Sometimes, all you need to do is turn off the TV and play some music.
Some video games are so fun that it’s easy to spend hundreds of hours on them. You might hear the same song in the background for hours at a time, whether you’re running around trying to do everything on your list or just getting into the game’s world and mechanics.
If you’re having trouble beating a hard boss or playing more Gwent than you planned in The Witcher, it’s nice to turn off the TV and listen to some of your favorite songs or an album you’ve been waiting to hear. Even if the music in the game you’re playing is great, it can be nice to have a change of pace during minigames and other parts of the game that are repetitive.
Slay The Spire
Slay the Spire came out in 2019, and it’s still one of the most popular deck-building games out there. It has unique characters that change the game a lot and a huge number of cards that make it seem like there are an infinite number of ways to play and learn.
In Slay the Spire, each run can last anywhere from five minutes to an hour, and it’s easy to start a new one as soon as you win or lose. The music in Slay the Spire is great for building atmosphere and tension, but after you finish your first run and keep unlocking new characters and items, you might want to listen to something else.
Tetris 99
Most battle royale games require you to pay close attention to what’s going on around you. If you turn down the volume in these games, you won’t be able to hear enemy footsteps or incoming projectiles, which can make you die quickly.
Tetris 99 is one of the few games of this type that can be won without sound. The music is great, especially if you’re one of the top fifty players, and there’s a lot of variety with themes from old Nintendo games. Still, it doesn’t hurt to add something else while you try to get a Tetris Maximus.
Elden Ring
Elden Ring has a huge open world full of difficult bosses, dungeons, and other things. Almost every part of the game, including the epic soundtrack, adds to the experience and makes you feel like you’re part of it. This will keep you interested for hours.
If you’re facing a boss for the tenth time, gathering runes for the third time, or playing Elden Ring for the third time, you can easily change the mood of the game by listening to music. If Mastodon, Carly Rae Jepsen, or Vengaboys’ “We Like to Party” is playing in the background while you fight Godrick or Melina, you might make more progress than ever and maybe even beat them.
The Binding Of Isaac
The Binding of Isaac came out in 2011 and was one of the first games to help the roguelike genre become popular. This top-down dungeon crawler is based on The Legend of Zelda and has lots of new characters, items, and endings to find. If you play The Binding of Isaac: Repentance, the latest expansion, it could take you hundreds of hours to see everything in the game.
The Binding of Isaac is easy to play for hours at a time because each run is different from the last. If you don’t like hearing the same background music over and over, putting on some of your own music could make leaving the basement a lot more fun.
Death Stranding
If you’re going on a long trip, you might want to set aside some time to make a playlist. If you’re walking across a post-apocalyptic America or driving to work, music can help the time go by faster and keep you from getting bored.
Death Stranding is mostly about getting from A to B, and it can take a long time to build the things you need to get there. In Sam’s private room, you can listen to music by Bring Me the Horizon and Chvrches, but he doesn’t have a portable music player for when he’s outside. As long as you watch out for BTs, it’s easy to turn down the volume and listen to your own music while playing.
Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing is one of the few game series that tells you to take your time and enjoy yourself while you build the perfect home. It’s one of the few series that takes place in real time, which means it happens at the same time and day as you play it. It’s also known as a game that you can play for weeks, months, or even years without getting bored.
Each Animal Crossing game has a different and catchy soundtrack, but after a couple hundred hours of listening to it, you might want something else. Unlike most games, you don’t have to focus on fighting or solving puzzles, so you can put on whatever you want without worrying that it will be too distracting.
Pokemon
Pokemon has become one of the best video game series to play while listening to music. When you first walk into a new town or fight a rival, it’s always worth listening to the game audio. However, like most games, you’ll spend so much time in certain areas that it will be hard not to listen to something else so you don’t hear the same tune for hours on end.
It’s not easy to catch them all and fill up your Pokedex, so you’ll probably spend a lot of time running around looking for rare Pokemon or leveling up your party to make them stronger. Trainers who have been training Pokemon for a long time know to bring music on these long trips, especially if they are looking for a shiny version of their favorite Pokemon.
Vampire Survivors
The fact that Vampire Survivors is both a roguelike and an idle game is one of the most surprising things about it. The first five to ten minutes of each run are spent making your character into an unstoppable force of nature. The rest of the game is mostly just you killing thousands of enemies without moving.
The music in Vampire Survivors is great for setting the mood and atmosphere of the game, but after a few times playing each map, you might want something else to score your run. Most maps in Vampire Survivors only let you play for 30 minutes, so you can almost listen to an entire album while you kill thousands of zombie minions.
Picross
No matter what kind of game you’re playing—JRPG, MMO, or something else—there comes a point when you realize you could probably be listening to music instead of the game sounds. Whatever you put on can completely change the mood of any situation, for better or for worse. Slope Game and other puzzle games like it are one of the few series that don’t lose any of their magic if you mute them to do something else.
Like crossword puzzles or cross-stitching, Picross is almost more fun when you do it while doing something else, like watching a movie or listening to music. Its puzzles are meant to be relaxing, and putting them together while listening to all of your favorite band’s albums is a great way to unwind after a long week.