Art's Dream 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 Art's Dream in the following lists:
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 are often enjoyable because they task you with juggling multiple responsibilities at the same time (not unlike other parts of life). However, there are some games that focus on just one aspect of play.
Shooting games usually require you to navigate through the world as well as dealing with targeting and shooting enemies. On-Rails Shooters and Light-Gun games take over the movement and navigation side of things for you. You are left with the task of targeting and shooting the enemies as they come into view.
These can be classic shooting games, tailored for an on-rails experience. Sometimes a stand-alone game, and sometimes a special edition of an existing franchise. Games like Point Blank, Until Dawn Rush of Blood,
House of the Dead, Dead Containment and Dead Space Extraction.
This can also be games with shooting style targeting that aren't specifically about shooting. Games like Child of Eden, Rez Infinite or New Pokemon Snap. Or games that use targets as part of a skill challenge like Osu!, Pianista or Elite Beat Agents.
Not all video games are about shooting, is something we often say to parents. But also, not all shooting games are the same. As you can see in the related lists here there are many ways these games offer competition, collaboration and a challenge to players.
On-rails shooting is one niche where you don't control the movement and instead are just tasked with targeting. This may seem like a niche, but there is a smaller niche within this of Light Gun shooting games. These not only task you with just targeting enemies, but require you to do this with a pointing device similar to holding a real gun.
Light Gun shooting games game to popularity in the 90's arcades. These offered big cabinets sporting brightly coloured large plastic guns. Time Crisis, House of the Dead, Operation Wolf and Virtua Cop were popular examples.
These games have become harder to find, but recently are seeing a resurgence. On a console you need a way to target the screen:
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Motion Controller: Games use the Wii Remote, Switch Joy-Con and PlayStation Move controllers in place of a gun,
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Mouse Controls: Some games offer mouse targeting as an alternative.
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Kinect: Some games used the Kinect camera or similar devices to let you shoot at the screen with your body.
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Light-Guns: You can purchase a light gun (such as the Sinden) for use with PC games.
Video games are known for high-octane, adrenaline-fuelled entertainment, but there are many that address the player’s emotions as much as their dexterity. Often overlooked by younger or more competitive players, these experiences can provide a helpful variety in the diet of games your family enjoys.
The games selected below create emotionally rich spaces in which to explore scenarios with feelings rather than facts. In some games this is achieved with beautiful or soothing interactive visuals; others create charged relationships and settings that invite players to take a role in processing these emotions.
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.
Many games use rhythm as a mechanic to involve the player. But this list is devoted to the games that go one step further, and make you feel like you are creating music while you interact with the game. This may be the singing to other characters in
Wandersong or
Fe, or be contributing to the orchestral soundtrack in games like
Flower or
LocoRoco.
These are games that almost feel like you are playing a music album. They invite you to spend time in a meditative musical state that leaves you with their songs and rhythms in your head for the rest of the day -
Pata Pata Pata Pon.
Games that embed a sense of hope by playing them. Sometimes a hopeful story, sometimes a hopeful interaction, and sometimes just an uplifting aesthetic to spend time in. These are games that leave you with an uplifted spirit, maybe not immediately (like
Horizon Zero Dawn) but by the time you have finished them.
There is something innocent and childlike in play, and video games each have a slice of that in different ways. Sometimes simple and sometimes complex, games can help us return to the hope we had as children, or call us on to the wisdom and perspective of older years.
Video games are often known for their gunplay. However, not all shooting games are the same. The simple aiming and firing mechanic is creatively combined with other aspects of play that greatly alters the experience.
While some games add novel or fast-flowing movement to augment the shooting experience, Hero Shooter games expand the experience by offering different characters to play, each with specific abilities and shortcomings.
In the same way that fighting games encourage players to move an intricate move-set of a fighter (to become their "main" on-screen avatar), character-focused shooting games offer a wide range of styles of play across a diverse cast of people.
This not only adds novelty to the otherwise repetitive nature of shooting games, but changes how they are played more generally. While you may go head-on at enemies in a tank-style character, a medic, ranged attack or specialist character will need to be played in different ways.
Sometimes you just want to play the hero. These games are violent and include shooting but, as with B-movies and 1980s TV series, it’s as much about the quips, characters and fantasy settings as it is about killing. The drama may be peppered with cinematic gunfire but, like those TV series, the real draw is spending time with the heroes every week.
Music has been an important part of video games since specialised sound chips made composing and playing back music possible during the advent of 8-bit home computers in the 80s. This gave many games a unique sound, but it was how the music interacted with gameplay that was really interesting.
We worked on this list of games where music is integral to play with Andreas Zecher. He runs the amazing
Polylists resource, a website for those working in games to share lists of recommended games under self-chosen topics. His list, here, features games where music goes further than just providing a great soundtrack. In these games, music is at the core of the player’s experience. Some putting players in a state of flow, and others reacting to the player's every action like an instrument being played.
The sensory experiences of
Tetris Effect Connected or
Thumper would not be possible without the music that they are based on.
Everyday Shooter and
Sayonara Wild Hearts let players interactively experience a lo-fi indie rock and frenzy pop music album respectively.
Sound Shapes is a clever platformer that doubles as a 16-step sequencer, common in the creation of electronic dance music. These games spark curiosity in how music works as they explore rhythm, harmonies and the joy of performing and actively listening to music.
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