My Mentee just got home from a hospital stay after trying to take his own life.

Part of his wellness plan's coping strategies is video games.

He has an XBox One, but most of the games he has are straight up FPS. I need games that are not racing games or sports games that don't necessarily dial up the body count.

Even if they are on another platform (PS4 or Switch), I want to make note of them.

I want my guy to be able to get his gaming fix without feeding himself the type of content that will lead him back down the path he just traveled.

Thank you in advance.

depending on how receptive they are to other types of games (non-fps/AAA). They kind of came to mind based on the context you're asking in.

'The Witness' is a first-person puzzle game, it's not everyone's cup of tea but it can feel pretty engrossing and rewarding if you get sucked into it, and has an underlying philosophy that might be useful getting him to think about things in a different way, or they might just think it's some lame attempt at therapy.

'Night in the Woods' is a pretty narrative side-scroller. The characters are very much dealing with different kinds of stress and depression, it's in a small-town/college dropout setting but can be pretty relateable, a lot of people who really like it say it helped them through some down parts of their life.

It's possible a teenager might not care for any of this.

there's so much variety its hard to know what to recommend

FPS style game but instead of bullets its paint. Object is to paint more than the other team.

Why no sport games?

Might fit narratively with how he may be feeling inside. Be mindful that sometimes the its not necessarily the violence that's attractive about FPS and more about the mechanics or kinesthetics, so there may be some intersection that can be struck with a different genre too like a rhythm game or Tetris or something.

Night in the Woods
Oxenfree
2048: Random Access Memories
Undertale
The Sims
Civilization 4
Deltarune
Animal Crossing
Donut County
My time in Portia
Pheonix Wright
GRIS
Iconoclasts
The Witness
Rhythm Heaven
Battle Chef Brigade
FEZ
Stardew Valley
Portal
Terraria
Golf Story
Transistor
Flinthook
Flower
Gone Home
Hollow Knight
Braid
Shovel Knight

based on what I heard. Definitely agree with some of you new suggestions too, but my mind was definitely drawn to suggesting 'slower' games that wouldn't satisfy the play/mechanic itch of games as much.

>
>Night in the Woods
>Oxenfree
-really good,, unique storytelling, and includes some 'real-life' feeling stuff that could help with putting ones problems in a different perspective.
>2048: Random Access Memories
>Undertale
>The Sims
>Civilization 4
-in terms of Xbox one, you can look for the back compatible version of Civilization Revolution. Simpler, cartoonier version of the strategy game, bit faster paced but fun, have played in recently with people online and it holds up.
>Deltarune
>Animal Crossing
>Donut County
>My time in Portia
>Pheonix Wright
>GRIS
>Iconoclasts
>The Witness
>Rhythm Heaven
>Battle Chef Brigade
>FEZ
>Stardew Valley
>Portal
-was gonna mention this one
>Terraria
>Golf Story
>Transistor
>Flinthook
>Flower
>Gone Home
>Hollow Knight
>Braid
>Shovel Knight
>

was thinking of mentioning Journey on PS3/4?, but never got to play that. Abzu might be cool if you think they might care about the environment, exploring underwater is well done, its beautiful and feels kind of therapeutic.

>was thinking of mentioning Journey on PS3/4?, but never got to
>play that. Abzu might be cool if you think they might care
>about the environment, exploring underwater is well done, its
>beautiful and feels kind of therapeutic.
>

but (SPOILERS FOR THOSE THAT HAVEN'T PLAYED IT) there's a death/rebirth thing at the end of the game, and I'd be a little worried about how a teenager that tried to hurt him/herself would interpret that part. But it's definitely a beautiful and uplifting game in many ways.

not quite as expansive but very immersive. Gris is similar but more of a metroidvania style puzzler

>He has an XBox One, but most of the games he has are straight
>up FPS. I need games that are not racing games or sports
>games that don't necessarily dial up the body count.
>

i kind of get no violent fps games but like hardware said above those games have intriguing mechanical properties that happen to be wrapped in a violent package. the draw isn't the thrill of seeing a bunch of polygons representing a living being getting killed. it's the act of controlling your avatar to assert your will in the game world and/or solving the problems the game presents to you

and

Don't Starve

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

to me it is very pleasing, relaxing game. i play it on PC but its available on consoles

There are a ton of articles about teenage suicide and more and more regarding Black children and suicide, and it is definitely an issue here in Baltimore. Be vigilant with the teens around you, their internal lives are generally totally different from what they broadcast. Thanks again.

