Game recommendations for brain/cognitive growth

[Voor]

Long story short, I have a medical condition that, along with physical issues, makes it challenging at times for me to stay focused and clear headed. Meaning, at times, my brain is in a fog, I struggle with confusion for the simplest things, have trouble forming sentences, etc.

So....I've decided to take this a bit more serious, improve my diet and exercise regimen (decent now, but always room for improvement) and make sure I engage in activities to reduce stress.

I enjoy playing video games (time restraints as they are), and was wondering if there are any games y'all play that help you to feel "smarter". A lot of times I play games, and while its certainly fun and relaxing, I feel kind of unsharp and dumb afterwards*. Lol.

*not blaming the games here and don't expect anyone to understand what I mean....could 100% just be me.

[Hardcore Sadism]

There's never been a consistently specific genre or category of mechanic that trains the brain or stimulates cognitive growth, or reduce stress. It's entirely dependent on preferences.

Games, like mystery-genre interactive novels for instance, sort of ignite cognitive creativity in my opinion. Though some may find these boring.

[MoarRipter]

You might try the Brain Age games on the DS, they have various flavors with puzzles and brain teasers. It will give you an "age of your brain" based on how well you do, last time I played I think it rated me as being over 60 years old. I doubt it's very scientific but I enjoyed Brain Age.

I like puzzle games as they require some thinking but are still enjoyable, especially in quick sessions. Tetris is my favorite, I've also been a fan of Dr. Mario for over twenty years although Dr. Mario hits a certain point where the bottle doesn't fill up with any further number of viruses and it's just going through the motions. Those two probably don't demand as much critical thinking as quick reflexes but there is still an element of thinking and planning involved, at least if you want to reach high levels.

Jeopardy is a good video game too if you like quiz games although I can't stand how picky Jeopardy video games are when it comes to how you enter your responses. I was playing the buggy-as-an-infested-mattress Wii U version the other day and the correct response to the clue was "curl" (it was a surfing clue) but I wrote "the curl" and I got it wrong. That prompted a rage quit. It was like I was playing the NES version again, so damned picky about syntax. Nothing like the real show. The fact that that version of Jeopardy has absolutely no audio at all when played on the Gamepad didn't help matters either.

I think RPG adventuring titles could fit into those categories too, a game that has a puzzle in a dungeon that requires some creative thinking to solve. It always used to make me feel accomplished when I could figure one of those hard puzzles out on my own instead of going to strategy guides or the web to search for answers.

[scotland]

You might try the Brain Age games on the DS.

Those are good suggestions MoarRipter.

Games like Advance Wars on GBA or DS, or KingTurn games on mobile are turn based strategy games with no ticking clock, and each scenario is a new puzzle to solve. Many RPGs or Roguelikes make me feel like a hamster on a wheel sometimes. There are also games on DS to learn spanish or other languages or solve mysteries like Professor Layton. Mobile has lots of puzzle games my family enjoys, from ports with various twists of traditional games like Risk or Battleship, to resurrecting things like Steve Jackson fighting fantasy gamebooks, to point and click adventures, to original games like Wheres my Water, Out There, Euphloria, Sleepwalkers Journey or Trexels. GOG has lots of older PC games for slower thoughtful gaming since those games had a golden age in the 90s. Since focus on slow and thoughtful reduces the need for graphics (some using faux 8 bit or 16 bit graphics), indies can compete and so there are many to choose from on many platforms for different amounts of focus, difficulty or time available.

[nesfan]

You could try the Phoenix Wright series for the DS. I played the first one a couple years ago. It made me think and I had a lot of fun doing so.

[Tron]

Klax, chess & the above games mentioned. I play Advance Wars in DS more than anything.