Who Needs a Real Vacation? 10 Games To Replace Your Summer Holiday With
Who needs a real summer holiday when you’ve got these games?
With summer on our doorsteps, many of us would normally be planning to hop on aeroplanes to jet us off to sunnier climes and sandy beaches.
But this is 2020, a year that continues to surprise us with how bad things can get. Thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, many of us are still on lockdown. Holidaying in our own countries is off the cards for a lot of us, and the idea of travelling on a plane any time soon is merely a pipedream.
Thankfully, videogames are here to help.
Whether you’re a relaxer, explorer, learner or thrill seeker, there’s a holiday for everyone. Getting a break from the norm is so important, and honestly, there’s just nothing like a summer holiday for that sense of escapism.
Of course, holidays are never smooth sailing: from family disputes, to bad weather, and even the dreaded sunbed wars that get you waking up at 4am. But video game vacations mean you don’t need to worry about those troubles; you can sit back, put your feet up, and enjoy a fully relaxing experience. Maybe even have a strawberry daiquiri at the side of you to really get into the spirit of things.
With summer 2020 looking to be one of the strangest in modern times, we may have had to put our holiday dreams on hold for now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still get away. These are the 10 best games to help you getaway and have the ultimate summer holiday.
Click on through to see the games.
Super Mario Odyssey
Available on: Nintendo Switch
One of Mario’s greatest adventures can also be one of your most unique holidays. Everything in Super Mario Odyssey screams summer and holiday: from the vibrant characters and colours, to the amazing settings. Just like how Mario travels from kingdom to kingdom in his Odyssey airship, you too can travel from one sun-drenched location to another.
Super Mario Odyssey builds up to the wedding between Peach and Bowser – and what has more of summer vibe than a wedding? Whether you want to zoom around New Donk City on a scooter, or frolic on the beaches of the Seaside Kingdom, or even soak-in the sun of the Sand Kingdom, Super Mario Odyssey is a series of great holidays within just one game.
Buy Super Mario Odyssey on Amazon
Fishing Sim World: Pro Tour
Available on: PC, PS4 and Xbox One
There are few pastimes more relaxing than fishing – so much so that it’s a big influence for how many choose their holiday spot. And these spots are beautifully recreated in Fishing Sim World: Pro Tour; from Gillhams to Wraysbury Lake, there’s 16 wonderful lakes to explore and fish in.
Fishing Sim World: Pro Tour also offers a great career mode which you can really get your teeth into. But for a more relaxed experience, multiplayer offers the opportunity to create your own rules, and fish how you want, where you want. It’s how fishing should be, and it’s the perfect replacement to physically visiting these gorgeous lakes.
Buy Fishing Sim World: Pro Tour on Amazon
Planet Coaster
Available on: PC
Sight-seeing and relaxing is all well and good for some travellers, but what about you thrill seekers? Well, Planet Coaster is the perfect game for you. Once you’ve built your own roller coaster you can ride it yourself – there’s even the ability to switch to first person for that true point-of-view-feel-queasy-after experience.
Planet Coaster also allows you to walk around your own amusement park and soak in all there is to offer, only you don’t have to pay real money for ridiculously overpriced food like real theme parks. But we all know the true joy of Planet Coaster is starting from scratch and building your very own theme park; make the theme park of your dreams and ride all those roller coasters without the annoying queues.
Forza Horizon 3
Available on: Xbox One and PC
Whether you’re looking to travel in the Land Down Under, or want to capture the festival vibe, Forza Horizon 3 is the game for you. Set in the beautiful country of Australia, you are the manager of the car festival. With complete control, you choose the music, you create the atmosphere, and you bring the fun. It’s the closest you can get to the festival atmosphere without getting your wellies muddy.
But Forza Horizon 3 offers so much more than just that. Whether you’re speeding down the picturesque beaches of Surfers Paradise and Byron Bay, or exploring the wonderful nature of Woods Point, Forza Horizon 3 truly is the beautiful country of Australia at your very fingertips. Forget the long flight down to see the Aussies; just take a quick drive instead.
