10 great video games about the meaning of life

We don’t often look to video games when we’re feeling confused about life, the universe or anything else. This is traditionally a medium of escape, the place you come to forget about the world and blow stuff up for a few minutes.

But it’s not always that way. Since the beginning, games have also been a place to experiment with what it means to be human. When you think about it, it’s obvious: no other medium allows us to interact with and explore the possibilities of existence like games do.

So, here are 10 games that tell us a little about what life is – often in a very comforting way. Remember to add your own suggestions in the comments section!

Alter Ego (Apple II, C64, Spectrum, 1986)

Developed by psychologist Peter Favaro, this early simulation title gave the player control over a whole life from infancy to death, via a long series of multiple choice questions. More of a personality test than a game, it was revolutionary at the time. A version is now available for smartphones.

Life lesson: every decision you make is meaningful – especially the ones about getting into cars with strangers.

Animal Crossing (N64, Game Cube, DS, 3DS, Wii, 2001-)

Animal Crossing.

Photograph: Nintendo

Nintendo’s classic series involves moving into a small village populated by cute anthropomorphic animals and just … living. You collect stuff, do simple chores for your neighbours, and while away the seasons fishing and gardening. It is a game about the joy of community, about the rhythms that bind us to nature, and about comfort. A beautiful game to unwind with.

Life lesson: be nice to people and always keep an eye out for the money rock.

Braid (Xbox 360, PSN, PC, 2008)

Braid.

Photograph: Jonathan Blow

Jonathan Blow’s seminal indie platformer is ostensibly about a character named Tim who sets out to rescue a princess from a monster. But instead, this archetypal premise is paired with an ingenious rewind mechanic to explore the fallibility of memory and the subjective (sometimes even semi-delusional) way we see ourselves and our motivations. The puzzles are great too.

Life lesson: sometimes the princess that needs saving is you.

Civilization (multiple platforms, 1991-)

Civilization V.

Photograph: 2K Games

Taking a macro view of human life, the Civilization series of strategy games has so much to say about what motivates us, and why things in the world work out the way they do. Although the key aim is guiding a tribe from the stone age to the space age, every decision you make needs to be weighed against the happiness of your people, who are effectively your captives. As Dostoyevsky said, you can judge a society by how well it treats its prisoners. It’s just that, in this case, you are the society.

Life lesson: all people want is to be happy – even if that means firing a nuclear missile at Gandhi.

Journey (PS3, PS4, 2012)

Journey.

Photograph: Thatgamecompany

Visually beautiful, soulful, almost elegiac in tone, Thatgamecompany’s wonderful short game about traveling across a barren land to reach a towering mountain is a simple metaphor about life. Famously, the game is cooperative via an online connection, but the person you play with remains a stranger throughout. You have to rely on each other’s goodwill, with only very rudimentary forms of communication. But through these tools, and the extraordinary soundtrack by Austin Wintory, amazing experiences are possible.

Life lesson: life is about the journey not the destination. Also, be good to people online.

Life is Strange (PC, Xbox One/360, PlayStation 3/4, 2015)

Life is Strange.

Photograph: Dontnod Entertainment

On the face of it, Life is Strange is episodic adventure about a young girl who discovers she has the power to travel in time. But what this coming-of-age story really deals with are big notions of responsibility, consequence, love and the idea that there are no fundamentally right decisions, just one’s that we can live with.

Life lesson: you can’t save everyone you meet.

Billed as “a game about life, family and the decisions we make”, The Novelist follows a family who rent a holiday home not realising it’s haunted – by you. The father is a frustrated writer, the mother a painter, and you have to decide how they reconcile their ambitions against caring for each other and their son. It is sad and sometimes almost desperate, but it says a lot about adulthood, responsibility and sacrifice.

Life lesson: if you care about people, you need to make sacrifices for them – especially if you live in a haunted beach house with an artist.

Passage.

Photograph: Jason Rohrer

Created by experimental game designer Jason Rohrer, Passage is a five-minute scrolling adventure game in which your character moves inexorably toward death. There are treasures to collect on the way, and you can marry another character, but this restricts your ability to pass through sections of the map – oh and they always die before you. It’s strangely affecting, and the way your avatar begins the adventure on the far left of the screen, with their whole future ahead of them, but then ends at the far right, with only a past, is very clever. If very depressing.

Life lesson: life is really short, treasure is largely meaningless and love can sometimes stop you from getting through small gaps.

The Sims (PC, Mac, iOS, PlayStation, Xbox, 2000-)

The Sims 4.

Photograph: Electronic Arts

Created by legendary game designer Will Wright, The Sims, through all its many incarnations, remains the ultimate life simulator, giving players intricate control over a house full of disparate and intelligent characters. Part strategy, part soap opera, and always full of surprises and pathos – The Sims is a fascinating intellectual, sociological and psychological experiment that also allows you to make people wet themselves in the kitchen.

Life lesson: every swimming pool needs a ladder.

To The Moon (PC, Mac, 2011)

To The Moon.

Photograph: Freebird Games

Kan Gao’s thoughtful and meditative game looks like a standard 1990s role-playing adventure, but it is in fact, a treatise on love, yearning and regret. Set in a future where scientists are able to manipulate the memories of dying people in order to give them peace, your task is to give a dying man the experience of visiting the moon. Why he wants to go, and what it all means, is a story told backward as you reconstruct the story of his life. It is ridiculously moving, but it’s central message is proactive rather than sanguine.

Life lesson: if there’s something you want to do, do it. Do it right now.