The Covid-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on the video game industry. With restricted movement as people are forced to quarantine at home, interest in gaming has just boomed. People have turned to video games as a hobby and means of socialization, organizing virtual meet ups with friends through games. While many industries are still struggling to find their footing, video games continue to be developed and released digitally, so it’s still possible to access new games and content even with prolonged lockdowns.
Since I can’t travel much these days, I’ve found fulfillment in exploring virtual words and rediscovering the joys of gaming. Video games offer a way to explore new and different worlds when you can’t really travel. With many modern games now offering multiplayer options, games can be a safe way to meet up with friends, providing much-needed social interaction in the midst of isolation.
Growing up, I’ve always been into gaming. My first console was the old-school Family Computer, where I spent many happy weekends indoors with my sister and neighborhood friends playing classic games like Super Mario Brothers, Adventure Island, Bomber Man, Contra, Battle City, Twin Bee and more.
Fast forward to the mid-90s when I was given the choice of hosting a birthday party and invite friends or getting cash. I took the cash of course, adding it to my hard-earned savings from my allowance to buy the first generation Sony PlayStation.
The real world was never the same again and I found myself escaping frequently to the wonderful worlds of RPGs like Legend of Legaia, StarOcean, Final Fantasy VII, ChronoCross and more.
Over the years, I’ve acquired every generation of the PlayStation console that has come out. The PlayStation 2 in the early 2000’s introduced me to more amazing games like Okami and Psychonauts, as well as horror classics like Resident Evil.
Sometime in 2007 or 2008, my boyfriend at the time (now husband) got me a PlayStation 3 as a Christmas gift, leading to adventures like The Last of Us, the Uncharted series, Journey, and more.
I slowed down a bit after I got bitten by the travel bug. When I bought my first scooter Chocobo, my adventures shifted to two wheeled travel and real-life exploration, but I tried to keep the spirit of gaming alive. My trips were inspired by the video game concept of leveling up, and I always looked for ways to achieve experience points and unlock new areas to explore in real life.
While I was planning to hold out until the PlayStation 5 was released before upgrading to the next gen console, I finally bought a PlayStation 4 in 2019 as a reward to myself for finishing a self-imposed travel quest to visit all 81 provinces in the Philippines. This turned out be one of the best investments I made when the pandemic hit and lockdowns were enforced starting mid-March 2020.
There’s really something about the gaming grind. Completing side quests and acquiring trophies gives a sense of achievement and something to look forward to on weekends and after work hours. It’s not just a hobby either. It’s become a source of income too, since travel is on hiatus. I now write for the geek section of a lifestyle website, where part of the job is covering news related to the video game industry and occasionally reviewing games.
One of the latest trends in gaming is the return of retro classics. Developers are really banking on nostalgia, and a lot of familiar games are making a comeback in the form of Remastered versions and Remakes. Last year, we got Final Fantasy VII Remake and next month we’re getting The Legend of Mana Remastered, more than two decades after the games were first released. It’s just nice to be able to relive simpler days and adventures through gaming.
Sony has been amazing with their Play at Home initiative, offering games like the Uncharted collection, Journey, Ratchet & Clank, Horizon Zero Dawn along with indie titles like Abzu, The Witness, Subnautica and more all for free, no PS subscription required.
Play Free Online Video Games
For those who don’t have gaming consoles at home, there are other options to play video games online on your desktop, laptops or Smartphones. Aside from downloading emulators, you can easily play free games online. The site Plays.org has a bunch of retro arcade classics that will remind you of your childhood.
You can play free online video games inspired by Space Invaders, Breakout, Pac-Man and Tetris. While not totally the same, Neon Invaders, Brick Out, Pac-Rat and Tetra Blocks have the same nostalgic gameplay. I enjoyed playing Tetra Blocks., the logic and line making game. You can play on the PC with the arrow keys, but I found it easier to play straight from the browser on a phone, which instantly turned my phone into a Brick Game with neon styling and fun music.
The site also has other retro-styled games like 8-Bit Dungeon Knight, a pixelated Dungeon Puzzle Game, and Shadoworld Adventure, a platformer inspired by Super Mario Bros. I hope they have more
The site actually offers hundred of free games across various genres that offer casual games ideal for quick breaks. These are free unblocked HTML browser based games, which require no app downloads and are ad-free.
Plays.org also has some educational games to keep kids occupied at home like Virtual Xylophone (where you can make music and have fun), Guardians Defenders of Mathematica (a Math-based game) and Zombie Typing (a typing tutorial), which I found pretty fun.
You’re supposed to type words which appear on the bullet that shoots down zombies, but they become faster as the waves progress, making the game more challenging. It reminds me of Typer Shark, which helped improve my typing skills when I was a kid.
Free online Mobile Games
Mobile games have become very popular of late, and there are loads of free-to-play games that will help you kill time easily.
Genshin Impact is an amazing action role-playing game set in an open-world environment that’s constantly getting upgraded with new storylines, characters, weapons and events that you can play alone or with friends through the online multiplayer system. I’ve been playing this on the PS4 where it’s offered free-to-play, but you can play this on your smartphone too by downloading it for Android or iOS.
Other fun free games I’ve played lately that I can recommend include Brawl Quest, a Pinoy-made arcade action beat ’em up; Nox, a puzzle and escape room type game, and Sky: Children of Light, an open world social indie adventure game from the same creators as Journey.
With all the different platforms, advances in technology, and free games being made available to the public, it’s a great time for gamers to be alive.
Anyone else turned to video games to cope during the pandemic? What new games have you played lately? Let me know in the comments section.