Death Stranding is in These Lists
In addition to the similar games listed above, which have been linked to this game specifically in the database, you may find games with a similar theme to Death Stranding in the following lists:
The British Academy Games Awards are presented annually to recognise, honour and reward outstanding creative achievement in Games. The awards categories reflect the wealth and diversity of the games sector.
The awards started in 2004 and are presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). For parents, they are a great way of discovering brilliant games to play in their family. The games included here are from these categories:
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The Family Games Award highlights games that will work really well for parents and children. These often include multiplayer features and feature a cast of family-friendly characters.
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The Games Beyond Entertainment award is also of interest as this highlights more unusual games with an emphasis on storytelling that addresses topics that parents may find appealing themselves.
The Game Awards highlight the best video games each year. It's an award produced and hosted by Geoff Keighley. Games are selected by video game news organizations who then vote on the games to choose the winners in each of the categories.
In this series, we are learning how different aspects of video games work by playing games that offer an easy introduction to this one concept. This is designed for people new to gaming, and aims to identify games with the least barriers. In this entry we are looking at big budget games.
These games are big, brash and popular. They have big budgets which means the visual and interactive quality is particularly high. They also have strong and wide ranging player communities.
For new players these can be overwhelming as they combine a number of genres like
Strategy games,
Shooting games,
Adventure games,
Role Play games. Still, they are a good way to see how these different elements combine in a large and ambitious experience.
These games offer worlds you explore in unusual ways. Maybe it’s hard to put one foot in front of the other, or maybe you get a chance to climb and jump athletically. These games put you in touch what it’s like to move more easily or more difficulty than real life.
While many games include characters to interact with, some are specifically designed to make relationships a central element. Whether this is during the rounds of a puzzle game amidst a zombie outbreak or as we race cars around a circuit, they can offer a unique way to think deeply about how we relate to each other and to the games people play.
In contrast to films or books, characters and relationships in video games need to be discovered by the player. Some of my favourite relational moments in games happen amidst other action. Often these other actions – whether shooting, puzzle-solving, or fetching and carrying – serve to underline the difficult, awkward and snatched nature of interpersonal interactions.
Video games where you adventure into a harsh setting, try your hardest to survive and slowly develop your abilities but then inevitably die are often called Rogue-likes. This is because one of the first games that offered this style of play was called Rogue.
These are interesting games for families, not only because their difficult nature leads to shorter sessions, but also because they foster perseverance and coping with losing. After dying you are sent back to some sort of central village where you can choose upgrades for your next attempt. The incentive to play again once you have been killed is usually that you start with some more equipment or skills.
In this way, by belligerence and a slowly learned understanding of how the game world works and how best to survive, you incrementally get a bit further each time you play. Here are some really good roguelike games for families:
The PlayStation 5 DualSense controller added new features over the PlayStation 4 DualShock controller. It added a higher-quality microphone, a larger more sensitive touchpad, longer battery and more robust USB C charger cable. That last one is a welcome addition as DualShock controllers charge cables often wore out over time.
In addition to these improvements it added two new features:
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Haptic Feedback - Detailed vibration and movement from within the controller to extend immersion of the game to your hands: the pattering of rain or a blast of energy.
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Adaptive Triggers - The triggers on the controller can be made harder or softer to press by the game. This offers a nuanced way to feel more in the game, while also to provide more information about aiming.
The games in this list all use these Haptic Feedback and Adaptive Triggers functionality.
Video games are usually non-stop. They invite us onto a ride that takes us to all sorts of places. They invite us to continually engage and interact with the worlds they create. However, some games create space for us to pause the action, sit, and take in the environments they have created.
We have other lists of games that players use to gain a sense of calm or meditative state. The games in this are those that include the chance to get your character to actually stop and meditate themselves.
This can be a specific meditate option, like in
Sable, or the ability to get your character to sit and listen when you stop moving, this is a powerful way to get a taste of how meditation in real life can help us come back to ourselves and in so doing, rediscover the world around us.
Games like
Kena depict the breath slowing and draw attention to the sights and sounds of the natural world. Then there is
Journey that allow us to sit when we stop moving or
Flower that encourages us to slow our pace with scenes of where we have just been. Then there is
Sky Children of the Light where you need to go to special locations to meditate.
Even violent or desolate games can offer powerful moments of stillness. Stopping in
Death Stranding or
Ghost of Tsushima means you can simply sit and relax. In
Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Origins and Valhalla you can use meditation to see the sun to quickly shift across the sky. In
The Witcher 3 you can stop and meditate to restore your health and pass time.
