When life gets busy, video games offer the perfect escapism.
With the click of a button, you're transported to whatever fictional place takes your fancy that day, tasked with whatever you want to do, for as long as you want to do it.
Want to go on an epic voyage through history? Survive an all-too-realistic apocalypse? Or exercise your grey matter with some clever puzzles? In games, there really are no limits to how you can spend your downtime.
And yet, despite all the wonderful choices that take us out of our hectic lifestyles, some of the most popular games in recent times are not based on fantasy and fiction at all, but rather our ordinary reality.
That's right. Cutting grass, washing dirt away, renovating houses, driving cars and serving coffee have become huge hits in gaming. Don’t roll your eyes just yet. We’re now entering a new, exciting era of the simulation game.
A zen life: power-washing your problems away
If you told a friend you spent your weekend cleaning the house, you'd earn equal parts respect and envy. Tell them it took place in a virtual house? Well, you might get a wildly different reaction. But bear with me.
Simulator games reinvent what video games are and should be. While you scoff at the idea of spending your free time doing mundane things you’re actively trying to avoid, sim games are deceptively fun and utterly addictive.
PowerWash Simulator has become one of the most lauded sim games ever, converting legions of people into active gamers, whether they expected it or not. And it's become an antidote for many of my most hectic days.
The setup is simple; you play as an aspiring entrepreneur who sets up their own cleaning company, eager to build up their reputation by spraying grime. The stakes are low. And yet, it somehow manages to capture the serenity of housework without all the exhaustion.
Before you know it, you’re looking forward to waging war against any stain you come across on-screen. There are no major plot twists on the horizon. Gameplay centres on familiar, trivial things you’d ordinarily expect no credit for. And yet in-game, when you finish a task, you’re rewarded and celebrated. Achievements are secured on your profile. And you move on to the next Herculean cleaning challenge with gusto.
Now, do I really need a power-washing game when my brand-new (and very real) power washer lies idle in the shed? No. Do I need a video game where I mow virtual grass when there’s a carpet of the stuff just outside the front door, waiting patiently to be shaved? Again, no.
But that’s not the point. It’s not about what you should be doing when the console is turned off. With a sim game, there’s an opportunity to enjoy the best parts of an activity and the satisfaction of a job well done without all the preparation and exhaustion.
Room to improve? Sim games can be creative and educational, too
Sim games can be an opportunity for you to do ordinary things that you ordinarily wouldn't get a chance to experience. I’ve never been to the Egyptian Pyramids yet. It’s on the bucket list, alongside several other places around the world.
But with games like Microsoft Flight Simulator, I have a pretty good idea of what awaits me. It’s a hyper-realistic simulator that tosses you into the pilot’s chair, where you’re free to fly anywhere you want (including around Ireland), with unmatched freedom.
Sure, you can take to the road and drive around. But games like Forza Horizon allow you to test-drive cars ten times out of your price range, all with pinpoint accuracy and detail. And even if you wanted to 'drive’ somewhere different, you can. The critically acclaimed Euro Truck Simulator 2 brings you on a whistle-stop tour of Europe, all from the comfort of home.
While sim games are often packaged as a relaxing experience, don’t underestimate them as a creative outlet, either. House Flipper 2 focuses on building mechanics, where you become your very own digital Dermot Bannon, renovating dream houses for clients, letting your imagination run wild while battling with your budget.
In Planet Zoo, you're charged with designing a whole host of biomes for endangered and common animals, while Cities: Skylines II is a construction simulator that challenges you to create every single part of a thriving city, from its roads and utilities to its residential areas, business complexes and more.
And then there’s The Sims, a franchise which has sold over 200 million copies since its debut in 2000. A game in which you spend your day controlling how virtual people spend theirs, including where and how they live, is one of the earliest (and still best) examples of the joy found in everyday life.
These 'mundane' games have turned normal everyday experiences into digital playgrounds. Trust that if there’s something in life you want to do, some place you want to see, or some career you want to try out, there is now a simulation tailored for you to test the waters with.
Want to go kayaking across Norway? There’s a game for that. Think you’d like to manage your own coffee shop or farm? There are games for that. Ever wanted to try being a surgeon? You guessed it – there’s a game that tries to let that happen (with interesting results, I’m sure.)
A new spin on ‘virtual reality’
With modern-day life, time is precious. And sim games offer the perfect drop-in-and-drop-out experience, cherry-picking familiar things and reinventing them as some of the best entertainment out there.
The tasks might be trivial, and success almost always guaranteed, but the dopamine hit can be just as high as any high-action blockbuster game that takes hundreds of hours to complete.
And as games are meant to entertain, isn’t that all that matters?
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