[HN Gopher] Iyashikei: Japan's Genre of "Healing Games" (2018)
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Iyashikei: Japan's Genre of "Healing Games" (2018)
Author : Tomte
Score : 197 points
Date : 2020-05-12 13:00 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (screentherapyblog.wordpress.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (screentherapyblog.wordpress.com)
| oknoorap wrote:
| Can someone give me list of this genre?
| dragontamer wrote:
| In America at least, the term is mostly used for anime / manga
| that matches the category. This is the first time I've seen the
| term applied to video games. Most video games have conflict,
| and conflict is stress.
|
| However, there are many video games that have Iyashikei
| elements. Even the quintessential "save the world epic" Final
| Fantasy has Iyashikei elements. With FF-VII Cloud Strife
| playing video games at the Golden Saucer, or FF-XV having a
| road-trip with bros. Some of the most celebrated parts of the
| games are Iyashikei, the low-stress parts of the game that were
| in-between the battle sequences.
|
| Leaving Square/Enix for a second... there's also Nintendo's
| "Fire Emblem" series. The characters always talk about their
| personal life. And the player plays matchmaker, trying to get
| different characters to talk with each other, to discover their
| personalities. The most recent Fire Emblem: Three Houses, has
| an entire School-simulator where you set up the curriculum of
| your students.
|
| Almost all Japanese stories seem to have a part where Iyashikei
| comes out to destress the main character (and the player).
|
| So the question is, are you interested in games with Iyashikei
| elements (which IMO, includes almost all Japanese games worth
| talking about...), or are you interested in games that solely
| are Iyashikei? The genre exists on a spectrum, from games like
| Animal Crossing (mostly Iyashikei), to Atelier Sophie (More
| Iyashikei than not), to Fire Emblem / Final Fantasy ("save the
| world" epic plot lines, that visit Iyashikei at certain parts
| of the plot).
| kipchak wrote:
| I think the Yakuza series might be a good example of a game
| of the "with some Iyashikei" category, while still having a
| solid core story and gameplay to lure you in to karaoke and
| Mahjong.
|
| Also I think Skyrim fits a similar bill, with most of what
| people enjoy seemingly being the wandering around and taking
| in the world.
| zmix wrote:
| You don't get healed by kitsch. You get healed by facing the
| issue and working (out)/fighting hard.
| noobermin wrote:
| It depends on the situation. It's almost a teenage meme at this
| point but I don't know how many problems in my professional
| life (for example, coding problems) that I've solved just
| stopping work and taking a walk where my mind is free to relax
| and then approach something anew. Just grinding all day doesn't
| always work.
| Timpy wrote:
| You've never stopped at an inn to restore your party to full
| health, o weary traveller? It's hard to learn to swim if you're
| too busy drowning. There's nothing wrong with enjoying relaxing
| and aesthetically pleasing mediums before hopping back into the
| fight.
| hmhrex wrote:
| I started playing this game called "It's literally just
| mowing"[1] and I would say it's in this genre. I've been playing
| it a little bit each day and have my found my stress level goes
| down when I do.
|
| [1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/its-literally-just-
| mowing/id14...
| hmhrex wrote:
| A couple other games I recommend:
|
| 1. Florence - A love story. The artwork is gorgeous and the
| soundtrack is beautiful
|
| 2. Assemble With Care - Simple puzzle game with a nice light
| story.
|
| [1] http://annapurna.pictures/interactive/florence [2]
| https://www.assemblegame.com/
| andrewflnr wrote:
| I somehow read "literally just meowing" and was very confused
| about how that was a game. I bet it would still reduce stress,
| though.
|
| I find it soothing to do almost any well-defined task with
| well-defined progress (with bonus points if it's tactile). A
| lot of us have jobs where all of those properties are in short
| supply. Certainly most of my stress is due to uncertainty. My
| guess is that game works by giving you a nice well-defined task
| you can definitely accomplish.
|
| You can also try paper planes, or origami in general. I find
| it's just enough challenge to get me to focus for a little bit.
| :)
| partomniscient wrote:
| Wow. We're pretty much at: "I wanna go on the"...
