Summary
Have you ever lost hours at a time playing a game that completely absorbed your attention? When you’re focused on a task like cleaning the house or exploring a virtual world with endless possibilities, your mind is likely in a flow state.
Whenever you’re in a flow state, or “the zone”, it usually means that 100% of your concentration is on a specific task, and other things like time, eating food, and responsibilities fall by the wayside. Often initiated by lines like “one more run” or “oh, I was so close that time”, these are the games that are most likely to get you into a flow state.
While Spider-Man himself needs to stay alert to protect citizens from harm, you’re more than welcome to swing around the city for hours at a time in any of Sony’s recent Spider-Man games. Between completing side quests to just having fun, it’s wild how easy it is to lose time when you’re flying as high as the Empire State Building.
There is something extremely satisfying about the web-shooting mechanics in the Spider-Man games that feel naturally intuitive. Whether you’re just going for a tour around the city or battling hordes of enemies, it’s easy to lose hours of your life as you protect New York City from itself.
In Sifu, you play as a martial arts master determined to avenge the death of his father by taking down the group of foes that betrayed him. The path is filled with violence and death, and you’ll need to stay on your toes at all times to properly counter attacks and avoid being defeated.
Every move counts in Sifu because, whenever your character dies, they age and become older. If you reach the age of 70 before completing your quest, you’ll need to redo older stages and perform better to lower that number. There is a ton of focus required to master Sifu, and each step and attack can make or break your entire run.
There is always something to do in Stardew Valley, which can make it really hard to put down. You’re usually always thinking a couple of days ahead while playing it (harvest crops on Friday, attend a festival on Saturday, buy a horse on Sunday, etc.) so you are often compelled to keep playing until you realize it’s four in the morning, and you have to go to work in two hours.
Every time you complete two tasks in Stardew Valley, five more sprout from the ground, demanding your immediate attention. It’s very easy to lose days or years (in-game or real life) to this wonderful farming simulator, but make sure you’re also taking care of yourself while taking care of your crops and digital friendships.
Minecraft is another game that is full of endless possibilities, and the goals you give yourself always seem to snowball into something larger than you could’ve imagined. You can start any session with low-bar goals like building a house or upgrading your tools, but it often ends with something much more ambitious through natural discovery and curiosity.
Hours will fly by as in-game days turn into night and the cycle repeats itself until you realize that you’ve been playing Minecraft for ten hours straight. Once you start building your dream home, you won’t want to stop until you’re done, but just make sure you stop for essentials like food and water.
Super Smash Bros. is one of the rare games that is more likely to create a flow state during competitive matches versus playing a single-player game by yourself. When you’re against a tough opponent with one life left each, nothing else in the world matters until you’re able to perfectly time a down smash attack that sends your rival flying off the stage.
Like Sifu, every move you make in Super Smash Bros. needs to be the right one to succeed, especially against an equal competitor. But even if you’re just playing by yourself in Event Matches or Classic Mode, you’ll need to enter something similar to a flow state to ensure your success.
Whether you’re playing the original version of Tetris, Tetris 99, Tetris Effect,or any of the other spin-offs, a flow state is almost guaranteed to occur once you reach a specific threshold. Once you lock yourself in and start focusing on where to place every falling piece for maximum points, everything else around you disappears like the rows of blocks you’re trying to stack together.
Every iteration of Tetris offers a different kind of flow state. Tetris 99 is a battle royale version of the game that creates a competitive mindset while Tetris Effect is a beautiful and hypnotizing experience that uses audio and visual elements to produce a meditative experience unlike any other puzzle game.
One of the dangerous aspects of the roguelike genre is that it alwaysmakes you feel like you’re able to do better on the next rununtil you’ve spent your entire day experimenting with different builds. Hades is one of the best examples because it cleverly weaves narrative into your journey, and the amount of weapons you can experiment with will keep you busy for hours.
Hades quickly places you into a flow state because every move and decision you make will impact the quality of your run. Everything else will disappear around you as you attempt to make more progress than ever before and face fearsome foes that will test your luck and patience.
Most Soulsborne games are capable of creating a flow state, but Sekiro is arguably the one that requires you to enter the mindset to succeed. While other titles like Dark Souls and Elden Ring allow you to customize your character to your liking, Sekiro forces you to use a singular weapon throughout the entire journey that you’ll need to master to succeed.
Your sword is your greatest weapon, both offensively and defensively. You can use it to attack enemies when an opportunity presents itself, but it can also be used to parry attacks and lower your target’s stance, eventually breaking them so you can perform a fatal blow. Some enemies will attack you five or six times in a row, and you’ll need to focus and parry them all to become the ultimate warrior.
Whether you’re skateboarding in real life or with a controller in your hand, concentration is essential to avoid wiping out and either breaking your arm or losing a huge combo. The Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games (excluding more open-world titles like Underground and American Wasteland) drop you into stages with several goals to accomplish in a set amount of time, instantly putting you in a flow state as you attempt to get a new high score in under two minutes.
Even when you’re not trying to collect enough letters to spell SKATE or attempting to manual across the entire level, there is a zen feeling that accompanies skateboarding that is easy to dissolve into once you get the hang of things. You might not lose days at a time to Tony Hawk, but those two-minute stages will always feel like thirty seconds when you’re in a flow state.
1Guitar Hero/Rock Band
In the same way that some musicians lose themselves when composing a new track or performing live, the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games can also dip you into a flow state as you focus on hitting every note that flies toward you. Especially when you’re playing on the hardest difficulty and missing a few notes could lead to failure and a booing crowd.
The flow state that comes along with playing either Guitar Hero or Rock Band probably has a lot to do with the plastic peripherals you use to emulate the sensation of being a rock star. Whether you’re playing the guitar, drums, or even singing, the rest of the world disappears as you focus on hitting every note in “The Fire and the Flames” in expert mode.
