Sometimes I just don't play and just stay in my chair, looking at videos with a mug of tea. And when I want to play but I'm not in the mood of 'games I want to discover', I just replay games I've done and are cozy for me.
And 'cozy games' don't have to be a Stardew Valley like, but something else entirely : I love redoing Spyro, Lies of P (yes it's cozy and relaxing for my brain), Spy Fox, Okami, Psychonauts or my favorites p&c like Broken Sword and MI3.
Games I already know like the back of my hand and don't need brainpower for, but games I love.
And sometimes, I just don't want to play at all so I crack a book open or watch my dvds.

Forcing it always leave me more annoyed than happy. The urge always come back to play games, because that's just something I love and I can't (and won't) get rid of it

Playing games from other genres could be worth trying? Maybe something arcadey that doesn't require a huge time investment. I got burnt out with games myself near the start of this year and after giving it a break for a few weeks I bought Marble It Up Ultra in a sale. I then played that in half hour sessions, whenever I felt like I wanted to, for a few more weeks before eventually getting back into playing other games again.

If you want to stick to adventure games, replaying an old adventure game you remember liking when you last played it a long time ago could help. However if you find you don't like it anymore that could be a sign that it's time to give games in general a break.

And so it goes on. I woke up today thinking that I would love to play World of Warcraft, but without other players. But after three add-ons, I don't have to start with that anymore; I already had a few add-ons to work through in the pet battles anyway.

Perhaps playing another game from a similar genre might work where you can easily play by yourself without needing a group? The first Guild Wars was re-released recently which (from what I know about it as someone who hasn't played it) can be played solo with an NPC party but it's still online in the sense you see other players in towns, etc.

I will say this though, we live through an uninspired era for video games, so it is most likely not your "fault".... The creativity of the 80's and early 90's is long gone. The big game studios play it safe all the time and we go year by year watching the next reboot of your classic franchises.., there is hardly any new formulas being made. Sierra, and then Lucasarts, were big studios that behaved like indies, they pushed the boundaries, we need some of that back.

 Since the year 2000, I can only think of Minecraft, Factorio and Satisfactory as brand new formulas that took a huge leap and it paid of.   

 Developers now design games for audiences, when they should design them for themselves, that's how Sierra hit home run after home run with their dev teams.

If I don't feel like playing games, feeling as though I'm in a slump about it, I do something completely unrelated for a time.

Though sometimes it's also enough to play a different type/genre of game than usual.

I don't like any games at the moment. “Death on the Nile,” “Face Noir,” “Gabriel Knight 2”—too difficult.
Gerda: A Flame in Winter – too depressing and too easy.
Winter Burrow – I don't even understand cozy games anymore.

I don't even want to start a game anymore because I know I'll hate it after thirty minutes (at least I lasted two hours with Gerda).
How do you get out of a slump like this?

Hm ... what do you mean with you don't "understand" cozy games anymore? What annoys you about them?

I think trying other genres might help indeed. I enjoyed playing Baldur's Gate 3 very much for example. But it doesn't have German voiceover as far as I know.
Then there are games with less language like Dorfromantik or "Is this seat taken?". I had pretty much fun with the latter recently. But as always, it is a matter of taste.

Watching a bit Mediathek or reading might help as well. How about reading/playing "Choose your own adventure" books?

Have you played "The Lion's Song"? I liked the whole series, it was special.

A game I also liked recently was "Dordogne". I want to play "Tiny Book Shop" as well, it also feels sweet, but as for the others: a matter of taste.

I just think it might be nice to play some sweet and wholesome games during the darker and colder winter days.

I've never played a survival game before and can't find enough resources to build in Winter Burrow. One review said you'd have to be pretty stupid to die in this game, but I will have managed to do that in one hour of playing.

I've bought too many games that I want to play (Winter Burrow, Syberia, Keeper, Foolish Mortals etc.), others like My Sweet Caroline or Gabriel Knight 2 are still lying around, and now there are so many that I don't feel like playing any of them. Which is a paradox in itself, considering I have over a thousand unplayed games in my Steam library.

