If you’re above the equator, it’s winter. For the Midwest and Northeast U.S., plus Canada, it’s been brutally cold lately—unbearable with windchill and potentially deadly when the winter winds pick up.
Instead of chattering your teeth, why not escape to the warmth of your home, wrap yourself up in a blanket, and dive into a video game?
If you’re a real masochist, you could play Frostpunk 2 or Skyrim. But we recommend going the opposite way and finding games about sweltering heat, especially one that lets you explore and take in the scenery.
Here are our game recommendations that will let you mentally escape the bitter cold.
Editor’s note: All of the games on this list are traditional “Web2” games without crypto or blockchain integrations. But you might enjoy ’em anyway!
Sea of Thieves
Platforms: Xbox Series X/S + One, PS4, PC
Sea of Thieves is a great place to start if you want to keep the gameplay as sweaty as the weather.
Once an Xbox and Windows exclusive, this game is now on PlayStation 5 and Steam, featuring full crossplay support. Sea of Thieves drops you into a fictional sea littered with islands to explore, bosses to fight, and other players to avoid or chase down as you see fit.
The water is a standout feature in this game, with some of the most beautifully lit waves I can remember seeing in any game ever, alongside islands teeming with palm trees, parrots, and flowers.
Forza Horizon 5
Platforms: Xbox Series X/S + One, PC
It’s been a while since we’ve had a new Forza Horizon game; Forza Horizon 5 dropped back in 2021. But it’s the latest in the series, it still looks incredible, and it’s set in Mexico.
You can race through hot jungles or down beautiful coastlines. Along with all the hypercars and racing machines, there are plenty of Jeeps to hop into to pretend you’re right out there in the sun.
Forza Horizon is a racing game, but it’s one that lets you approach it how you want—plus it’s one of the most colorful, visually enchanting games around.
Assassin’s Creed series
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, PC
If you want to go somewhere warmer, then Assassin’s Creed has many answers for you—though you’ll probably want to skip Valhalla, the Viking-themed entry in the series.
But just before that is Odyssey, set in Ancient Greece. There’s also the Egypt-set Assassin’s Creed Origins. And let’s not forget Black Flag, which puts you into the swashbuckling boots of Edward Kenway to do some high-seas piracy.
That last one is a little long in the tooth, but all three entries are still great fun.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Platforms: PS5/PS4, Xbox Series X/S + One, PC
The latest Like a Dragon game takes us from the streets of Tokyo and Yokohama to Honolulu, HI.
Things don’t start out great for protagonist Ichiban Kasuga when he gets there; a cab driver tries to shake him down, and another person drugs and strips him before leaving him on a public beach.
But soon Ichiban will be riding a Segway around the island, visiting open-air shopping malls, delivering pizzas by bike, and eventually ending up on an island of his own with the goal of turning it into a perfect tropical resort.
Even with the mugging and drugging, Ichiban still has a better time in Hawaii than most of us ever will.
Sea of Stars
Platforms: Switch, PS5/PS4, Xbox Series X/S + One, PC
Sea of Stars is a love letter to the RPGs of the 1990s, especially games like Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, and Super Mario RPG.
Set in a fictional archipelago of islands, you’ll spend much of the game exploring gorgeous 16-bit-style pixel art jungles and islands. Better yet, you can team up with up to two friends to play the game cooperatively.
The Monkey Island series
Platforms: Switch, PS5/PS4, Xbox Series X/S + One, PC
The Monkey Island series goes way, way back to 1990 and is one of the crown jewels of the adventure game genre that was so popular back then.
The Secret of Monkey Island and its sequel, LeChuck’s Revenge, received remasters back in the early 2010s that added voice acting from series regulars, plus a killer hint system that lets you solve the game’s often bizarre puzzles (a chicken with a pulley on it?) at your own pace.
There’s also The Curse of Monkey Island and Escape From Monkey Island, plus the latest entry, Return to Monkey Island—all of which will give you those warm tropical vibes. They’re ostensibly pirate games, but these pirates use Insult Swordfighting to settle their differences.
Tropico 6
Platforms: Switch, PS5/PS4, Xbox Series X/S + One, PC
If you want a bird’s-eye view of your tropical paradise, then you might want to check out Tropico.
You are El Presidente, the leader of a Caribbean island nation. You’ll build up your nation, manage resources, and try to keep the peace with your citizenry while maintaining control over them.
Just Cause series
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, PC
Just about any game in the Just Cause series will serve here. These are open-world games primarily from the 2010s about creating chaos on tropical islands.
As Rico Rodriguez, you have countless ways to blow things up—but the series’ trademark is the grapple, which lets you tie any two things together, like a truck and a hissing canister of pressurized fuel.
Light the fuel on fire and watch as it drags the truck into the sky. Think of this as the other side of Tropico: instead of being a dictator, you’re trying to overthrow a dictator with nothing but guns, explosions, and a sick parachute to help you along.
Cyberpunk 2077
Platforms: PS5/PS4, Xbox Series X/S + One, PC
Cyberpunk isn’t exactly tropical per se, but the future metropolis of Night City is located on the West Coast, just a bit north of the perennially sweltering Los Angeles.
If you leave the city limits, you’ll find vast scrubland areas, enough to take your mind off the cold outside.
The city itself is brightly lit by the overhead sun during the day, and when you take the time to walk around, you can almost feel it beating down on you.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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Source: https://decrypt.co/301431/forget-winter-sweltering-hot-tropical-games