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g4SCdox_pI
| Wohlf wrote:
| There are many similar games that I play, such as House Flipper
| and American/European Truck Simulator. Car Mechanic and Farming
| Simulator are similar.
| luckydata wrote:
| it's very likely because you're experiencing a state of "flow".
| Those games are great at getting your mind in that state.
| NikolaeVarius wrote:
| In related news LSD - Dream Emulator is playable in english
| finally https://www.romhacking.net/translations/5523/
| jrochkind1 wrote:
| These pictures all make me want to play these games REALLY BAD.
|
| Anyone know the easiest way for a non-gamer without a console
| system in the USA to get any of em, that might be figure-out-able
| for a non-Japanese speaker?
| ver_ture wrote:
| a nintendo handheld can be cracked by following a guide, to
| then play any game released for it. this will require a
| $100-200 console.
|
| for older consoles like the nintendo ds, you can emulate, like
| dolphin emulator for pc. i can even emulate a ps2 on my beefed
| up gaming pc. nevermind that though, any modern laptop or pc
| should be able to handle nintendo ds games on an emulator. i
| think that'd be a good start for you. in fact, even android
| phones can emulate it.
| dragontamer wrote:
| Buy a console. Most of these games are widely available from
| game stores.
|
| Animal Crossing is Nintendo's take on the genre, and is popular
| right now. For PC gamers, Stardew Valley is English-native, but
| based on the Harvest Moon series (which is almost certainly
| Iyashikei).
|
| If you dial the stress up a bit, there's Yoshi Woolly world,
| and a few others of that type. Its more traditional video game
| with dangers, but its low-stress compared to most video games.
|
| Don't confuse the static, hand-drawn artwork with the actual
| games. In my experience, Iyashikei games are overly cartoony,
| and often low-polygon count, to focus on the simplistic nature
| of the game. Its rare for this genre to really blow me away
| with their graphics... but the simple cel-shaded cartoon style
| (or low-poly style, in the case of Animal Crossing) gets the
| job done.
| jrochkind1 wrote:
| Ah, thanks for clarifying that the art shown wasn't from the
| gameplay. doh!
| numpad0 wrote:
| Neko Atsume is on Play Store and App Store. Animal Crossing on
| Switch is being sold and trending worldwide to the point
| Financial Times had a short article on bank interest rate in
| the game as well
| ajmurmann wrote:
| a few pieces of media that fit the bill really well and are
| available easily in the West:
|
| Attack of the Friday Monsters - it's a short 3DS game about
| children's fantasy merging their small town reality with a TV
| show
|
| Barakamon - anime about a calligrapher who gets banished to a
| small island in the inland sea and comes to embrace rural life
| and playing with the local children. (Pictured but not mentioned
| in the article)
|
| Rilakkuma and Kaoru - Stop motion TV show on Netflix about a
| woman who lives office lady life but also had two plush(?) bears
| and a chicken who live with her. Very relaxing.
| Noos wrote:
| A Channel is another healing anime, as is Song of the Sky.
| Laid-back Camp is probably the most recent and most popular
| healing anime out there.
|
| Welcome to the NHK isn't one, but in the manga the game the two
| protagonists are working on is a healing/erogame, and the main
| protagonist goes into length about why he is making it.
| dragontamer wrote:
| > Song of the Sky
|
| Do you mean "Sound of the Sky", the post-apocalyptic
| Iyashikei?
|
| EDIT: The anime community sometimes sticks with the Japanese
| title in Romanji, calling it "Sora no Woto". Same show, but
| depends on how various people feel like translating the
| title.