I'm writing a wild boar crime novel, and I'm completely dissatisfied with the roughest draft because it seems like hobby writing, which it is. That's always buzzing around in the back of my mind.

Oh, the pile of shame. Well, maybe then it just isn't the time for playing right now.
Survival games can be really unforgiving and frustrating, even if they look cute and harmless.

Your wild boar crime novel sounds like an interesting project. And yes, since you asked this question: Sometimes I don't play any games for months, because I am working on my own games or other projects instead. And once that is finished, I am looking forward to playing again, it's like a vacation.

Have you considered converting your crime novel into an interactive one? (for example using Twine)
You may prefer a better overall story/writing quality, but as an interactive novel, readers might enjoy it as much as a very professionally written book, but in a different way. And it can be a really exciting and fulfilling project.


If you want to get some inspiration for your novel and haven't read it yet, I can recommend "Glenkill" by Leonie Swann.

Your wild boar crime novel sounds like an interesting project. And yes, since you asked this question: Sometimes I don't play any games for months, because I am working on my own games or other projects instead. And once that is finished, I am looking forward to playing again, it's like a vacation.

Have you considered converting your crime novel into an interactive one? (for example using Twine)
You may prefer a better overall story/writing quality, but as an interactive novel, readers might enjoy it as much as a very professionally written book, but in a different way. And it can be a really exciting and fulfilling project.


If you want to get some inspiration for your novel and haven't read it yet, I can recommend "Glenkill" by Leonie Swann.

I don't know anything about this kind of thing and don't know how to transfer the story.

And I know even less about how to portray the characters of my bristly friends in a game. They're already being ridiculed quite a bit, but I've tried to do justice to their characters as I've experienced them.

I already have the murderer, and it's only going to be a short story. At the moment, it's about 20 pages long, and it probably won't be more than 40.

I'm just bothered by my awful writing style. I ran the text through Gemini Vanvas, with the task of making it sound like Stephen King (we laughed our heads off because it was so absurd), Charlotte Link, or Andrew Taylor. My writing style, on the other hand, is like that of an elementary school student, if that. I can't do “show, don't tell,” and a course on that isn't until spring.

The frustration will probably shift to the games. It's a shame, because once I wrote all night until 7 a.m. because I couldn't stop.

You might be a little hard on yourself.

Your drive and vision are impressive! It's good to write first and edit down. And let some personality shine through. That's more important than doing things perfectly.

You can't force yourself to like or play a game. I went through a phase of several years without playing anything. At all. It's not that I didn't want to play I just couldn't find the time/the game/or the genre that sparked enough interest for me to devote a few precious hours away from my 'standard adult life' to make it worthwhile.
What I found helped was a divorce, a brush with alcohol abuse and a sudden urge to be 14 again. Okay, maybe that's not all true. 17 was a much better year.
I'm joking.
The point I am skirting around is that sometimes, when the moon is high and maybe we are too, we need a break from these things to reinvigorate our love for the genre and the sheer joy of playing a game made with love, care and copious amounts of self loathing. Again, I'm struggling to be serious but the main point still stands.
If you're not in the right place for it, the best game in the world could be released and you simply greet it with a 'meh'.
It's the same for writing. You can mash away at the keyboard for hours and end up with maybe two or three useable sentences. Or. You have periods where everything flows and just fits exactly as you want it.
My personal opinion, as a non expert member of the human race, is to maybe give yourself a bit of a break, stop setting your bar out of reach, grab a glass/cup of something you like to drink that makes you relaxed and go with your own flow. What works for you will work for you, no matter how difficult it is to find that special, personal panacea.
I've written nothing here that is particularly insightful or ground breaking, however, sometimes it really is the simple adjustments that make all the difference.

I really want to read about a detective-wild-boar-crime story now...