- fun, Super Metroid style platformer with a nice backstory and great art. like a playable Miyazaki movie.

Abzu
- may be a little esoteric since there aren't too many "objectives" and collectibles that modern games are known for, but a relaxing game where you just swim and interact with the environment.

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O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Though I bet many of these games are available on the other platforms, especially PC. I'll repeat some suggestions, but say why. This subject means a good deal to me so I figured I'd pontificate.


AdVenture Capitalist: This game is utterly stupid, but consoles don't get many clickers because, well, you don't click as much on consoles. I just opened this game for the first time to start this article, and was welcomed with the screen: you were offline for 12,519 hours, 2 minutes and 56 seconds. You earned 3.538 nonillion on Earth while you were gone. Now get in there and maximize those profits! I press X to reply, "Dandy!", and then see ten meters constantly going up. Again, this game is utterly stupid, but I didn't even need to play it to make significant progress and feel really good about myself for not uninstalling it. That is the sadistic - and charming - aspect of the genre in a nutshell. Cookie Clicker is the OG, which I never played.

Fez: I wonder if the charm of this game is gone now that all the answers can be found online, but when I WASN'T playing this game I found the conversation surrounding it utterly fascinating, and I still think it's a genuinely rewarding mix of personal puzzle solving and community engagement that emphasizes how no one person can do everything by themselves even long after all the mysteries have been solved.

Celeste: This is the most applicable to this specific situation in recent memory, though I found it too hard to finish I was also just too stubborn to turn on the assists, which are also thematically relevant. Sometimes life is just fucking hard, and it's not a bad idea to confront what it is about you that makes living feel that way, or a friend (the assists) to alleviate that personal pressure.

Grim Fandango Remastered: Finding life too hard? Try being an underpaid processing agent for the recently deceased.

Pinball Arcade: I think this platform was decimated by an exodus of major board producer sponsorships recently so maybe Zen Pinball is the better recommendation...which is sad considering Pinball Arcade is a near physics perfect representation of so many classic pinball tables it's the closest thing to an innocent afternoon at a pizza plaza in the '90s you can find on a video game console.

Pyre: I suppose this game isn't *non-violent*, as it involves dunking balls and evolves around narratives of civil war and sacrifice. But I really love this game's fusion of weird Slamball + Adventure Game rulesets and find the endless optimism of its characters a useful antidote to current events.

The Fall: It's depressing, but it's also a story about a suit containing a dead pilot who refuses to give up on saving said pilot but also constantly has to reckon with being a husk of dead weight in a world that diagnoses the suit as pointless given that fact. A valuable lesson, maybe, for the depressed and depressed adjacent.

Bound: What's the fusion between dance, nostalgia and spiritual survival? Maybe everything.

Gone Home: I'm way less sold on this game than most were, and maybe that's just the passage of time and advances in "walking simulators", but Gone Home is still the Citizen Kane of wandering around an environment wondering how anything came to be the way it is. "What Became of Edith Finch" is a game I haven't played but is free this month for PS+ members that may be the new answer to that question.

Journey: Give this kid Journey, please.

Sportsfriends: This game can be super frustrating, but honestly I'm not even recommending the whole game, just one of the four. The one where you hold a pole and try to play an extremely goofy game of basketball. It's wonderful, yet competitive, yet understands how silly the concept of competition can be when you just want to have fun.

Doki-Doki Universe: Travel the universe saying hello and making people happy with stickers and whatnot. It's corny, but it's Japan-corny, so it's beautiful.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons: If this game works, it slams the dunk. If it doesn't work, it's still an engaging story of the need for others in a life that too often seems insurmountably hard on one's own.

Firewatch: Like Gone Home, it won't work for everyone. It barely worked for me. But the journey to get to that Barely Working was, like a lot of games on this list, a valuable lesson on the human need for interaction, cooperation and simply experiencing the space in which you exist (or imagine yourself existing).

Thomas Was Alone: The Fall without the depressing overtones, narrated by a tongue in cheek British guy that totally gets puzzles are at their hardest when you just want to move on and do anything else with your life.



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"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
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I honestly have no idea because I'm not a gamer but props to you for trying to help the kid.

n/m

I'm sure his accomplishment is more meaningful to him given it came after such tragedy.

Also, props to you for standing by his side. Your presence made a profound difference. We all need support, especially as teenagers.

fuck student loans.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

dope lol, just realized why this got bumped.

missed the initial post and update but found this when searching for cities skylines lol

Rocket League
Untitled Goose Game
Fall Guys