| ajmurmann wrote:
| A few more, in this case, games that fit the relaxing element
| really well:
|
| A Short Hike - PC/Linux/Mac you hike up a mountain and,
| discover things and people along the way.
|
| Journey - PS4 game in which you travel through a beautiful
| dessert landscape.
| robotmay wrote:
| Non Non Biyori is a pretty great series as well, and it really
| captures that wonderful everyday fun/boredom of living in the
| countryside where even going to buy sweets is an adventure.
| [deleted]
| MaximumMadness wrote:
| I keep a copy of Jiro Taniguchi's The Walking Man [0] in my
| room at all times. It's about slowing down and appreciating the
| small things in life: the birds, the water, the leaves, the
| weather.
|
| [0] https://www.amazon.com/Walking-Man-Jiro-
| Taniguchi/dp/8493340...
| ajmurmann wrote:
| There is a extended edition for half the price. I assume
| that's an ok choice?
| hex12648430 wrote:
| I'll add a few that I enjoy
|
| Flying Witch - A witch goes to live in the countryside with her
| relatives as part of her training. Lovely world-building.
|
| Girls' Last Tour - Two girls on a journey through a gigantic
| post-apocalyptic city. The setting is quite bleak but the story
| mostly focuses on how the main characters are finding joy in
| their world.
|
| Aria - The daily lives of apprentice gondoliers in Neo-Venezia,
| a replica of Venice built on a terraformed Mars.
|
| The manga and anime for all of these are available legally in
| English. Unfortunately you may have to jump through some hoops
| if you want to acquire their OSTs, which is a shame because
| they're all excellent.
| naringas wrote:
| I would classify "A short hike" [1] in this category.
|
| it's a very nice game.
|
| [1] http://ashorthike.com/
| markdeloura wrote:
| One of my favorite recent games too. Thanks for sharing!
| munificent wrote:
| Minecraft is so open-ended that it can be molded into almost any
| genre. But the way I play fits entirely within this.
|
| I play in survival mode mostly to make the world feel more
| grounded, but I sleep every night and rarely explore caverns. The
| game is mostly me building living spaces, mining for supplies,
| mapping the world, and collecting items. It's really satisfying.
| hadem wrote:
| Out of curiosity, what do you mean by "mapping the world"? I
| haven't played Minecraft in a very long time, but I thought
| there was a built in map of some sort? I'd like to hear more as
| it sounds like we have similar play styles!
| drdeca wrote:
| There is a map item you can make which adds areas to it when
| you are holding it and in those areas, which depicts other
| areas as black.
|
| Not sure if filling out these maps is what they meant.
| danbolt wrote:
| I wish more AAA games industry designers recognized this about
| a lot of players.
| filoleg wrote:
| >I play in survival mode mostly to make the world feel more
| grounded, but I sleep every night and rarely explore caverns.
|
| I feel like that's what makes it feel so satisfying, engaging,
| and "real". You sleep every night and do only the "peaceful"
| world-building kind of things. But even when you sleep, you
| know there is still a whole world of caverns and action out
| there happening, even as you are ignoring it. Which is what
| makes it really engaging and believable, as the world goes on
| even without your participation.
|
| Imo this is the same effect that makes some movie or book
| universes feel more "real" (but is achieved in different ways
| than with videogames, due to the medium itself). Their
| universes are built in such a way, it makes you believe that
| the world out there is still going on, even after you turn the
| TV off or close the book.
| DaveSapien wrote:
| This is fantastic! I had no idea about Iyashikei as a genre, I
| knew it existed but had no idea that it had a name. I am
| particularly happy about this as I am just finishing my own
| Iyashikei game called Kanso. Does anyone know of any good
| resources for Iyashikei? I'd like to dig deeper.
| jrhizor wrote:
| This reminds me of Cloud, a 2005 game that let you arrange clouds
| in the sky to solve puzzles. It was very relaxing to play.
| markdeloura wrote:
| Jenova Chen's game? Yes! Flower is another great relaxing game
| by him and his team.
