Gaming is an activity that was made with the intention to provide relief and entertainment. However, some games are much more engaging than others, requiring you to mash on your keyboards and controllers simply to succeed. The problem is that not everyone can keep up with that type of gaming, which can be limiting.
The good news is that there are titles that don't apply a lot of pressure and allow you to go at your own pace. They're also convenient in that they allow you to play the game with minimal inputs, being able to control them with just the mouse.
Updated on July 25, 2023 by William Quick: Gaming is something that is quickly becoming accessible to everyone in one way or another. There will always be debates between all the different platforms and control styles, but not everyone plays the same. Depending on certain circumstances, some ways to play may be easier or more comfortable than others. The mouse offers solid control capabilities with free motion and click allowing you to interact with UI and a variety of ways. There's a huge gallery of point-and-click adventure games out there that makes good use of the mouse, but gaming has expanded to apply just the mouse to other genres. If this type of control works best for you, you'll get a lot out of your gaming sessions if you pick up one of these titles to scroll and click all over.
12 Cookie Clicker
How could you go wrong with a title that literally references mouse-clicking in its name? Cookie Clicker is what many consider the progenitor of idle and tap games, and the goal is obvious from the start: click the cookie to get more cookies.
The more you click, the more cookies you make, and luckily this digital universe uses cookies as currency. Use your baked build-up to upgrade your clicking, buy more cursors to click for you, and hire workers to help you get even more cookies. It's a sweet game with the potential to last forever.
11 Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy
Sometimes games are enraging for how unfair they are and other times it's because they seem like they could be easy but are from it. An internet sensation was born in the oddly-named game Getting Over It With Bennett, which is a true test of patience and perseverance that puts your mouse at risk of imminent destruction.
Unceremoniously, you are dropped into the shoes (or pot) of a nameless shirtless guy whose bottom half seems to be stuck in a large metal pot. The only tool at his disposal is a pick-hammer that he can use to push himself along the ground and pull himself up to new heights. It's all about moving the mouse carefully and tactfully in order to make progress since even the slightest slide or bump can send you careening all the way back down to the bottom.
10 Sunless Sea
Whenever there's a gothic game, it's likely to be set in the past. This is what's happening in Sunless Sea, which is set during the industrial era. Taking place in a fictional version of London, the civilized world seems to have sunk deep below the surface. Despite this, it has brought the vast sea with it.
This means that a majority of settlements and cities have been separated into islands with boating being the only way to reach them. As the captain of your own steamship, you'll be guiding it and your crew out into the sea in hopes of seeking your fortune. It won't be easy, as monsters lurk below the surface, enemy ships plague the waters, and the darkness eats away at the sanity of your crew.
9 SimCity
Sim games are popular simply because they allow you to experience something you wouldn't normally be able to in daily life. What still remains one of the biggest hits in the sim genre is the SimCity series. As the name implies, you're given reign over a vast simulated city.
You're also given numerous scenarios from expanding a base city to starting completely from scratch in the middle of nowhere. Arrange your city how you like, keep your citizens happy, or feel free to give into catharsis and drop giant monsters on it.
8 Civilization
There is so much history covering all the cultures around the globe, as well as the vast empires that once dominated the world. You can see just how this became possible in the Civilization series. The games let you start off in one part of the world leading one particular culture, with the goal to grow and expand.
As your civilization gets bigger and more developed, you'll reach the furthest parts of the world in search of more for your society. This means that you'll inevitably come into contact with other civilizations, and it's up to you how you'll respond to them.
7 Slay The Spire
The more popular something gets, the more likely it is to get a video game version and that's the current deal with trading card games. Developers have adapted deck-building and strategy into a multitude of complex and expansive adventures. With the RNG of cards, they work as a great partner to the roguelike and roguelite genre as proven by titles like Slay The Spire.
This card-based experience puts you in the role of one of several warriors who are compelled to reach the top of an ominous structure called the Spire. Since all the warriors are from different backgrounds and use different tactics, they all get their own types of cards that play to different types of strategy. With all the cards, events, and RNG, this game offers a lot of replay value as well as a high level of challenge that makes you want to win.
6 Grim Fandango
New and impressive games are coming out all the time, but classics are considered classics for a reason. Although Tim Schafer and the Double Fine team aren't short on weird or creative ideas, anyone who has an appreciation for gaming should play through Grim Fandango, which is one of their earliest titles and considered by many to be the greatest adventure game of all time.
This point-and-click adventure puts you into the role of Manny Calavera, a skeleton working as a reaper in the afterlife. Following an assignment, Manny gets wrapped up in a narrative of mystery in the intrigue which threatens the afterlife and the souls therein. The plot is only a small part of this otherworldly journey full of unusual characters and beings that have come to call this gloomy depiction of the spirit world home. Ironically, there are moments when this game will make you feel alive.
5 Age Of Empires
Although Civilization is more about building with a sim-like feel to it, Age of Empires is all about the harsh side of expansion. Placing you into the role of one of the great Empires that wanted to dominate all they encountered, the game is focused mainly on the medieval and feudal eras, and your goal is to set up a functional settlement and kingdom in the wilderness.
Once you're confident enough in the number of resources and soldiers you have, you can start waging war against other kingdoms that are competing for the same land. Experience scenarios based on historical events from the perspectives of all involved.
4 Monkey Island
Making games funny is not an easy task, but point-and-click games may be the most successful in portraying comedy. Among them, the Monkey Island series is notable for being humorous and having enjoyable gameplay. The series follows the adventures of Guybrush Threepwood, a young and ambitious man whose only wish is to become a pirate.
Unfortunately, he's not the strongest candidate in terms of physicality, but he makes up for it with his determination and wit. Lend your own wit to his as you solve puzzles, keep him safe, and face him off against other, more intimidating pirates.
3 Offworld Trading Company
Creating a successful company is one of the most challenging things a person can do, and keeping it successful is even harder. You can get a taste of this in Offworld Trading Company where the goal is to make a business that spans the stars.
You start off on one planet and once you succeed in making it big there, you can focus on expanding into space. Build your assets so that you can establish your company on other planets and keep growing your business. Make sure everything runs smoothly and efficiently, so you can establish a trading network to rival all others.
2 Speed Dating For Ghosts
The sheer number of dating sim games out in the world can only be described as baffling. If it has been portrayed as a sentient being, odds are there's a game where you can try your best to take it out on a date. Dating is so powerful that it has even reached the great beyond with Speed Dating For Ghosts.
The title pretty much sums it up. You are a ghost who has signed up for a speed dating event featuring other ghosts. This visual novel has three rooms each having three ghosts with distinct, appearances, personalities, motivations, and ways that they died. Your only goal is to talk with them, learn what they're about and maybe try to make a connection. It's somewhat comforting to think that even those without bodies also need somebody.
1 Cloud Gardens
Gardening is a relaxing and therapeutic activity, so it makes sense to base a game on it. There's a new idea revolving around the idea of encouraging plant life to grow in urban environments, and Cloud Gardens shows this. The game is sort of like a 3D puzzle experience where each puzzle is an arrangement of urban pieces.
The goal is to use the different seeds that you've brought with you and place them around the puzzle structure until all the seeds have been planted, and the structure has been completely overgrown. It's a calming and beautiful experience that's fascinating to watch unfold.