Buy Forza Horizon 3 on Amazon
Abzû
Available on: PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch
What’s the point of travelling to a tropical location without doing some snorkeling? Abzû is the perfect game for any deep-sea diver looking to get their fill. With glorious graphics and settings full of schools upon schools of colourful fish, Abzû is the best replacement to the wetsuit.
Abzû offers a vast array of underwater locations to explore, including natural caverns, open water settings, and even ancient ruins. With the vast array of underwater plant and animal life to see, and some of the smoothest underwater controls in any game, it’s the perfect game for any diver.
Vacation Simulator
Available on: PC and PS4 (VR required)
The year is 2060 and Vacation Island is finally open for business, and not a moment too soon. Vacation Simulator may only be set on one island, but it’s the best holiday experience you can find in VR. With activities galore on the island, you’ll have something to do, and may well even forget that it’s only virtual reality.
At the Vacation Island you can stay at the resort to unwind and watch TV while ordering room service, or you can go out and explore the three locations. At the beach you can do yoga, dive into the sea or just play a variety of games to your heart’s content. Then you can go to the forest and hike your way through to an extraordinary geyser. Or maybe you want to head to the mountain and ski down the huge slopes. No matter what your holiday preference, Vacation Simulator has you covered.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Available on: PC, PS4 and Xbox One
You may well be thinking that a country divided and at war may not be the most suitable holiday spot, and you’d usually be correct. But if you ignore the war between Sparta and Athens and explore Assassin’s Creed Odyssey you’ll find an absolutely breathtaking setting. It’s Greece at its finest.
But if you’d rather explore the history of Ancient Greece, then Assassin’s Creed Odyssey has you covered with the Discovery Tour. With combat turned off, you get to see Ancient Greece in all its glory and be guided around in one of the most extraordinary times in humankind’s history. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is a dream come true for any sightseer or traveller looking to learn about the local culture.
Buy Assassin’s Creed Odyssey on Amazon
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Available on: Nintendo Switch
No matter what type of holiday you want, we’re all looking for the same thing: escapism. No game offers escapism quite like Animal Crossing: New Horizons. You do what you want, when you want, and get to live a whole second life. It’s the type of holiday you never want to come back from, and luckily it’s one you never have to.
Starting from scratch on a new island, you start out camping under the beautiful night sky, and then build your way up to having your very own home on the island. With the help of new friends you can build a new life for yourself – one without stress, which is what a holiday should be all about. You can even use Dodo Airlines to take a holiday within your holiday, just in case one wasn’t enough. Animal Crossing: New Horizons the getaway we all deserve.
Buy Animal Crossing: New Horizons on Amazon
The Sims 4: Island Living
Available on: PC, PS4 and Xbox One
The Sims has always been about living a virtual life; it’s the life simulator for the life we wish we had. And that life can be whatever we want it to be thanks to the variety of expansion packs available. But now Sims 4 can also be the perfect vacation simulator thanks to the Island Living expansion pack.
Sims 4: Island Living allows you to engage with every imaginable experience you could have on a beautiful holiday getaway. Once fully geared in the appropriate holiday clothing, it’s time to party at the local barbecues, meet the locals, go swimming and snorkelling, or just sit back and relax at the local bar or beach. You may not physically be on holiday, but your Sim avatar is, and that’s more than close enough.
Buy Sims 4: Island Living on Amazon
Go Vacation
Available on: Nintendo Switch
Above all else, holidays are about doing what you want, and when you want. No game allows that more than Go Vacation, the ultimate holiday experience on Nintendo Switch. At the resort on Kawawii Island there’s countless different activities to get involved in and master, and each can also be completed with up to 4 other players.
Jet skiing, skydiving, skiing, surfing, volleyball, mini putt, roller skating; honestly the list goes on and on. You get to explore the island, and you get to choose what to do. You can even go sight seeing and find some rare critters out and about. No matter what you think the perfect holiday looks like, Go Vacation will offer it.