| Razengan wrote:
| "Green The Planet" is a very good example that immediately came
| to my mind.
| benrmatthews wrote:
| The Witness is a stress-free puzzler taking place in a relaxing
| Iyashikei environment - and cross-platform now too:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witness_(2016_video_game)
| MaximumMadness wrote:
| This reminds me of BBC's article[0] last month focusing on games
| as a form of mediation. For many of us, gaming is an effective
| social platform and escape tool during quarantine, but games have
| rarely been built with mindfulness at the center from day one.
| Hopefully, we can get more titles in the genre.
|
| [0]http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200409-how-gaming-
| became-...
| hobs wrote:
| It takes a little getting used to, but I would honestly say
| Kerbal Space Program fits into this genre for me, its like adult
| legos.
|
| I mostly just build different little planes and fly them around
| or stay in low kerbin (earth) orbit and near the mun, but its
| just a very relaxing simple game with as much complexity as you
| want to add.
| dragontamer wrote:
| I don't think KSP would fall under Iyashikei. It seems to me
| (I'm not Japanese though) that Iyashikei is a celebration of
| normality.
|
| "The Sims" and "Sim City" would fall under Iyashikei. But most
| people aren't space astronauts. So KSP can't celebrate normalcy
| because you're pretending to be something you're not.
|
| Persona 5 has Iyashikei elements, as the main character
| interacts with day-to-day school life. Even if there's an
| element of supernatural / battling involved, there's an
| Iyashikei part of the game. Most people have been a student at
| school. And that's the "celebration of normalcy" that Persona 5
| brings forth.
|
| > Japan loves making shows and games about childhood.
| Specifically about childhood summers spent catching bugs,
| fishing, going to festivals, sharing meals with family, and, of
| course, trips to the beach.
|
| These things are present in "The Sims". But not KSP. If you
| watch a lot of Iyashikei anime, you'll know what this article
| is going for. KSP doesn't seem to be in that direction.
| spinach wrote:
| I played Ni no Kuni on DS and though it was beautiful it was much
| like any other rpg with a main focus on battles, seems strange to
| include it here.
|
| There is a similar genre in Western games (mostly indie) of these
| sorts of types of games, filed under 'cozy'.
| haunter wrote:
| >Iyashikei games, shows, and movies are "healing" because they
| help us celebrate the ordinary parts of everyday life
|
| I'm really not sold about the game part. Like Shenmue is pretty
| much the quintessential ordinary life simulator but I'd not call
| it a iyashikei. Same with Ni No Kuni and Yokai Watch. Sure for
| Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon but once battle and fight
| involved then personally I think it's already another genre. And
| people wouldn't call Pokemon a iyashikei either yet Yokai is
| 'just' a more modern 'clone' of that
| omniscient_oce wrote:
| I concur. Iyashikei games are usually (not always; think Animal
| Crossing) mobile games, and games that really don't require
| much concentration. They're for de-stressing.
|
| https://gameappch.com/rank/category.html?category=%E7%99%92%...
| Here are some examples
| SkyBelow wrote:
| >Sure for Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon
|
| Does it even apply for those?
|
| In Animal Crossing there are two battles, wasp and tarantulas.
| Both have something at stake with both a win and loss
| condition.
|
| In Harvest Moon you also have a battle against limits. Most of
| them don't have any sort of enemy units, but you do have tasks
| and you are doing them in a time limit where there is a failure
| condition (either running out of stamina or time), and in some
| cases there can be a big cost to failure (especially around
| harvesting crops right as the seasons change).
|
| One game I think interesting to consider is Minecraft. There
| are three different takes.
|
| * Normal (with Easy and Hard included) which has enemy mobs you
| must fight against and environmental traps.
|
| * Peaceful, where there are no enemy mobs but environmental
| traps still pose a risk (though less of one).
|
| * Creative, where you are fully immune even to lava or falling.
