This guest post is written by Paige Lyman.
Busy personal lives, work, and a variety of external factors can contribute to burnout, which has been on the rise in recent years for many people. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) released their Employee Mental Health in 2024 Research Series which found that 44% of U.S. employees felt burned out at work. That number only seems to be increasing year over year. For comparison, Moodle’s 2025 State of Workplace Learning Report, conducted by Censuswide, found that 66% of American employees are experiencing some sort of burnout.
According to Mental Health America, common signs of burnout can range from a feeling of constant exhaustion and a sense of detachment to feeling overwhelmed. If you’re experiencing burnout yourself, these symptoms and the data around burnout are probably unsurprising. One common way that people choose to help address their burnout is through relaxing activities like yoga, meditation, reading, and playing video games — but not just any type of games.
Many video games are high-stakes. There’s often risk and reward for players, whether that’s level difficulty, resource management, character death, or even the built-in competitiveness of online multiplayer games. High-stakes games are fun in their own right, and can even offer low-stakes approaches within them (think exploring the large map in “Red Dead Redemption 2” on horseback or spending time resource gathering and building a base in survival games), but gamers who are looking to de-stress may not want to pick up high-stakes, challenging titles when it’s time to sit down and play on occasion.
Gamers experiencing burnout often turn to games that are low-stakes, titles that are typically laid-back in nature and offer relaxing gaming elements like puzzles, farming, exploring, or decorating in order to relax. Low-stakes games range from titles like “Mahjong” and “Tetris” to “Stardew Valley,” “Townscaper,” “Power Wash Simulator,” and “Dorfromantik.” These types of games provide players with space to unwind and relax with less pressure than high-stakes games may have.
“Generally, when we talk about stress and burn out, we’re usually referring to the state of being in fight-or-flight, where our brain is trying to protect us from a perceived threat,” Crystal Britt, LCSW, therapist and owner of Get Psyched Therapy & Coaching, shares. “Seeking out relaxing activities in general can act as the bridge between feeling stressed and being totally relaxed! Seeking relaxing activities can also give neurodivergent brains a task that they can fulfill easily because they’re seeking out activities they love that have the added benefit of being relaxing.”
Relaxing activities in low-stakes games, with many low-stakes titles often counted as cozy games as well, offers players a chance to de-stress. For Jordan Maison, an entertainment writer who regularly keeps cozy games in his rotation, much of the appeal of these games is in having clearly defined goals. “Sometimes, when playing more open-world games, I feel so overwhelmed by all the things I can do, I ultimately freeze up and do very little. The result is a gaming session where I don’t feel like any progress is being made,” Maison says. “There are plenty of times when this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but between kids and such, my gaming time can be limited. As such, I like to feel like I’ve moved things forward when I do.”
“With cozy games, within just a couple minutes I can accomplish much of what I “need” to and I know exactly what I need to do. Like with “Stardew Valley,” I wake up, water my plants, feed the animals, and then I can mosey around the town to chat with neighbors,” Maison shares. “Even if that’s all I do, I’ve managed to hit some goals and move things forward, all without the level of pressure that comes from something with higher stakes.”
Game elements like defined goals, sandbox designs, and a slower pace in low-stakes games all help contribute to very real benefits that people going through burn out and stress can experience from playing these titles. “Video games like “Stardew Valley,” “Animal Crossing,” and even games like “Eastward” provide clear, defined tasks that provide predictable outcomes,” Britt notes. “This can be especially soothing for neurodivergent, anxious, or depressed folks! It can be beneficial for our brains to play low-stakes games in the same way rewatching comfort TV shows can be — it can help calm our nervous systems down to properly rest!”
Low-stakes games provide players space to breathe with unique spaces and gaming experiences in very chaotic times where seeking relaxation can often leave people feeling guilty. “They can help us feel productive even during burn out,” Britt says. “Low-stakes games can help us feel less shame about needing downtime and also provide enough stimulation for our nervous systems to recover.”
Players going through burn out can find fun, lowkey ways to take a step back from real life and relax in their own time, whether that is through a game that specifically provides low-stakes or you’re interested in finding and making a low-stakes experience for yourself in a high-stakes title.
“Sometimes, you have to find the “low-stakes” approach in any game you’re playing. For example, I spent much of last year mostly playing “Dune: Awakening,” Maison shares. “While it’s a survival MMO, there were several gaming sessions where all I did was build out my base and harvest supplies to keep the generators going. No combat, no story progression, not even the real threat of my systems powering down and leaving me exposed. Just… living within the game.”
Whether players are playing low-stakes games or creating their own unique approaches in other titles, the benefits to these game experiences are very real. “Generally speaking, beyond feeling calmer, I’ve noticed myself feeling… renewed,” Maison says. “Like I have more energy to tackle those real life tasks waiting for me. It’s almost like a palate cleanser for the mind, clearing out the stress and clutter, which allows me to focus better in real life.”
Image Credit: Kelly Sikkema
Video Game Town 
Leave a Reply