In praise of quiet games

Not every game needs to be a challenge. Some of my favourite phone hours this year came from games that were, frankly, gentle. No fail states, no leaderboards, no nagging notifications.

Hollow Lantern is a good example on the adventure side, all atmosphere and slow discovery. Tiny Harbor Town does it as a sim, where the whole point is to potter about without pressure. Both left me calmer than when I started, which is not nothing.

There's a design lesson here too. Removing pressure doesn't mean removing depth — a quiet game still needs a satisfying loop, it just doesn't threaten you to keep you in it. That's a harder trick than it sounds.

So if your evenings feel busy enough already, look for the games that let you exhale. They're easy to overlook next to the flashy stuff, but they earn their place.