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Whenever I play a game I tend to get obsessed with it for a time until I either lose interest or until I reach a natural stopping off point. I usually have a queue of games that I want to play but when I have down time or whenever I'm feeling exceptionally stressed I will revert to an idle game because it allows me to almost reach a point of meditation, there's not a lot of complex thought and planning that goes into playing them but at the same time they hold your attention just enough to take your mind off whatever is stressing you out at the moment. Whether it's in pursuit of the state of flow or if I'm just in between games, the idle game of choice for me at the moment is Idle Slayer

The premise of this game is rather simple, you start with two characters to choose from by default, one called Roy and the other called Anna. Whichever you choose, the character remains in place on screen and runs as the level scrolls to the right automatically. You can click to jump and collect coins, which you can then use to unlock upgrades. The game's complexity grows from there in layers, with new mechanics added over time, some unlocked through quests, others through upgrades, and a few by travelling to different areas which you unlock much later in the game.

Idle Slayer has two main modes of play, active and passive. In active play you click to jump in time and use boosts and other power ups if they are available. In passive play you let the game run and provided you have unlocked enemies and the magnet upgrade, the character will gradually collect coins over time. You eventually unlock the ability to gain offline rewards which accumulate when the game is closed so you don't have to leave it running.

Idle Slayer is one of the more developed and well maintained idle games. There are quite a few on Steam, I have played dozens at this point and the 3 main Idle Games that I like are Leaf Blower Revolution which I have mentioned previously, and Cookie Clicker, which started out life as a browser game that eventually got a port to Steam. Those two together with Idle Slayer are in my view the best of the genre.

Life has been very stressful for me so far this year. There have been 3 deaths in my family as of the end of March, I have my own health problems which I am still stuck in limbo waiting for a referral to get diagnosed, and I have several family members dealing with their own illnesses. All this combined with the general feeling that the world has gone to Hell in a hand basket has left me mentally checked out for a lot of the time. Idle games provide the ability to zone out by providing a distraction from the disarray and discorde. I've found myself playing Idle Slayer a lot lately, mostly with YouTube playlists lined up on my second screen so I can listen to something edifying in tandem.