|
| Each step down is progressively more relaxing as it removes
| even more conflicts from the equation. But even in creative,
| you can still have a conflict with the game rules or within
| yourself (consider someone trying to design some redstone
| contraption and getting frustrated that their design isn't
| functioning correctly).
|
| I'm drawn to thinking about the following web comic on conflict
| in literature and how it parallels the different conflicts and
| battles that can occur in games and how some of these might not
| be possible to remove.
|
| https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FWszluTZTpM/U310wQoCMWI/AAAAAAAAE...
| ginko wrote:
| > Both have something at stake with both a win and loss
| condition.
|
| All that's at stake is you fainting and respawning in front
| of your house. The only thing that's lost is your opportunity
| to catch the tarantula that time.
| account42 wrote:
| You could use that argument to dismiss any loss condition
| in games that allow arbitrary saves.
| SkyBelow wrote:
| But that opportunity is rare enough, at least for some (in
| my time playing I've only seen two, though I did capture
| one so I don't need it for the museum). It is also
| surprising enough of an occurrence that it can cause
| stress. There are studies monitoring cortisol levels when a
| person hears their phone make a normal noise (incoming call
| and incoming text). Those create a noticeable spike in
| cortisol. While I haven't seen the same testing done for
| Animal Crossing, I would expect the sound indicating wasp
| falling out of trees does the same.
|
| If one were to take pokemon, it would be reduced to much
| the same where the penalty for loss is fainting and in rare
| cases losing a chance to catch a rare pokemon.
|
| Even if one were to take something like Path of Exile, any
| failure only costs some amount of time to restore from that
| failure. Some cost more (a death on hardcore can mean
| dozens of hours while a death on normal can be recovered in
| minutes). In general, I think you can reduce most game
| conflicts/battles down to a time cost in the case of
| failure, with a few games introducing horror as the main
| alternative cost (any game where death involves a jump
| scare).
|
| If I spend 3 hours looking for a tarantula and it wins,
| that is a cost of 3 hours compared to many games were
| losing a battle cost only a minute or two.
|
| Dark Souls style games are another interesting look into
| this, as the first death generally has low cost (you have
| to go pick up the dropped souls), but if you die a second
| time before you pick them up, the cost is much heavier (the
| souls dropped are permanently lost). I notice when playing
| that I am more on edge when I'm trying to recover dropped
| souls than when I am not.
| mcphage wrote:
| > If I spend 3 hours looking for a tarantula and it wins,
| that is a cost of 3 hours compared to many games were
| losing a battle cost only a minute or two.
|
| Why just the tarantula, then? If you see a rare beetle on
| a stump, you can re-interpret trying to catch it as a
| "battle" with a "winner" and a "loser".
| SkyBelow wrote:
| I think you are right. It is even less of a battle in
| some aspects, but at least for very rare insects it can
| be more of a battle in that the cost of messing up is
| higher.
|
| When you break down a game into these many sorts of
| conflicts and see which ones the player feels joy for
| winning and which ones the players struggle against with
| no benefit even when they win, it hints at an interesting
| framework to evaluate games by. It feels
| deconstructionist almost to the point of absurdity, but
| so far I don't think it crosses that line.
| numpad0 wrote:
| In Pokemon the players and monsters only "faint" in a
| battle when lost
| gryson wrote:
| Trying to assign strict genre labels to games is probably not
| the right approach here.
|
| Many games contain aspects of 'iyashikei' games. Persona 5 is a
| good example. Half of the game is spent doing 'ordinary life
| simulation' activities - meeting friends, eating out at
| restaurants, going on dates, etc. This part of the game is
| focused on story-driven events, many of which could be
| classified as iyashikei (although there are certainly darker
| elements mixed in). The other half of the game is spent on RPG
| turn-based battles and puzzles.
|
| The Shenmue series is the same. A lot of it is iyashikei -
| wandering around, talking to people, enjoying the sights. Along
| with that are battles and stressful mini-games.
