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[IbizaPocholo]

During the pandemic more people have been playing games than ever before, but while it's easy to think gamers are gravitating towards the likes of Animal Crossing or Minecraft, many people instead turn to intense, difficult games like Dark Souls or Bloodborne for comfort.

Alexander Kriss, psychotherapist and author of 'Universal Play', explains the science of how games help people's mental health, and why playing stressful games during a global pandemic might be a good thing.

 

[digital_ghost]

As someone with a mental illness, I agree gaming helps me. One way it does is if I am chatting with my friend while playing together online. Just a way to destress and laugh.

 

[Velius]

True story, it helped me through my divorce. My entire world was falling apart and I was such a nervous wreck I couldn't play Witcher 2 or Skyrim. But I was able to play Dark Souls. It was such a calm isolation. I was alone for the first time in so many years and the game conveyed a feeling to me that somehow, I would make it. Sometimes I'd fall asleep to the bonfire in Firelink Shrine with the music

 

[kingwingin]

Dark souls gives me anxiety. Always feel lost and unsure where to go.

 

[Aesius]

Dark Souls is thought of as an unapproachable, highly difficult game, but it + Bloodborne are actually the ultimate power fantasies. Because becoming powerful in those games is only tangentially related to leveling up. Instead, it's about improving your skills and turning a foreign, frightening, and hostile world into your own personal playground.

It makes sense that people gravitate towards them while suffering from depression. There's a real sense of achievement of making your way in those games and defeating bosses that seemed utterly impossible when you were first starting out.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Sure Gamespot, sure you don't know why