I know @theresattrpgforthat has a list of solo journaling games, but does anyone ( @psychhound ?) have a list of therapy-focused solo games? I don't have in-person sessions with my therapist, but this is something I've wanted to try!
i put together some recommendations in an itch collection for you!! started just with 5 but i may expand it when i run into more :)
last tea shop (expanded)
you are the owner of a tea shop that borders the worlds of the living and the dead. manage ingredients, mind the weather, and converse with your visitors as they pass through to the next world this game is both soothing and deeply reflective. you interact with a series of visitors who are on their way to the afterlife and are all connected to each other. you ask them questions and journal their responses. a lot of my students used it to come to terms with grief they were experiencing over lost loved ones or the state of the world
A solo game about running a tea shop on the border of the living and the dead.
the lighthouse at the edge of the universe
you are a lonesome lighthouse keeper deep in space. your job is to keep ships from flying past the edge into nothing this game is tactile and calming. you start each day by checking in with how you, the player, is feeling, which is what determines the weather in-game. then you flip coins, pull cards, and roll dice to determine your tasks for the day and how successfully you complete them. my students found this game very grounding and found the emotional check-ins helpful
you are the current lighthouse keeper in the lighthouse in space
snow
shovel snow out of the driveway while reflecting on a problem that's troubling you this game was made for the minimalist jam in 2022. it's a fairly simple game where you decide on your pov character, give them a problem, then interface with the simple mechanics while you reflect on that problem in stages. the guided reflection is very helpful for working through problems, and my students found that they ended up getting new perspectives on problems in their real lives or the lives of their loved ones even if they intended for the problem to be entirely fictional
A standalone TTRPG designed for the minimalist TTRPG jam.
yourself
you have just discovered that you are a changeling. through a series of guided journaling prompts in five acts, explore changes, challenges, joy, and what it means to be yourself this is not one that i used with my students, but it is one that i've read through. it can be heavier than the others, but i think this is a very good one for exploring feelings surrounding queerness or neurodivergence
A solo ttrpg of identity and self reflection
with breath & sword
you have been summoned to fight a monster. the summoning feels like anxiety and fear. use grounding methods and breathing techniques as an oracle to determine the situation you're in, what the monster looks like, and how you handle it. the monster may need to be slain, or it might be tamed, but you know you will always win had to put my own game on there :) this game is intended to help people calm down from anxiety attacks. it uses the 5-4-3-2-1 method as an oracle to get players grounded in their safe surroundings, then has them play the game and journal to lead their thoughts away from their anxiety. it comes with an audiobook version as well (narrated by me)
a solo journaling game that helps you fight anxiety
hopefully that gives you a good place to start :) solo games are definitely not my area of expertise, but these are the ones that immediately came to mind. feel free to let me know if you were looking for something specific though!
I went ahead and went through this massive collection of solo ttrpgs put together by @theresattrpgforthat and made a "Possibly Therapy" collection of my own.
The biggest caveat is that I do not know how effective they are for therapy, I have not played almost any of them, and there were certainly other solo games that could have qualified for this list. At the very least, however, it's a start!
I finally finished going through the massive "Solitary Adventures" list linked above I don't have a way of seeing its size myself, so I'm guessing it's between three and five thousand games and my "Possibly Therapy" collection is currently at 1020 items. Some quick answers to possible questions:
What qualifies a game for this list?
Vibes. That's really mostly it. I was trying to narrow down from an even larger list and focused on making quick decisions.
Why isn't [game you think is therapeutic] on this list?
Might not have been in the original collection I sifted through! Also, my idea of "therapy" is rather broad, but I also don't think I included every game that could possibly be played in a way that could be therapeutically beneficial!
I'm not even a therapist, just a person who's interested in the idea of ttrpgs for therapy.
What kind of games are included?
I focused on three aspects, though of course there are other possibilities:
Solo games, primarily because of how I personally wanted to approach games in therapy.
Journaling games, because I wanted to focus on thoughts.
"Therapy" games, where the intention was to help you accomplish or experience specific things.
I have a suggestion of a game to add!
Cool! Reblog this or leave a comment.
I have a complaint about your selection process as a whole or why you included a particular game!
Cool! Keep it to yourself. I did this on my own time for me and I'm sharing that because I hope others benefit. (Though if it's a comment like "yeah I played this one and it's not really useful as a therapy tool" that's a legitimate comment I'd like to hear)
I used one of these for therapeutic purposes and it helped!
Great! Would love your feedback so I can make a new collection called "Probably Therapy"
Edit: I didn't include anything that said it used AI in the creation of the project. I have to narrow things down somehow, and that's just one of the metrics I use.
And now, because I accidentally added a poll on mobile and can't seem to get rid of it...
Have you intentionally used ttrpgs for therapy before?
yes
no
