5. Golf Story
Gaming nailed golf back in the 80s with the three-tap swing system, leaving developers casting around in the 30 years since for ways to keep things interesting. Golf Story isn't the first game to add intrigue beyond the fairway, but Sidebar Games' elegant combination of tried-and-trusted video game golf and 16-bit role-playing game works brilliantly.
6. Bastion
We've generally avoided combat on this list, but Supergiant Games' debut title feels like an exception worth making. Available for virtually every system under the sun nowadays, Bastion is an isometric action RPG where "the Kid" roams through environments that form up in front of him as he moves through them while a narrator tells the tale of his actions. There's a bit more cut and thrust to this than most of the games we've mentioned, but the way the music, art and sound design come together poetically still feels very cleansing.
7. Abzu
If there's an overarching theme to this list - other than 'get my head out of January' - then it's probably games that do something different for your senses. Ideally, everything on this list feels like a warm bath after a long day. Abzu takes the metaphor to its logical conclusion, literally plunging you underwater into a series of kaleidoscopic subaquatic landscapes where you float past shoals of colorful marine life, accompanied by a soothing soundtrack. Bliss.
8. Grow Home
If Abzu takes January cleansing to watery extremes, then surely Grow Home is our posterchild for getting back to nature, more so even than the green-fingered Stardew Valley. Ubisoft Reflections' third-person adventure is about oxygenating a robot's homeworld by growing a giant beanstalk and harvesting its seeds. The fact the game grew into a commercial release organically after it proved popular as a tinkerer's pastime within the UK-based studio just adds to its detox cred. Just writing about it again, we can feel the stress draining out of our shoulders. Fill your gardening boots.
