As I mentioned in my previous column, I really enjoy trains. I played the Railway Empire series until I beat the entire campaign and then decided to take a small break before I played in the sandbox mode. Although, when I tried Railway Empire 2, it was similar to Total War: Rome II in that it missed the mark for me. The cardinal sin was that the controls didn’t work well. The click boxes were cattywampus and made those games less fun. But in any case, this did not affect my interest in train titles.
Then I stumbled upon Train Station Renovation.
It is a comfort or comfy game in the same vein as Power Washing Simulator and Viscera Cleanup Detail. In Train Station Renovation, you walk around various abandoned train stations and attempt to restore them. That involves everything from picking up trash to cleaning graffiti and fixing mechanical parts on trains. I didn’t know how I would feel about that kind of gameplay but took a leap of faith. And in the end, I was glad that I did.
I spent way, WAY too long on Train Station Renovation. For some reason, the simple pleasure of cleaning up garbage made me happy. Just watching the completion bar slowly climb to 100% helped my stress levels go down. It goes to show how anxiety can really mess with you. It seems like yesterday I was playing games like Doom 3 without any issues. Then, when the franchise eventually released on PlayStation, I was unable to play them.
Burnout is real folks. Don’t underestimate it.
That is the reason so many comfort games exist. Sure, half of the time I wish I could fix my house by waving a wrench at it, but sadly that is not how that works in reality. The ultimate fantasy that Train Station Renovation provides is being able to get something 100% clean. As much as I want to branch out away from comfy titles, I don’t see that happening in the near future. Best I can do now is 7 Days to Die with my friends in terms of overall excitement.
Star Wars: Outlaws is going to release soon, and I will certainly brave that galaxy far, far away. But until then, I’m just playing what makes me happy. I’ll be honest, readers, I have been feeling a little burned out lately even with gaming. The comfy titles are helping, but maybe I just need a little bit of a break for a couple weeks to recharge those old batteries or something.
I guess the point of this column is to say that if you are feeling a little burned out, you might enjoy some comfort type titles too.
On a more upbeat note, I am celebrating a bit of a milestone. I just passed my 13th year at GiN on August 11th. It has been a heck of an odyssey, let me tell you. Hopefully, I can shake off my gaming malaise some and rally to bring you some new content to consider in the near future. For sure, I’ll be talking about my time in Star Wars: Outlaws, and I highly recommend that you all try that one too when it’s available. Until then, may the force be with you!