The weekend is nearly here again, and there will soon be a potential 48 hours to fill with gaming. I’ve deducted a few hours for those lifetime necessities such as eating, sleeping and visiting the smallest room. You’ve got 2 days to fill up with video gaming, but no new game to play and no money to buy one with. Don’t worry if you’re stuck for something to do in this dire situation, we’ve got a few ideas here. At any normal time, you’ll think of all these yourself, but when the gaming urge is unsated you might need a little help.
Everybody has that game that they can just keep going back to. A game that you have played countless times, can quote the cut sequences verbatim, know where every secret and Easter egg is, but you still get endless joy from it. Well, now might be a good time to go back and revisit it. There’s always time to give it another run through its paces. For me that game is Final Fantasy VII on the Playstation 1, so if you dont have one of your own that’s my recommendation.
Achievement Hunting
Every modern game is replete with achievements, for you to go obtain and unless you’re a die-hard completionist, there are probably loads of trophy’s and achievements, just sitting there unachieved. Go back and find some more of them. Getting a gaming achievement gives your body a release of dopamine, which is where you get that happy glow of smug satisfaction from. Surely that’s worth it right? If you need slightly more than dopamine as encouragement, you might unluck some new skins, toys, weapons, modes, titles for your games.
You don’t need spend a lot of money to grab yourself something good. Take a leisurely stroll through the lower price section of Steam, Gog, the Playstation store, whatever’s your online gaming market of choice and take a browse. You can get some excellent games for only a few quid. There are some games from 10-20 years ago, that if you can ignore the rather dated graphics, are pretty awesome, Monkey Island, Dungeon Keeper, Syndicate Wars, Sam n Max, Day of the Tentacle
Free MMOs
Aside from the subscription based MMO’s like World of Warcrafts and Final Fantasy XIV, there are a ton of free to play MMO’s, MOBA’s and various other free online games you can take a look at. Sure, there may be a few online-purchases to ignore and some content may not be available to you without opening your wallet, but you could find a genuinely great game that is guaranteed to suck away whole days’ worth of time. If you need a little guidance, try this list of the best free MMO’s.
Bored of blasting through aliens with laser-guns or swinging massive Battleaxes in the faces of Orcs? Maybe you need to let your adrenaline drop for a little while and do something creative instead. There are near-endless possibilities for creativity within video games. You could try something like Minecraft, and build some towering monolith to your greatness, or use Minecraft seeds and download different worlds and games to play within it. If Minecraft’s not your thing, there are so many games out there with level editors, or scene creators. Design and populate your own dungeon, of civilization scenario. Want to take it down even lower, why not try the many colouring apps. It’s all about having a change of pace and getting those creative juices flowing.
Head Outside
Finally, and this is the most extreme and I would only suggest doing this if you have tried absolutely everything else. You could”¦ put down the controller. That’s right. People have told me that a great many other things can be done by putting down the controller and going outside. I think I’m missing something, living in England, 90% of the time what is waiting for me outside is drizzle and rain.
I’m kidding,
it is of course essential to take a break and go outside occasionally. I only
now practice what I preach, so I had many, many years of not breathing any
fresh-air between Friday evening and Monday morning, and I am not exactly a
poster boy for health.
So there you have it six different things that can occupy a video gamer over the long weekend. If I have missed any out, let me know in the comments.
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Jim Franklin
Jim Franklin is a freelance writer, living in Derby UK with his wife and his player 3. When time allows he likes nothing more than losing himself in a multi-hour gaming session. He likes most games and will play anything but prefers MMO's, and sandbox RPG's.