Or there are
hidden moments of meditation in games like
Uncharted The Lost Legacy where Chloe will work through her Yoga poses on top of a tower.
Spiritfarer is similar, you have to find a snake named Summer and complete their quests to be invited to meditate with them.
There are also games that offer
Photo modes that don't specifically depict the feature as meditation. It offers a chance to pause, take in the action and the world as you pan the camera, frame an image or adjust the depth of field.
Finally there are games like
Animal Crossing,
Conan Exiles, that don't offer specific meditation but let you sit on benches, stare out to see, or watch the sun rise.
Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games, is a podcast that offers a candid conversation with game creators that dives deep into the art, craft, and process of making games. It's an amazing insight into the mind of people who understand and highlight how game/play mechanics can do unexpected, magical and surprising things.
This is the list of games they have picked as their Game of the Year 2018-2021. These awards also include board games, escape rooms and game-like TV series. We have included video games here, where we have them on the database. (And in many cases have added video games to the database after listening to the show.)
It's hosted by:
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Nick Suttner, an independent game writer/designer/consultant, who has worked on games like Celeste, Bloodroots, and Carto.
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Andy Nealen, a game creator and scholar, artist and music maker, architect and structural engineer, and professor of cinematic arts and computer science at USC.
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Sarah Elmaleh, actor, consultant and event organizer with a passion for collaborative creation - both as a seasoned performer and as an advocate for best practices in the games industry.
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Zach Gage, who makes deep games that are easy to get into, like Really Bad Chess and SpellTower.
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Douglas Wilson, who is a co-owner of Die Gute Fabrik, a games studio based in Copenhagen, Denmark. He has worked on Johann Sebastian Joust, Sportsfriends, and Mutazione.
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Laura E. Hall, is an an artist, writer, puzzle-maker, immersive environment and narrative designer focusing on the playful intersections of arts, culture, and technology, especially in gaming.
The team is usually joined by Laura E. Hall for the game of the year episodes. She is an artist, writer, puzzle-maker, immersive environment and narrative designer who focuses on the playful intersections of arts, culture, and technology, especially in gaming.
Psychologists define resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. As much as resilience involves "bouncing back" from these difficult experiences, it can also involve profound personal growth.
Games, by design, present players with adversity and much of the joy of gaming comes from taking on and overcoming unnecessary obstacles. Whether you’re saving the universe from an alien invasion or tending crops in your animal community, playing games mimics the process of resilience.
This list of games that can help foster various forms of psychological resilience is compiled with the expert help of
Take This. They aim to decrease the stigma, and increase the support for, mental health in the game enthusiast community and inside the game industry. They encourage a game community that welcomes and supports people experiencing mental health challenges, and that recognizes the humanity and mental health of game creators.
The
Portal series tell a narrative that you are going to fail. You’re told to give up, but if you ignore this barrage of discouragement you can use it as a way to strengthen your resolve and complete the puzzles even if you have failed twenty times in the process.
The Stanley Parable is all about trying again. You can try and re-try your decision making, reaching a variety of different endings.
Dark Souls is a hallmark for a punishing challenge that require resilience. You journey through elaborate lands to adventure, explore, and take heed lest they encounter a battle with a boss or enemy.
Celeste is the story of Madeline and the enemies she overcomes while climbing Celeste Mountain. The game specifically calls out that Madeline has anxiety, and the challenges she faces in the environment reflect her own internal struggles and triumphs.
Cuphead challenges players to battle relentless bosses in combat-heavy play. Cartoonish and playful, it balances challenging players to grow in skill and offers plenty of entertaining environments and aesthetics to keep you playing.
In
Kingdom Hearts you meet many characters that need help - and many boss battles feel almost insurmountable. With help from friends like Donald and Goofy, the player character Sora overcomes the darkness to save his friends and bring hope back to the world.
Death Squared is a co-op puzzle game where one player’s mistake makes everyone else lose. You learn cooperative resilience in trying again admits humorous judgments from the unseen “hosts” of the game.
In
Animal Crossing you get help from the animal neighbours. You learn to lean on this social and environmental resilience to persevere at building social connections with computer villagers and friends online.
Stardew Valley’s farming is about growing and maintaining a homestead. Interweaving the busy work are relationships with the other villagers, many of whom are social models for resilience in their storylines.
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