and agile to win a run in The Binding of Isaac.
Regarding casual games, their challenging mode is optional (for example, when you use specific scenarios in the Sims, like starting your household with zero cash). Most games for regular players either let you adjust that difficulty level or have a pretentious, easily beatable challenge. As a rule, you will beat it on the second try.
That saves you from excessive doses of adrenalin and cortisol, which become a Molotov cocktail when they merge in your body. Hence, you are unlikely to rage and get irritated unless your stress is so high that everything makes you angry.
5. Commitment is not obligatory
Such easy and unchallenging games usually have systems that guarantee you can play only a bit and still be 90-100% successful. While some gaming products like Dota 2 require daily commitment and developed skills, mass-market entertainment exists for your chill and giggles.
Like with Solitaire Social, you can play a couple of rounds daily while going home by bus, which will suffice to give you good rewards. In addition, missing an event in casual video games is rarely trouble, while in cases with gachas like Genshin Impact, you lose many resources and cannot get what you want later.
Final Words
Casual gaming is 10/10 for relieving stress and is one of the healthiest coping mechanisms when you do not play excessively. You cannot even play excessively with those games because they are optimal for brief sessions and might get boring after the first hour.
In any case, simple and nice games for general playstyles are a good option when you need relaxation and want to delete the cache from your mind. Enjoy, and stay healthy! Happy gaming!
