Cleaning simulator is an example of the success of games to relax

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There are things that only adult life provides, like feeling the reassuring pleasure of seeing a clean and tidy house. It is this feeling that “PowerWash Simulator” seeks to evoke.

Released on the 14th, the game is –as the name says– a heavy cleaning simulator, in which the player needs to leave impeccable areas and filthy objects. Despite the mundane premise, the title has been quite successful, mainly because of the feeling of relaxation it provides.

The sound of water hitting the most diverse surfaces and “painting” objects previously covered by a thick layer of black soot while birds sing and the sun shines in the sky. Everything in the game seems aimed at awakening the most primary feelings of tranquility, satisfaction and accomplishment.

But this is not an isolated case. In recent years, several games have been released that seek, more than anything, to make the player have a zen experience. The theme can change, but almost all of them follow a standard recipe:

• Simple controls and gameplay, without complex mechanics that are difficult to understand and learn;

• There’s no timekeeping or scorecard pressuring players to compare their performance;

• Few or no cinematic scenes, so as not to break the rhythm of the game;

• Bucolic theme, without major conflicts or exacerbated violence;

• Soundtrack with calming music and relaxing sound effects;

• There is no “Game Over”. You will hardly find yourself at a point where there is no salvation and you have to start all over again.

The most successful title of this line and probably responsible for the new trend is “Animal Crossing: New Horizons”, for Switch. The game is a social life simulator, in which the player arrives on a deserted island and needs to collect materials and make friends with the anthropomorphic animals that inhabit the place to transform it into a true paradise on Earth.

The franchise has been around since 2001, with at least seven other games, but “New Horizons” took it to a whole new level. The game was released in March 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic, and it took advantage of the boom that video games had in the period from the beginning.

With that, it became the second best-selling game on the console, reaching 38.6 million copies until March this year – only behind “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe”, with 45.5 million, and close to “The Witcher 3”, which since 2015 has sold around 40 million copies on different platforms.

More recently, another title that was talked about was “Unpacking”, released in November 2021 by Australian developer Witch Beam. In the game, the player takes on the role of a girl who needs to pack her things right after a move, going through different periods of her life.

Despite the simple mechanics, he manages to subtly and very intelligently tell this girl’s story. Through small objects, it shows the difficulties she had to overcome, the changes she went through and her relationships.

The game teaches how really important things are taken with us for life, while others fulfill their role, get in the way and end up being forgotten. No wonder he won the award for best narrative at this year’s Bafta Games Awards.

If you liked the idea of ​​playing games to relax, but you’re not a big fan of Marie Kondo and don’t care about cleaning and tidying, you can still try “Townscaper”.

The game is a city builder, but, unlike other titles of the genre, it is not necessary to collect resources or manage the local economy to grow your village. Just one click to build a house and, little by little, transform a small island into a village full of colorful houses, just like a citadel on the Italian coast.

An option for those who enjoy gardening is “Cloud Gardens”. In it, the player needs to plant seeds in a post-apocalyptic setting and grow vegetation around abandoned buildings. As the player progresses, you get more options of plants and objects to place in the scenario and fulfill the objective of bringing green back.

Games like these show the wide variety of themes and styles present in the gaming world. For those who still see video games as synonymous with competition, violence and shooting, here are some examples (among many) that prove the opposite.

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Stardew Valley

(Android, iOS, PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Switch)

Keeping the bucolic theme of the newsletter, “Stardew Valley” is part of a genre better known as “farm game”. The title tells the story of a young woman who inherits an abandoned farm from her grandfather and needs to adapt to life in the countryside to rebuild the farm by planting vegetables and raising animals. Considered a spiritual successor to the Japanese series “Harvest Moon”, the game was developed almost entirely by the American Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone and, even so, it manages to surpass in many aspects the games of the franchise that inspired it.

update

news, launches, business and what else matters

• Development on the “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic” remake has been put on hold indefinitely, Bloomberg reports. According to the publication, the game had been in production by Aspyr Media for three years and was expected to be released this year.

• It will soon be possible to organize PlayStation 5 games into folders. The novelty, much requested by subscribers to the PlayStation Plus service, will come to consoles through an operating system update, which will also include support for 1440p displays.

• Games that will be available for free on PlayStation Plus in August have also been announced. The remake “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2” can be downloaded by all subscribers, as well as “Yakuza: Like a Dragon” and “Little Nightmares”. Another seven games from the “Yakuza” series will enter the catalog for subscribers from the Extra level.

• PlayStation also announced the launch of a wireless controller that can be attached to the iPhone for remote gaming. Named Backbone One, the device is now available in North America, Europe and Oceania – there is no forecast for the product’s arrival in Brazil.

• The Coffee Stain studio has announced the release of its new game in the series “Goat Simulator” for November 17th. The game, known for its comic tone, starts to make a joke already in the title. It will be called “Goat Simulator 3”, although there is no official “Goat Simulator 2”.

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games that will be released in the next few days and promotions that are worth it

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“South of the Circle”: BRL 58.05 (Switch), price not available (PC, Xbox One/X/S, PS 4/5)

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“Turbo Golf Racing”: price not available (PC, Xbox One/X/S)

“Hard West 2”: price not available (PC)

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