Special Interests: Video Games

Posted on April 20, 2026

** This blog mentions video games that are not appropriate for all ages/audiences **

I tend to have a lot of special interests going on at a time, which can make it hard to focus on anything in particular. One category that I spend a lot of time with is video games. I play lots of genres and series, but I also prefer to watch others play games depending on the genre and difficulty. Despite loving video games for a long time, I’m not very good at them. I can have a hard time understanding difficult systems and controls, and I get really frustrated when I’m stuck on something.

That’s why I tend to prefer puzzle games, like Professor Layton and Ace Attorney. These series meant a lot to me growing up, and I still am excited to see news about them. Some newer games I like include The Blue Prince, Home Safety Hotline, and Slay the Princess. I like games that include horror themes, especially, which makes Zero Escape my favorite game series ever! I also enjoyed Danganronpa, even though the shooting elements made it hard for me, even on easy difficulties.

Another genre I like is rhythm games. I started liking them later, as growing up, the most popular were Guitar Hero or Dance Dance Revolution, and I am horrendous at both. I played the Project Diva games in high school and started from there. I mostly play mobile games in this genre, as I find them more accessible than having to carry a console everywhere. My favorites are BanG Dream, Ensemble Stars, and Project Sekai. I usually cap out after hard difficulty, but that makes clearing an expert-level song all the more exciting. I even play a lot of these games in Japanese, using guides online to navigate until I understand the system. I felt like this opened up a lot of new worlds to me, as a lot of games don’t get translated.

I play a few games in other genres too, but I’m usually not very good at them and just in it for the story. Some games in this category for me include BlazBlue, Limbus Company, and Persona (though with this one, I did start with the rhythm game). I tend to get fixated on parts I get stuck on, which can be annoying to anyone who knows me. It’s even more frustrating for me, since I care about the story so much, but cannot advance further. It makes me think of something I enjoyed about a completely different game, L.A. Noire. If you failed a particular gameplay section a few times in a row, it gave you the option to skip it. I think more games should have this sort of feature, especially if the game has a large story element. Blocking players off when they’ve tried the same section tens or hundreds of times feels so cruel, though I’m probably biased.

There are many games I could never play on my own, which makes watching let’s-players a great way to see those worlds. I especially like horror games, but can’t play anything where I have to fight or manage a limited inventory. That makes watching others the only way I can enjoy series like Silent Hill, and I am super grateful for that. It can also introduce me to series and games I never would have heard of on my own, like Deadly Premonition, which is now one of my guilty pleasure favorites. I even own the board game version of it!

Speaking of board games, I discuss this along with my special interests in puzzles and escape rooms on our podcast, Autism Unmasked. For this specific episode, listen to Episode 10, but feel free to listen to any with a topic you find interesting. I’m really proud of the podcast and of myself for working on it. It’s not something I ever imagined doing, and it’s so exciting!