Top 5 Games Keeping Me Sane While Under Quarantine

The coronavirus has done one thing right, keeping gamers playing games. For people needing something to play during the pandemic and are stuck at home, this top five list will help you stir up some ideas on how to kill time playing some great titles.

Fallout 76, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Rocket League, Divinity: Original Sin 2 (Credit: Bethesda, Infinity Ward/Activision, Psyonix, Lariant Studios)

Staying inside to social distance and be safe during the coronavirus has taken a toll on my mind. Writing, reading, doing schoolwork are some of the things that keep me busy without going stir crazy. The other is video games. Here are the top five games I have been playing that are keeping me sane through quarantine.

5. FALLOUT 76

Fallout 76 player and NPCs (Credit: Bethesda)

Wastelanders introduces NPCs and more quests (Credit: Bethesda)

Let’s get the most controversial out of the way with the first entry of my top five quarantine games before getting into admittedly better games. I can already feel the tension coming from both readers like yourself and my colleagues due to the choice to play Fallout 76, Bethesda’s disappointing online RPG set in the post-apocalyptic universe.

I got it at launch on PS4, and after a few weeks, I gave up because it was a failure in my eyes. With the Wastelanders update and the arrival to Steam, my buddies and I picked it up. To no surprise, it still has most of the issues I had with it in the beginning. The big difference is that I have more friends to play with, making it a lot more enjoyable, despite the game still being pretty bad.

The new quests and the improved older objectives are fun, more so than what I remember. The quality of life issues still lingers, like a lack of cooperation when completing missions of any kind with my squad.

The other side of it all is that I have more technical issues on PC than console, even though I have a pretty sweet setup. I figured most of it out in the settings, but I still face some glitches here and there.

The bottom line is that I am pretty desperate to play something with friends, and while we are finding a way to enjoy ourselves, I would not recommend buying this one while you are stuck in your home, waiting for the world to go back to normal.

4. ROCKET LEAGUE

Racing to score in Rocket League (Credit: Psyonix)

Racing to score (Credit: Psyonix)

I am torn between wanting to know and afraid to find out how many hours I have spent in Rocket League on my PS4. Last year I switched to being mainly a PC guy and decided to pick up the only sports game I enjoy with a buddy. We casually play ranked as we wait for our other friends to get on to play other games. It strikes the perfect balance of high adrenaline and being relaxing enough, so we don’t get too stressed over losing, which happens a good bit despite being in gold.

It is out of my league as a genre, but the Top Gear styled car soccer (or football depending on where you live) has that arcadey feel to it. I cannot play a minute of NFL or FIFA without falling asleep due to my disdain for everything sports-related.

Rocket League is also a prime example of how the music fits into the mold so well, even if I cannot stand the poppy, electronic sounds normally. I am a big metalhead who loves games like Doom Eternal because I can blow demon heads off while listening to its brutal soundtrack. Somehow, Psyonix put a spell on its stylized car soccer title to make me enjoy its bumping soundscape while I poorly attempt to score goals on my opponents.

3. CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE/WARZONE

Warzone screenshot (Credit: Infinity Ward/Activision)

Grabbing money in Warzone (Credit: Infinity Ward/Activision)

I am not a Call of Duty guy which makes this the weirdest entry on these top quarantine games list, but I did get Modern Warfare due to my friends convincing me. To my surprise, I enjoyed my experience, but I eventually fell off until Warzone rounded up my buddies, who dragged me in too. Now here I am, constantly playing the sillier modes like Infected and going into the franchise’s latest take on a battle royal.

I have experience with Fortnite and Apex Legends, but those games did not click with me. I have played a lot of PUBG even though I am terrible at it. Warzone is something I can do well in by getting at least a couple of kills per match rather than getting killed from someone I cannot see. It might be fairness or my lack of skill in other twists on the genre, but Warzone is the best battle royal out there, even if my ill feelings towards the COD franchise get in the way at times.

2. RAINBOW SIX SIEGE

Void Edge poster (Credit: Ubisoft)

Rainbow Six Siege Void Edge operators (Credit: Ubisoft)

Like Rocket League, I spent hundreds of hours on my PS4 in Rainbow Six Siege to switch over to playing on PC. Nearly every night with my friends, we play ranked to improve our skills and enjoy one of the best competitive FPS titles around. 

Out of every game in my top quarantine games that I regularly played before Hell consumed the planet, this has become more crucial to keep not just my sanity, but my squad’s too. Nothing gets our hearts pumping like this fiver-versus-five shooter where any action from us or our foes can turn the tides. With constant updates, like the recent Void Edge and adrenaline pumping through me means there is no reason I will be leaving Rainbow Six Siege anytime soon.

1. DIVINITY: ORIGINAL SIN 2

Divinity: Original Sin 2 combat (Credit: Larian Studios)

Divinity: Original Sin 2 combat (Credit: Larian Studios)

I know I am three years late to one of the best RPGs of the last decade. My friend kept talking up Divinity: Original Sin 2 then eventually bought me the game. 

I have no experience with the first entry, and I rarely play RPGs like this with most of my time is spent in Bethesda styled games in the genre like Fallout and Skyrim. Still, I decided to give it a shot, and I got hooked in big time. 

As someone who is not the biggest fantasy fan, the lore and narrative are intriguing, but the characters and gameplay are what make it all come together. The difficult turned based combat, which is a lost art to me that I miss dearly, along with the vast amount of options when interacting with NPCs gets me lost as hours fly by me. I can explore and complete quests all day without getting bored.

Out of the four acts, I scratched the surface of the second after spending 40 hours in the first. Out of my top quarantine games, Divinity has kept me pushing forward, unlike anything else. If you play anything during these strange and difficult times, and you somehow missed this one during its initial 2017 release, you must put it on top of your list as it is on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC.

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