| gramontblanc wrote:
| It could be appropriate to consider them cross-genre games
| containing elements of both soothing-slice-of-life gameplay
| cycles and conflict-oriented-'normal'-game gameplay cycles.
| Games mixing placid, relaxing gameplay loops seem to definitely
| hold a different overall tone even if you can't play through
| them without any aggression or violence.
|
| A pure iyashikei game feels like an aspirational ideal and
| fairly rare.
| dan_quixote wrote:
| Zelda: Breath of the Wild has strong elements of Iyashikei. I
| picked this up recently after years of no video games. And I find
| myself just wandering around marveling at the sights and sounds.
| I mostly avoid conflict while performing the more ancillary
| quests. It's just so much more relaxing than the platform/shooter
| games I grew up with.
| klenwell wrote:
| This reminds of an online I loved called The Quest for the
| Rest. It was a Flash game featuring soundtrack by the
| Polyphonic Spree. Actually, I think it may have been designed
| to promote the release of one of their albums.
|
| Such a sweet little game. I imagine you can still find it
| online and play it (if your browser supports Flash). Here's a
| Youtube run-through of it:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g_0SAjfU3o
| billfruit wrote:
| What might be western games of a similar bent, with a focus on
| soothing game play:
|
| -Stardew Valley
|
| -My time at Portia
|
| -Euro/American Truck Simulator
|
| -Anno series
|
| I personally find snooker/pool simulations very soothing.
| simion314 wrote:
| I would also add Minecraft, I spent a lot of time just mining
| and building while listening to audio-books at the same time. I
| preferred survival but it has a creative mode and options to
| turn off hostiles.
| zargon wrote:
| Additionally, I think Farm Together is a good fit in this
| category.
| slightwinder wrote:
| > -Stardew Valley > - My time at Portia
|
| Not really a surprise, as they are clones of harvest moon, a
| japanese iyashikei-franchise.
|
| > -Euro/American Truck Simulator
|
| Nice example. And probably also a good case of explaining the
| difference in pop-culture between east and west.
|
| > -Anno series
|
| I'm not so sure about that. Wouldn't than civlisation and
| basically every round-based paradox-game be an example?
| zonefuenf wrote:
| I find the energy and time mechanics of Stardew Valley to be
| pretty stressful, to be honest.
| em-bee wrote:
| i'd like to add a sailing simulator to the mix. without an
| opportunity to actually go sailing i found it a pretty relaxing
| way to spend the time.
| livueta wrote:
| Weirdly enough, some older MMOs (OSRS, to a lesser extent WoW
| Classic) fill that need for me. Sometimes, the repetitiveness
| of really simple grinding (think click tree, click inventory to
| drop log, click tree) lends itself to falling into a meditative
| state, especially when you have muscle memory built up for a
| particular action/click pattern.
| ajmurmann wrote:
| I actually stopped playing Stardew Valley because of the
| mining. At some point to progress meaningfully you gotta mine.
| I found that part very stressful and not fun, especially once
| you get to the mine in the desert.
| VMisTheWay wrote:
| Unpopular opinion, that game is cellphone quality addicting.
| nmfisher wrote:
| Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Can't tell if it's
| pejorative or not.
| Bukhmanizer wrote:
| I actually liked the mining part of stardew best. I view
| pretty much all the other parts as a way of supporting my
| mining habit.
| ajmurmann wrote:
| Given the mechanics, seeing mining as the main game isn't
| unreasonable. Most progression hinges on it. Unfortunately
| I find the fighting part not well done and quite punishing
| given how bad the gameplay of the fighting is.
|
| All the fighting in the mines also makes it clearly not a
| experience that fits the type of game we are discussing
| here.
| dash2 wrote:
| Doki Doki Literature Club is a classic of the genre ;-D
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(page generated 2020-05-12 19:00 UTC)