Well, it’s late January again. That means it’s the beginning to the second semester for us college students and the coming of midterms for the high schoolers. I’ve been back in school for a little over a week myself, and I already miss the gaming binges I could indulge in before the semester started. Let’s take a study break, shall we?

As much as I’d like to be playing Overwatch, if I’m just looking for a 30-60 minute break from studying then that’s not going to work for me. I’ll end up playing for hours on end, and either get tilted or riled up when I want to be winding down. No, we need more relaxing games, games you can easily hop in and out of, preferably something bright and happy to look at. Something like…

Animal Crossing: New Leaf (Nintendo 3DS)

Perfect. This is exactly what I’m looking for. Close up your textbook and pop open your 3DS, Animal Crossing: New Leaf (or any game in the series, for that matter) is here to provide a happy distraction from your hours of cramming. Forget that chemistry test coming up, you’re too busy with your mayoral duties of “talking to animals” and “hitting rocks with a shovel”. Between the no-stress nature of the game, the adorable aesthetics, and the calming music, the Animal Crossing series is full of games you can hop into for a couple minutes to an hour.

Stardew Valley (PC, PS4, XBOX One, Switch)

“There will come a day when you feel crushed by the burden of a modern life, and your bright spirit will fade before a growing emptiness”. Personally, I’m crushed by the six or seven textbook chapters I’m assigned every week, but either way, I need an out. While actually owning a farm is way too much work for me, and I’m not really an outdoorsy type, Stardew Valley lets you live the life of a farmer from the comfort of your bedroom! This is a good study break game for a lot of the same reasons as Animal Crossing, with little stress, fun characters, and nice music; with the added benefit of getting to feed rocks to your potential future wife!

Minecraft (PC, Switch, XBOX One, PS4)

With how as I loved Minecraft back when I was younger, it’s a little saddening to see it dismissed as a “kids game” and have it associated with a fanbase of annoying ten year olds. With that said, screw the popular opinion! Minecraft is fun, and if you’ve got an hour where you just want to destress, open up a world in creative mode and just build something for a while. Let your mind wander. Listen to an audiobook. Do something constructive while taking a break from memorizing dates from a book. Or just blow up a mountain with TNT, that’s fun too.

Melody’s Escape (PC)

Personally, I want to be listening to good music both while studying and while taking a break, and Melody’s Escape has the best soundtrack ever, because it’s yours. Yes, I have already made that joke, and yes, I’ll make it again if I ever get around to talking about Riff Racer. This is one of those games where you dump in your soundtrack and it generates levels that sync up to your music, much like Symphony and the aforementioned Riff Racer. All three of these are good study break-type games, I just chose Melody’s Escape because it’s the simplest of the three.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)

There are a lot of racing games that could go here, but I decided on Mario Kart because it’s bright, lighthearted, and exciting. There’s also local multiplayer, so if you’ve got a study group together, everyone can hop in for a race or four to cool down after a couple of hours on quizlet. If you’re going to do that, though, I’d recommend putting everyone on the same team, because it’s hard to focus on your studies when you’re sitting across from the bastard who hit you with a blue shell and stole your win.

Portal or Portal 2 (PC, PS3, XBOX 360)

Let’s say you’re only halfway through those 500 calculus problems you have to do and you never want to see another integral in your life, but you don’t want to completely turn your brain off. Well, a solid puzzle game is just the solution. Both Portal games are divided into neat little sections so you can hop in and out easily, and you’ll stay in that problem-solving mindset while playing. Also, if you’re stupid like me, eventually you’ll become so frustrated at what’s probably a simple puzzle that you’d rather do your homework than keep staring at the test chamber!

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass or Spirit Tracks (Nintendo 3DS, Wii U)

Please excuse my obvious Nintendo bias, but you must admit that Nintendo games have that charm to them that help you forget that you totally bombed that test earlier. Out of the whole series, I’m recommending these two because of their portability, art style, and the fact that they’re among the easier games in the collection. While I don’t personally have a preference, I’d recommend Spirit Tracks over its predecessor because the Temple of the Ocean King can be absolutely nightmarish.

Sonic Mania (PC, PS4, XBOX One, Switch)

Going fast is fun. When faced with some complicated physics problem, my first reaction is to get away as fast as I can, and you can pretend to do just that with our last entry for the day, Sonic Mania. This is the best Sonic game in recent memory, and it’s a great de-stresser when life gets too rough. Really, what could be better for ignoring all your problems than an unending sprint through a charming pixelated world with an awesome soundtrack blasting through your headphones?

Unfortunately, that’s all for today, as I’ve got to start a paper that was due about seven minutes ago. If you want something that’ll really distract you, feel free to join our official discord server, right on the sidebar. Good luck on all your exams, and if you think there’s a glaring absence in this list, feel free to let me know in the comments! I might just do a sequel list around finals season, writing this was a lot more fun than studying.